The project deals with the virtual reconstruction of an ephemeral building from Hellenistic Egypt, Ptolemy II's banquet pavillon (around 280.B.C.), that is only known through a written source. The reconstruction is mainly based on the studies published by archaeologist E.Calandra between 2008 and 2010, which differs from previous hypothesis and collects suggestions from various architectural, artistic and iconographic contexts, paying particular attention to the symbolic use of spaces inside the building.
The modeling process is founded on archaeological comparisons and reconstruction hypothesis based on the source. This project was initially the subject of an internship starting 2008, then continued as case-study of a PhD research in History and Computing at Università di Bologna (E.Toffalori, coordinator Prof. F.Bocchi), titled Distribution Channels and Semantic Structures for Web Publishing of 3D Models in Cultural Heritage: Ptolemy II’s Banquet Pavillon in Alexandria, Egypt.
The first version, concluded in 2010, entailed a simplified 3D model that was realized in Blender and the production of an immersive navigation demo inside the model using the software ViSMan. Since 2010 the focus of the project - which now avails itself of the support of the University of California, Berkeley - is on testing and evaluation of platforms and tools available for publishing of 3D models on the Web, so that they can be treated as scientific publications. Particular emphasis is placed on metadata and semantic annotation od 3D data, in order to allow for correct integration and diffusion through the Web.
Partner
Dipartimento di Discipline Storiche, Antropologiche e Geografiche - Università di Bologna,
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley (CA, USA)
Center for Digital Archaeology, Berkeley (CA, USA)
Head of the project at Cineca
Antonella Guidazzoli
