Addressing the relationship between religion and ideology, and drawing on a range of literary, ritual, and visual sources, this book reconstructs the cultural discourse of Assyria from the third through the first millennium BCE. Ideology is delineated here as a subdiscourse of religion rather than as an independent category, anchoring it firmly within the religious world view. Tracing Assur's cultural interaction with the south on the one hand, and with the Syro-Anatolian horizon on the other, this volume articulates a "northern" cultural discourse that, even while interacting with southern Mesopotamian tradition, managed to maintain its own identity. It also follows the development of tropes and iconic images from the first city state of Uruk and their mouvance between myth, image, and royal inscription, historiography and myth, and myth and ritual, suggesting that, with the help of scholars, key royal figures were responsible for introducing new directions for the ideological discourse and for promoting new forms of historiography.

This book explores Symbolist artists' fascination with ancient Greek art and myth, and how the erotic played a major role in this. For a brief period at the end of the 19th century the Symbolist movement inspired artists to turn inwards to the unconscious mind, endeavouring to unveil the secrets of human nature through their symbolic art. But above all their greatest interest, and fear, was man (and woman's) sexuality. Building upon the traditions of Academic neoclassicism, but fired with a new zeal, they turned back to Greek art and myth for inspiration. That classical legacy was once again a vehicle for artists to express their dreams, ideas and revelries. And so too their anxieties. For at times the frightening spectre of the sexual unconscious drove them to a new and innovative engagement with antiquity, including in ways never before tried in the history of the classical tradition. The unnerving sirens of Gustave Moreau, unearthly heroines of Odilon Redon, or leering fauns of Felicien Rops all played their role, among others, in this novel and unprecedented chapter in that tradition. This book shows how in their painting, drawing and sculpture the Symbolists re-invented Greek statuary and transposed it to new and unwonted contexts, as the imaginary inner worlds of artists were mapped onto the landscapes of Greek myth. It shows how they made of the Greek body, whether female, male, androgyne or sexual other, at once an object of beauty, desire, fear, and - at times - of horror.

This book reveals the rewards of exploring the relationship between art and religion in the first millennium, and the particular problems of comparing the visual cultures of different emergent and established religions of the period in Eurasia - Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity and the pagan religions of the Roman world. Most of these became established and remained in play as what are called 'the world religions'. The chapters in this volume show how the long traditions of studying these topics are caught up in complex local, ancestral, colonial and post-colonial discourses and biases, which have made comparison difficult. The study of Late Antiquity turns out also to be an examination of the intellectual histories of modernity.

This volume presents current research on a variety of questions related to Roman emperors' uses of images and architecture. Drawing mainly on sculpture, coinage, and architecture, the papers consider topics ranging from the beard of Nero to Antonine funeral pyres to the roles of arches in shaping urban landscapes. Chronologically, the volume covers the reigns of Augustus through Constantine, and it examines the use of imagery by empresses as well as emperors. The contributors are Fae Amiro, Steven Burges, Laura L. Garofalo, Evan Jewell, Lillian Joyce, Jacob A. Latham, and Rosa Maria Motta, Gretel Rodriguez.

In this volume, Gabriel Zuchtriegel revisits the idea of Doric architecture as the paradigm of architectural and artistic evolutionism. Bringing together old and new archaeological data, some for the first time, he posits that Doric architecture has little to do with a wood-to-stone evolution. Rather, he argues, it originated in tandem with a disruptive shift in urbanism, land use, and colonization in Archaic Greece. Zuchtriegel presents momentous architectural change as part of a broader transformation that involved religion, politics, economics, and philosophy. As Greek elites colonized, explored, and mapped the Mediterranean, they sought a new home for the gods in the changing landscapes of the sixth-century BC Greek world. Doric architecture provided an answer to this challenge, as becomes evident from parallel developments in architecture, art, land division, urban planning, athletics, warfare, and cosmology. Building on recent developments in geography, gender, and postcolonial studies, this volume offers a radically new interpretation of architecture and society in Archaic Greece.

This edited collection focuses on how the ancient past of the city of Naples has been invented, shaped, transmitted, and received in literature, art, and material culture since the time of the city's foundation. Adopting a chronological approach, chapters examine important moments in Naples' reception history from the Roman period (when the city was already several centuries old) to the present day. Among the topics covered are representations of the city's early history and mythology in texts and temples of the Roman period; later uses of Roman spolia (marble sculptures and architectural elements) in Christian churches; the importance of antiquity to the rulers of the Angevin and Swabian periods; the appropriation of the city's classical heritage by Renaissance humanists; the image of the 'local' poets Virgil and Statius in later eras; humanist images of the ancient aqueducts and catacombs that ran beneath the city; representations of classical monuments in early modern city guides; images of ancient ruins in contemporary Catholic nativity scenes; and the archaeology and philosophy of the city's Metro system. Featuring contributions from an interdisciplinary range of scholars, this comprehensive volume provides a highly accessible point of entry into the vast bibliography on ancient Naples.

A Companion to Ancient Egyptian Art presents a comprehensive collection of original essays exploring key concepts, critical discourses, and theories that shape the discipline of ancient Egyptian art. Winner of the 2016 PROSE Award for Single Volume Reference in the Humanities & Social Sciences Features contributions from top scholars in their respective fields of expertise relating to ancient Egyptian art Provides overviews of past and present scholarship and suggests new avenues to stimulate debate and allow for critical readings of individual art works Explores themes and topics such as methodological approaches, transmission of Egyptian art and its connections with other cultures, ancient reception, technology and interpretation, Provides a comprehensive synthesis on a discipline that has diversified to the extent that it now incorporates subjects ranging from gender theory to X-ray fluorescence and image-based interpretations systems

Philippe Rouet examines how Attic painted vases were interpreted by Edmond Pottier (1855-1934), founder of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, and John Beazley (1885-1970), the master of attributions in the twentieth century. The comparison shows two markedly different approaches, one primarily archaeological, the other centred on the history of ancient art.

In 1922, after fifteen years of searching, archaeologists finally discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun. There, buried alongside the king's mummy, they found more than 5,000 unique objects, from the mundane to the extravagant, from the precious to the everyday. Tutankhamun's spectacular gold mask is justifiably famous, but the rest of the treasures remain largely unknown, their stories untold. In this rich and beautifully illustrated work of history, renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson allows one hundred artifacts from the boy king's tomb to speak again-not only for themselves, but as witnesses of the civilization that created them. A gold-decorated chariot reveals the impressive scale of Egyptian technology. Loaves of bread, baskets of fruit, and jars of wine hint at the fertility of the Nile Valley and the abundant feasts enjoyed by its people. Ebony and ivory from Nubia and a jewel of Libyan desert glass show the range of Egypt's trading and diplomatic networks. Shaving equipment and board games provide a window into the everyday lives of the people. And perhaps most poignant of all the objects in the tomb is one that conjures up a lost world of human experience: Tutankhamun's silver trumpet. Through these treasures, Wilkinson bring us face-to-face with the culture of the pharaohs, its extraordinary development, its remarkable flourishing, and its lasting impact. Filled with surprising insights and vivid details, Tutankhamun's Trumpet offers an indelible portrait of the history, people, and legacy of ancient Egypt.

The 27 papers in this volume harken to the themes that Jeffrey Soles has influenced during his illustrious career in Aegean Bronze Age archaeology: ancestry, burial customs, religion, trade, jewelry, the development of the Minoan settlement of Mochlos in eastern Crete, and the rise and fall of the Minoan civilization.

The most powerful case yet made for the return of the Parthenon Marbles The Parthenon Marbles (formerly known as the Elgin Marbles), designed and executed by Pheidias to adorn the Parthenon, are perhaps the greatest of all classical sculptures. In 1801, Lord Elgin, then ambassador to the Turkish government, had chunks of the frieze sawn off and shipped to England, where they were subsequently seized by Parliament and sold to the British Museum to help pay off his debts. This scandal, exacerbated by the inept handling of the sculptures by their self-appointed guardians, remains unresolved to this day. In his fierce, eloquent account of a shameful piece of British imperial history, Christopher Hitchens makes the moral, artistic, legal and political case for re-unifying the Parthenon frieze in Athens. The opening of the New Acropolis Museum emphatically trumps the British Museum's long-standing (if always questionable) objection that there is nowhere in Athens to house the Parthenon Marbles. With contributions by Nadine Gordimer and Professor Charalambos Bouras, The Parthenon Marbles will surely end all arguments about where these great treasures belong, and help bring a two-centuries-old disgrace to a just conclusion.

Learn about key movements like impressionism, cubism and symbolism in The Art Book. Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Art in this overview guide to the subject, brilliant for novices looking to find out more and experts wishing to refresh their knowledge alike! The Art Book brings a fresh and vibrant take on the topic through eye-catching graphics and diagrams to immerse yourself in. This captivating book will broaden your understanding of Art, with: - More than 80 of the world's most remarkable artworks - Packed with facts, charts, timelines and graphs to help explain core concepts - A visual approach to big subjects with striking illustrations and graphics throughout - Easy to follow text makes topics accessible for people at any level of understanding The Art Book is a captivating introduction to painting, drawing, printing, sculpture, conceptual art, and performance art - from ancient history to the modern day - aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Here you'll discover more than 80 of the world's most groundbreaking artworks by history's most influential painters, sculptors and artists, through exciting text and bold graphics. Your Art Questions, Simply Explained This fresh new guide examines the ideas that inspired masterpieces by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Klimt, Matisse, Picasso, and dozens more! If you thought it was difficult to learn about the defining movements, The Art Book presents key information in a clear layout. Find out about subject matters, techniques, and materials, and learn about the talented artists behind the great works, through superb mind maps and step-by-step summaries. The Big Ideas Series With millions of copies sold worldwide, The Art Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas series from DK. The series uses striking graphics along with engaging writing, making big topics easy to understand.

This volume assembles more than 30 articles focusing on the visual, material, and environmental arts of the Ancient Near East. Specific case studies range temporally from the fourth millennium up to the Hellenistic period and geographically from Iran to the eastern Mediterranean. Contributions apply innovative theoretical and methodological approaches to archaeological evidence and critically examine the historiography of the discipline itself. Not intended to be comprehensive, the volume instead captures a cross-section of the field of Ancient Near Eastern art history as its stands in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The volume will be of value to scholars working in the Ancient Near East as well as others interested in newer art historical and anthropological approaches to visual culture.

Stretching across the historical region of Mesopotamia, the Akkadian dynasty (ca. 2334-2154 BCE) created a territorial state of unprecedented scale in the ancient Near East by uniting the city-states of Sumer and Akkad and parts of Syria and Iran. To establish and, later, cement their authority over disparate peoples and places, the kings used art and visual culture to extraordinary effect. Exemplars of Kingship conveys the astonishing life of the art of the Akkadian kings by assessing ancient and modern responses to its dynamic forms and transformative ideologies of kingship. For nearly two thousand years after their reign, the Akkadian kings were remembered as exemplary rulers. Modern assessments of ancient memories of Akkadian kingship have concentrated on textual attestations of the kings' place in cultural memory. This book considers the contributions of images to memories of Akkadian kingship. Through close readings of the visuals that remain, Melissa Eppihimer discusses how Akkadian steles, statues, and cylinder seals became models for later rulers in Mesopotamia and beyond who wished to emulate or critique the Akkadian kings-and how these rulers and their contemporaries were reminded of the Akkadian past when they looked at images. Exemplars of Kingship is, therefore, a book about Akkadian art and its reception in antiquity, but it is also concerned with the modern reception of Akkadian art and kingship. It argues that modern responses have constrained our understanding of ancient responses. Through a wide range of examples drawn from almost two millennia, the book highlights the individual decisions that prompted continuity and change during the long history of Mesopotamia and its artistic traditions.

Writing, Violence, and the Military takes representations of reading and writing in Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt (ca. 1550-1295 BCE) as its point of departure, asking how patrons of art conceptualized literacy and how in turn they positioned themselves with respect to it. Exploring statuary and tomb art through the prism of self-representation and group formation, it makes three claims. Firstly, that the elite of this period held a variety of notions regarding literacy, among which violence and memory are most prominent. Secondly, that among the Eighteenth Dynasty elite, literacy found its strongest advocates among men whose careers brought them to engage with the military, either as military officials or as civil administrators who accompanied the army beyond the borders of Egypt. Finally, that Haremhab - the General in Chief who later ascended the throne - voiced unique views regarding literacy that arose from his career as an elite military official, and thus from his social world. Consequently, images of reading and writing allow us to study literacy with regard to those who commissioned them, and to consider these patrons' roles in changing conceptualizations. Throughout their different formulations, these representations call for a discussion on literacy in relation to self-representation and to art's role in society. They also invite us to reconsider our own approach to literacy and its significance in ancient times.

The ancient Greeks perceived the human body as an object of sensory delight and its depiction as the expression of an intelligent mind. This sumptuous photographic book explores ancient Greek sculptures of the body from every angle. With an introduction outlining the use of the body in Greek art from the prehistoric simplicity of Cycladic figurines to the realism of the Hellenistic age, seven thematic sections then feature stunning photographs of close ups taken from the British Museum's outstanding collection of marble, bronze and terracotta sculpture. The gods and heroes of Greek religion and mythology are conceived in the image of mankind, as supermen and superwomen, while other supernatural beings such as centaurs and satyrs combine human with animal parts as symbols of their otherworldliness. Human shape is also given to the inanimate phenomena of nature, such as wind and moon, as well as intangible human experiences such as sleep and death. A salient feature of Greek art is human nudity, which was celebrated rather than considered shameful. The great majority of female nudes that have come down to us are representations of Aphrodite, goddess of erotic love. In the Hellenistic age, Alexander's conquest and Hellenisation of the people formerly included in the Persian empire created a new and cosmopolitan world. Greek artists were made more aware than ever before of the ethnic diversity of humanity and delighted in representing and classifying humankind in all its variety young and old, fat and thin, beautiful and ugly, freeborn and slave, pauper and wealthy, able and disabled, moral and immoral. The Hellenistic period, more than any previous, was also truly an age of portraiture, reflected love in compelling and unusual images.

Picture theories are today a subject of broad interest to scholars, for the relationship between concept and picture, between thought and viewing, is among the commonest themes of the history of European thought, and already in Antiquity a multitude of solutions to the problem were discussed. The aim of this book is to elucidate the peculiarity of the relationship between viewing and concept analysed by Plato and Aristotle; to compare the theories of art and poetry initially conceived about 300BC, and which reached full development under the Roman Empire; and to expound modern concepts of viewing not only with forms of reception, but also the transformation of ancient theories of visual art.

Why did Roman portrait statues, famed for their individuality, repeatedly employ the same body forms? The complex issue of the Roman copying of Greek 'originals' has so far been studied primarily from a formal and aesthetic viewpoint. Jennifer Trimble takes a broader perspective, considering archaeological, social historical and economic factors, and examines how these statues were made, bought and seen. To understand how Roman visual replication worked, Trimble focuses on the 'Large Herculaneum Woman' statue type, a draped female body particularly common in the second century CE and surviving in about two hundred examples, to assess how sameness helped to communicate a woman's social identity. She demonstrates how visual replication in the Roman Empire thus emerged as a means of constructing social power and articulating dynamic tensions between empire and individual localities.

In Isis in a Global Empire, Lindsey Mazurek explores the growing popularity of Egyptian gods and its impact on Greek identity in the Roman Empire. Bringing together archaeological, art historical, and textual evidence, she demonstrates how the diverse devotees of gods such as Isis and Sarapis considered Greek ethnicity in ways that differed significantly from those of the Greek male elites whose opinions have long shaped our understanding of Roman Greece. These ideas were expressed in various ways - sculptures of Egyptian deities rendered in a Greek style, hymns to Isis that grounded her in Greek geography and mythology, funerary portraits that depicted devotees dressed as Isis, and sanctuaries that used natural and artistic features to evoke stereotypes of the Nile. Mazurek's volume offers a fresh, material history of ancient globalization, one that highlights the role that religion played in the self-identification of provincial Romans and their place in the Mediterranean world.

An elegant, concise, and generously illustrated exploration of Alexander the Great's representations in art and literature through the ages In this book, John Boardman, one of the world's leading authorities on ancient Greece, looks beyond the life of Alexander the Great in order to examine the astonishing range of Alexanders created by generations of authors, historians, and artists throughout the world-from Scotland to China. John Boardman draws on his deep knowledge of Alexander and the ancient world to reflect on the most interesting and emblematic depictions of this towering historical figure. From Alexander's biographers in ancient Greece to the illustrated Alexander "Romances" of the Middle Ages to operas, films, and even modern cartoons, this generously illustrated volume takes readers on a fascinating journey.

Statues of important Romans frequently represented them nude. Men were portrayed naked holding weapons. The naked emperor might wield the thunderbolt of Jupiter, while Roman women assumed the guide of the nude love-goddess, Venus. When faced with these strange images, modern viewers are usually unsympathetic, finding them incongruous, even tasteless. They are mostly written off as just another example of Roman `bad taste'. This book offers a new approach. Comprehensively illustrated with black and white photographs of its subjects, it investigates how this tradition arose, and how the nudity of these portraits was meant to be understood by contemporary viewers. And, since the Romans also employed a range of costumes for their statues (toga, armour, Greek philosopher's cloak), it asks, `What could the nude images express that other costumes could not?' It is Christopher Hallett's claim that - looked at in this way - these `Roman nudes' turn out to be documents of the first importance for the cultural historian.