Why Ancient Objects Matter: Greek and Roman Art and Materiality from Antiquity to the Present

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Why Ancient Objects Matter

Greek and Roman Art and Materiality from Antiquity to the Present

Edited by: Nicholas Cipolla , Anne F. LaGatta , Candace Weddle Livingston , Peter J.M. Schertz , Ambra Spinelli and Sarah K. Yeomans

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2025

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About this book

This collection of twenty-eight essays by emerging and established scholars presents work that deeply engages with the materiality and history of Greek and Roman artworks, artifacts, and monuments. Dedicated to Prof. John Pollini in honor of his contributions to the study of the ancient Mediterranean world, this volume reflects the broad range of his scholarship, from sculpture (especially portraiture) and its ancient contexts to material studies, iconographic analysis, and the complex ways that religious and political change both shape and are shaped by material culture. The contributions assembled in this volume highlight the diverse ways in which contemporary scholars construct interpretations of visual art based on a deep understanding of the ancient world, precise attention to detail and technique, and rigorous research into the historical contexts of objects, myths, literature, and iconography. Through their interdisciplinary approaches, the contributors offer new insights on artistic production, viewer reception, and social history, with an emphasis on the theme of "transformation" as objects, artworks, and ideas journey through time and from one culture to another.

Author / Editor information

Nicholas Cipolla, Anne F. LaGatta, Candace Weddle Livingston, Peter J.M. Schertz, USA; Ambra Spinelli, Italy; Sarah K. Yeomans, USA.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	XIII
Introduction Olga Palagia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I: Portraiture and Honorific Statuary
Look Up! The Roman Fornix as an Architectural Solution to Problems of Honorific Display Diane Favro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
An Amber Augustus at Olympia Faya Causey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Tiberius in the Michael C. Carlos Museum: A Portrait Masterpiece Anne F. LaGatta Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
The Priest’s Tale Susan Walker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
Intellectualizing Images? Private Male Portraits and the Second Sophistic in Rome Eric Varner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
Part II: Gods, Myths, and Ritual Practice
Peleus and the φθόνος θεῶν Alan Shapiro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Aphrodite, Pan, and Eros and an Inscription at the Établissement of the Poseidoniastai of Berytos: Internationalism in the Cult Sanctuaries of Delos Patricia A. Butz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
The Judgement of Orestes and the Agamemnonidae: Some Observations on Transmission and Transformation in Roman Art Dyfri Williams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Amazons at Herculaneum Carol C. Mattusch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Spectacle and Society: Mythological Wall Paintings in the Tablinum of Houses at Pompeii and Herculaneum Ambra Spinelli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
The Mistress of the Beasts and Her Humpbacked Bulls: New Considerations About the Breeding of Sacrificial Animals and Roman Trade with India Candace Weddle Livingston Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Part III: The Rhetoric of Empire
Roman Power and Greek Sanctuaries: Two Studies Andrew Stewart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
The Mausoleum of Augustus and Etruscan Precedents for Roman Renewal Peter J. Holliday Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
The Phasing and Design of the Calendrical Device (“Horologium”) of Augustus Bernard Frischer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Aeneas and Romulus in the Forum of Augusta Emerita (Hispania) Trinidad Nogales-Basarrate Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
New Evidence for the Forum Marsyas Statue Type Peter Justin Moon Schertz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Fantastic Beasts and How to Use Them: Griffins and the Phoenix in Visual Panegyric Susan Wood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299
Part IV: Craft, Practice, and Production
Death and the Maiden: Meditations on a Kylix by the Brygos Painter Owen Doonan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
Hellenistic Gold and Silver Luxury Tableware as a Legacy of Roman Spoils of War Beryl Barr-Sharrar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	339
Metallurgical Innovations at the Time of Julius Caesar and Augustus Alessandra Giumlia-Mair Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	359
Portrait of a Medical Practice: The Marcianopolis Instrumentarium Sarah K. Yeomans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	379
Part V: After Antiquity: Restoration, Forgery, Reception
The Capitoline Lion Attacking a Horse—An Icon of Feline-Equine Combat Claire L. Lyons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	399
Gnaios: In Search of an Artistic Personality Kenneth Lapatin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	421
“Time is Truly Forgetful”: The Black Stones in Early Modern Rome Linda Nolan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	441
Finding the Particular: On the Ancient Portrait in the History of Scholarship Dietrich Boschung Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	463
A Late Republican Statue from Rome and Its Transformation Hans Rupprecht Goette Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	479
A Putative Second Century CE Roman Sarcophagus in Los Angeles: The Dynamics of Establishing a Fake Roger Von Dippe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	489
Experts: The Story behind a Forged Roman Sarcophagus Robert Cohon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	511
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	531
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	533

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

April 21, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9783111182919

Hardcover published on:

April 21, 2025

Hardcover ISBN:

9783111151823

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

16

Main content:

546

Illustrations:

144

Coloured Illustrations:

52

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111182919

eBook ISBN: 9783111182919

Hardcover ISBN: 9783111151823

Keywords for this book

Portraiture; iconology; iconography; classical archaeology

Audience(s) for this book

Scholars and students of archaeology, art history, classics and early modern history

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Walter de Gruyter GmbH
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10785 Berlin
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Why Ancient Objects Matter

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data