Marmi di Costantinopoli nella provincia Scythia al tempo di Giustiniano: i dati degli arredi architettonici della basilica cristiana di Ibida

The spread within provincia Scythia of the architectural decoration manufactered in Constantinople finds now new remarks thanks to some Ionic impost capitals recoverd in the area of the Roman town of Ibida, in today’s village of Slava Rusă (Tulcea County). These materials come from a large Christian basilica of uncertain date and only partially excavated at the beginning of the twentieth century. In addition to providing useful information about the chronology of the building, the pieces enrich at the same time the hitherto outlined framework regarding the export of marble architectural elements from Constantinople to the Pontic regions: in particular the capitals are related to a series clearly defined in its typical elements, due to workshops which were active in Constantinople during the Justinian’s age and were related, at least in certain cases, to the imperial patronage. More debate issues are offered both by a schematic column base coming from the same building in Ibida and inscribed with a “mason’s mark”, and by the identification of the varieties of marble used for these pieces, which arose from the analysis performed in the past on some of them: the results of these analysis will be discussed in the light of current knowledges about marbles usually used for the architectural elements of the same classes.