The reuse of antiquities in al-Andalus: Resource or discourse?

Abstract

This article studies the reuse of antiquities in al-Andalus during the VIII-X centuries. It puts forward to pay attention to the value given to the materials, considering written and archaeological sources, highlighting the existence of a first stage where reuse focused on decorative architectural elements with a constructive and decorative value, used massively in the buildings. However, at the end of the IX century it turned to be a change. The antiquities reused are distinctive, such as sarcophagi or statues, considered “mirabilia” and capable of evoking a reflection on the past. A fetua from the end of the ninth century illustrates about this change and points out the control of the Umayyads over these materials, whose most prominent testimony is the set of antiquities at Madīnat al-Zahrā'.