Meanings
- pluralplural onlyOld objects, artifacts, and/or sculptural elements reused in a later work of architecture.
In the field of architecture the use of spolia began with Constantine.
2010, Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most, Salvatore Settis, The Classical Tradition, page 9042 more examples
The sultan did not so much destroy and rebuild as adapt and embroider, reusing the gorgeous spolia of the Crusaders with their foliate patterns, capitals and wetleaf acanthus; his architecture is thus constructed with the very symbols of his enemies, which makes it hard to distinguish between the buildings of the Crusaders and Saladin.
2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 305The conspicuous use of spolia in the Mihaloğlu buildings of the shrine of Syyid Gazi is a remarkable departure from the dominant architectural culture of the time.
2016, Zeynep Yürekli, Architecture and Hagiography in the Ottoman Empire, page 140
Origin
- Latinspolia“spoils”
- Englishspolia
Latin spolia (“spoils”).
More words from Latin
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Cite this entry
spolia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spolia
“spolia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spolia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spolia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spolia.
Source: spolia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.