Thomas Allom

(British, 1804-1872)

The ancient church of St. John with the Citadel, Pergamos; The ruins of Laodicea, a pair (2))

Footnotes

Provenance
Sale, Christie's, London, 8 February 1899, ex-lot 46 (2 of 7)
Property of Lady Llangattock
Private collection

Engraved
J. Cousen (Pergamos) and E. Brandard (Laodicea) for G. Virtue, 1863.

Thomas Allom was born in March 1804. Articled to the architect Francis Goodwin, he attended the Royal Academy schools as an architectural student from 1828. He was a founder of the Royal Institute of British Architects, of which he became a Fellow in 1860. His reputation largely rests with his numerous designs for albums of topographical steel- engravings that were mostly published between 1828-1845 when he traveled extensively in Great Britain, Belgium France and Turkey.

Standing high above the Aegean Sea sit the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Pergamon. Although the majority of its superb intact monuments can now be found in Berlin's Pergamon Museum, enough remains of the acropolis for the visitor to sense the former greatness of the city that once rivalled Alexandria, Ephesus and Antioch in culture and commerce.

Today the site can be reached from the steep and winding road that leads from the modern Turkish city of Bergama just a few miles away. Upon reaching the ruins, the commanding panoramic view from Pergamon make it easy to understand how this city once dominated the entire region. It was a proud city in its time, its monuments and building were constructed of high-quality white marble in the finest Hellenistic style, and its library rivalled that of the famed library of Alexandria in Egypt.

A city in the western part of Asia Minor, the ruins of which lie near Denizli, about 150 km east of Ephesus, Laodicea was originally known as Diospolis but was evidently rebuilt in the third century BC by Antiochus II and renamed after his wife Laodice. Situated in the fertile valley of the Lycus River, the city lay at the crossroads of major trade routes and was linked by road with cities such as Ephesus and Pergamon.

Even though it had no permanent natural water supply, Laodicea enjoyed great prosperity as a manufacturing and banking center. During the reign of Nero, the city suffered extensive earthquake damage; however, according to Tacitus, its great wealth enabled it to be rebuilt without any financial aid from Rome. The glossy black wool of Laodicea and the garments made there were widely celebrated; it was the seat of a famous medical school.

During the time of St. John, Laodicea, like Pergamon, was considered one of the seven most important churches in Christianity.