Princeton architectural historian Howard Crosby Butler photographs Roman and Byzantine Syria
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Howard Crosby Butler (1872–1922) was a quintessential Princeton man. He organized the Tiger Inn dining club as an undergraduate, and he later received a graduate fellowship in archaeology after a stint at the American School of Classical Studies in Rome. A popular architectural history professor at Princeton for more than 20 years, Butler was named the first director of the new School of Architecture in 1920. He organized three photographic expeditions to Syria (in 1899, 1904 and 1909) that documented hundreds of late Roman and early Byzantine structures. In these photos, Butler deliberately made use of the desert’s harsh sunlight and crisp shadows to capture such architectural details as intricate friezes and monumental vaults. In the field, Butler was also known for his peculiarities: Acquaintances were amused by his insistence on wearing formal attire at dinner (though at other times he donned native clothing) and his fondness for galloping across the desert on a black stallion. In the years preceding World War I, Butler led the first major archaeological expedition to ancient Sardis, in western Anatolia. Following his death in 1922, he was memorialized by a portrait installed in Princeton’s Procter Hall; a nearby inscription, excavated from a Christian tomb during one of Butler’s Syrian expeditions, reads: “I sojourned well; I journeyed well; and well I lie at rest. Pray for me.”
Howard Crosby Butler (1872–1922) was a quintessential Princeton man. He organized the Tiger Inn dining club as an undergraduate, and he later received a graduate fellowship in archaeology after a stint at the American School of Classical Studies in Rome. A popular architectural history professor at Princeton for more than 20 years, Butler was named the first director of the new School of Architecture in 1920. He organized three photographic expeditions to Syria (in 1899, 1904 and 1909) that documented hundreds of late Roman and early Byzantine structures. In these photos, Butler deliberately made use of the desert’s harsh […]
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