The study of colour has become familiar territory in anthropology, linguistics, art history and archaeology. Classicists, however, have traditionally subordinated the study of colour to form. By drawing together evidence from contemporary philosophers, elegists, epic writers, historians and satirists, Mark Bradley reinstates colour as an essential informative unit for the classification and evaluation of the Roman world. He also demonstrates that the questions of what colour was and how it functioned - as well as how it could be misused and misunderstood - were topics of intellectual debate in early imperial Rome. Suggesting strategies for interpreting Roman expressions of colour in Latin texts, Dr Bradley offers alternative approaches to understanding the relationship between perception and knowledge in Roman elite thought. In doing so, he highlights the fundamental role that colour performed in the realms of communication and information, and its intellectual contribution to contemporary discussions of society, politics and morality.

From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 years What does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore? In this book-against a background of today's "sculpture wars"-Mary Beard tells the story of how for more than two millennia portraits of the rich, powerful, and famous in the western world have been shaped by the image of Roman emperors, especially the "Twelve Caesars," from the ruthless Julius Caesar to the fly-torturing Domitian. Twelve Caesars asks why these murderous autocrats have loomed so large in art from antiquity and the Renaissance to today, when hapless leaders are still caricatured as Neros fiddling while Rome burns. Beginning with the importance of imperial portraits in Roman politics, this richly illustrated book offers a tour through 2,000 years of art and cultural history, presenting a fresh look at works by artists from Memling and Mantegna to the nineteenth-century American sculptor Edmonia Lewis, as well as by generations of weavers, cabinetmakers, silversmiths, printers, and ceramicists. Rather than a story of a simple repetition of stable, blandly conservative images of imperial men and women, Twelve Caesars is an unexpected tale of changing identities, clueless or deliberate misidentifications, fakes, and often ambivalent representations of authority. From Beard's reconstruction of Titian's extraordinary lost Room of the Emperors to her reinterpretation of Henry VIII's famous Caesarian tapestries, Twelve Caesars includes fascinating detective work and offers a gripping story of some of the most challenging and disturbing portraits of power ever created. Published in association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

The papers of this volume focus on the sacred landscapes of ancient Sicily. Religious and cultural dimensions of Greek sanctuaries are assessed in light of the results of recent exacavations and new readings of literary sources. The material dimension of cult practices in ancient sanctuaries is the central issue of all contributions, with a focus on the findings from ancient Akragas. Great attention is also paid to past ritual activities, which are framed in three complementary areas of enquiry. Firstly, the architectural setting of sanctuaries is examined beyond temple buildings to assess the wider context of their structural and spatial complexity. Secondly, the material culture of votive deposition and religious feasting is analysed in terms of performative characteristics and through the lens of anthropological approaches. Thirdly, the significance of gender in cultic practice is investigated in light of the fresh data retrieved from the field. The new findings presented in this volume contribute to close the existing research gaps in the study of sanctuaries in Sicily, as well as the wider practice of Greek religion.

The highest honour a Roman citizen could hope for was a portrait statue in the forum of his city. While the emperor and high senatorial officials were routinely awarded statues, strong competition existed among local benefactors to obtain this honour, which proclaimed and perpetuated the memory of the patron and his family for generations. There were many ways to earn a portrait statue but such local figures often had to wait until they had passed away before the public finally fulfilled their expectations. It is argued in this book that our understanding and contemplation of a Roman portrait statue is greatly enriched, when we consider its wider historical context, its original setting, the circumstances of its production and style, and its base which, in many cases, bore a text that contributed to the rhetorical power of the image.

Millennia ago, Egyptian and Celtic authors recorded prophetic warnings for the future and their harbinger signs are now converging on 2012. These predictions are contained in The Kolbrin Bible, a secular wisdom text studied in the days of Jesus and lovingly preserved by generations of Celtic mystics in Great Britain. Nearly as big as the King James Bible, this 3600-year old text warns of an imminent, Armageddon-like conflict with radical Islam, but this is not the greatest threat. The authors of The Kolbrin Bible predict an end to life as we know it, by a celestial event. It will be the return of a massive space object, in a long elliptical orbit around our sun. Known to the Egyptians and Hebrews as the "Destroyer," the Celts later called it the "Frightener."

In Athens, most remains of the ancient city-wall were revealed during rescue excavations; as a result, documentation is scattered and fragmented. This book systematically investigates all published data, revealing the history and the nature of the surviving remains of this significant monument. The book provides an analysis of the ancient literary sources, the western travellers' accounts, and the history of archaeological research on the circuit walls of ancient Athens. It collects, records, and maps all archaeological data from systematic and rescue excavations of the physical remains of the wall as it evolved over eleven centuries and through more than a dozen construction phases. It reviews issues relating to structure, chronology and topography of the ancient city wall, as well as to the management of its remains by the state authorities. The enormous amount of primary evidence makes the book essential reading for scholars of the topography of ancient Athens. This monograph also aspires to increase community awareness of cultural heritage in everyday urban contexts, as the wall has been preserved in a number of ways: in basements of buildings, reburied in situ, in the open air or beneath glass floors.

This is the first systematic and detailed study of Pausanias' view of Roman involvement in Greece. It begins with an assessment of Pausanias' life and writings, placing them in their contemporary political, historical, literary and cultural context. Pausanias' attitudes towards the art and artists of the pre-Roman period are also considered, and his attempts to define and analyse the past examined. Much of the book is devoted to the assessment of Pausanias' attitudes to the political Republican leaders Mummius, Sulla and Julius Caesar, emperors from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, and benefactors such as Herodes Atticus. The study reveals the complexity and sophistication of Pausanias' critique of the actions and attitudes of prominent Roman personalities engaged with the Greek world.

This unique collection of essays focuses on various aspects of Plato's Philosophy of Art, not only in The Republic , but in the Phaedrus, Symposium, Laws and related dialogues. The range of issues addressed includes the contest between philosophy and poetry, the moral status of music, the love of beauty, censorship, motivated emotions.

When Roman objects and artifacts are properly analyzed, they serve as valuable primary sources for learning about ancient history. This book provides the guidance and relevant historical context students need to see relics as evidence of long-past events and society. Artifacts from Ancient Rome is a unique social history that explores major aspects of daily life in a long-ago era via images of physical objects and historical information about these items. This book also affords "hands-on training" on how to approach primary sources. The author-a historian also trained as an archaeologist-begins by explaining the concept of using artifacts to understand and "see" the past and providing a primer for effectively analyzing artifacts. Entries on the artifacts follow, with each containing an introduction, a description of the artifact, an explanation of its significance, and a list of further sources of information. Readers of the book will not only gain a composite impression of daily life in ancient Rome through the study of artifacts from domestic life, religion, war, transportation, entertainment, and more, but will also learn how to best understand and analyze primary sources for learning. Presents images of artifacts, relevant primary sources, and detailed explanations of each item's historical context together in a single resource, making the information conveniently accessible to both students and general readers Provides students with the opportunity to work with, analyze, and interpret both artifacts and primary sources, making the book an excellent complement to curricula that are increasing their focus on the use of primary sources of all types Allows readers to piece together an overall impression of Roman life and society through artifacts that range from a legionary weapon and a medical scalpel to a wax tablet for writing, a bread oven, and a sundial

Within modern frameworks of knowledge and representation, Dionysos often appears to be atypical for ancient culture, an exception within the context of ancient polytheism, or even an instance of a difference that anticipates modernism. How can recent research contribute to a more precise understanding of the diverse transformations of the ancient god, from Greek antiquity to the Roman Empire? In this volume, which is the result of an international conference held in March 2009 at the Pergamon Museum Berlin, scholars from all branches of classical studies, including history of scholarship, consider this question. Consequently, this leads to a new look on vase paintings, sanctuaries, rituals and religious-political institutions like theatre, and includes new readings of the texts of ancient poets, historians and philosophers, as well as of papyri and inscriptions. It is the diversity of sources or methods and the challenge of former views that is the strength of this volume, providing a comprehensive, innovative and richly faceted account of the "different" god in an unprecedented way.

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.

Nineteen contributions by eminent scholars cover topics in Greek Epigraphy, Ancient History, Archaeology, and the Historiography of Archaeology. The section on Epigraphy and Ancient History has a particular focus on Attica, whereas material from Eretria, Delphi, the Argolid, Aetolia, Macedonia, Samothrace, and Aphrodisias widens the picture. The section on Archaeology discusses cultural variation as well as matters of cult, myth, and style, especially in Attica, from the Chalcolithic to the Roman period. The final section on the History of Archaeology reviews the early history of archaeological research at sites such as Piraeus, Rhamnous, Marathon, Oropos, Pylos, and Eretria, based on unpublished archival sources as well as on preliminary sketches and architectural drawings by 19th century artists.

This is a comparative study of the national significance of the classical revival which marked English and French art during the second half of the nineteenth century. It argues that the main focus of artists' interest in classical Greece, was the body of the Greek athlete. It explains this interest, first, by artists' contact with the art of Pheidias and Polycletus which portrayed it; and second, by the claim, made by physical anthropologists, that the classical body typified the race of the European nations.

Between the ninth and seventh centuries BC the small kingdom of Assyria in northern Iraq expanded through conquest to dominate the region from Egypt to Iran. The power of the Assyrian kings was reflected in the creation of a series of magnificent palaces in which the walls of principal rooms and courtyards were lined with huge panels of alabaster carved with images of the monarch as priest, victorious warrior and hunter. Together, the sculptures constitute some of the most impressive and eloquent witnesses of the ancient Middle East. This book serves as a superb visual introduction to what are undoubtedly some of the greatest works of art from the ancient world, showcasing a series of specially taken photographs of the British Museum's unrivalled collection of Assyrian sculptures. These stunning images capture the majesty of the Assyrian king, his magnificent court and its protecting divinities, through individual panels or extraordinary, often overlooked details, such as incised embroidery on robes, the contours of flesh and musculature, the turn of a horse's head or the order within the apparent chaos of battle. An introduction sets the sculptures in their cultural and art-historical context. A brief history of Assyria and the royal palaces is followed by an overview of their discovery, reception and understanding. These are the earliest examples of complex narrative art, and their multilayered meanings occupied entire rooms in which the raw emotion and energy of animals and humans was captured with remarkable vitality. Many of these exceptional carvings rank among the greatest achievements in the history of art.

Offering a unique blend of thematic and chronological investigation, this highly illustrated, engaging text explores the rich historical, cultural, and social contexts of 3,000 years of Greek art, from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period. * Uniquely intersperses chapters devoted to major periods of Greek art from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period, with chapters containing discussions of important contextual themes across all of the periods * Contextual chapters illustrate how a range of factors, such as the urban environment, gender, markets, and cross-cultural contact, influenced the development of art * Chronological chapters survey the appearance and development of key artistic genres and explore how artifacts and architecture of the time reflect these styles * Offers a variety of engaging and informative pedagogical features to help students navigate the subject, such as timelines, theme-based textboxes, key terms defined in margins, and further readings. * Information is presented clearly and contextualized so that it is accessible to students regardless of their prior level of knowledge * A book companion website is available at www.wiley.gom/go/greekart with the following resources: PowerPoint slides, glossary, and timeline

This volume focuses on four cultural phenomena in the Roman world of the late Republic - the garden, a garden painting, tapestry, and the domestic caged bird. They accept or reject a categorisation as art in varying degrees, but they show considerable overlaps in the ways in which they impinge on social space. The study looks, therefore, at the borderlines between things that variously might or might not seem to be art forms. It looks at boundaries in another sense too. Boundaries between different social modes and contexts are embodied and represented in the garden and paintings of gardens, reinforced by the domestic use of decorative textile work, and replicated in the bird cage. The boundaries thus thematised map on to broader boundaries in the Roman house, city, and wider world, becoming part of the framework of the citizen's cognitive development and individual and civic identities. Frederick Jones presents a novel analysis that uses the perspective of cognitive development in relation to how elements of domestic and urban visual culture and the broader world map on to each other. His study for the first time understands the domestic caged bird as a cultural object and uniquely brings together four disparate cases under the umbrella of '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.