HIST363: Global Perspectives on Industrialization

Greeks constructed their buildings with local materials as often as possible, only shipping them long distances when ‍needed‍ due to high shipping costs. Over time, the architectural and sculptural building style of the Greeks became so popular in Roman culture that stones would be imported to build with even if there were none available in the area. Building this way was an expectation and was "indicative of a level of cultural and economic connectedness".

The demand for marble exploded around 200 B.C. when the Republic was constantly conquering new land, any marble that the victims had was taken and brought home as the spoils of war. Those in power sought to build as much with marble as they could to display their power and wealth. For example, the Temple of Jupiter Stator built in 146 B.C. after a Roman victory in Macedonia was constructed with imported Greek marble and even designed by a Greek architect. Construction projects like this show how heavily Greek architecture influenced the Roman elite in the Late Republic. Plutarch, a Greek historian at the time wrote that "the conquered should give place to the conquerors', and for the individual conquerors, the various triumphatores of this period, keen to assert their supremacy over their political rivals, eastern marbles became potent tokens of victory".