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Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles > BC to 500 CE, Ancient & classical world
Rescue excavations were carried out along the terrace north of
Ancient Corinth by Henry Robinson, the director of the Corinth
Excavations, and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens
on behalf of the Greek Archaeological Service, in 1961 and 1962.
They revealed 70 tile graves, limestone sarcophagi, and cremation
burials (the last are rare in Corinth before the Julian colony),
and seven chamber tombs (also rare before the Roman period). The
burials ranged in date from the 5th century B.C. to the 6th century
A.D., and about 240 skeletons were preserved for study. This volume
publishes the results of these excavations and examines the
evidence for changing burial practices in the Greek city, Roman
colony, and Christian town. Documented are single graves and
deposits, the Robinson "Painted Tomb," two more hypogea, and four
built chamber tombs. Ethne Barnes describes the human skeletal
remains, and David Reese discusses the animal bones found in the
North Terrace tombs. The author further explores the architecture
of the chamber tombs as well as cemeteries, burial practices, and
funeral customs in ancient Corinth. One appendix addresses a Roman
chamber tomb at nearby Hexamilia, excavated in 1937; the second, by
David Jordan, the lead tablets from a chamber tomb and its well.
Concordances, grave index numbers, Corinth inventory numbers, and
indexes follow. This study will be of interest to classicists,
historians of several periods, and scholars studying early
Christianity.
Grand political accomplishment and artistic productivity were
the hallmarks of Augustus Caesar's reign (31 B.C. to A.D. 14),
which has served as a powerful model of achievement for societies
throughout Western history. Although much research has been done on
individual facets of Augustan culture, Karl Galinsky's book is the
first in decades to present a unified overview, one that brings
together political and social history, art, literature,
architecture, and religion. Weaving analysis and narrative
throughout a richly illustrated text, Galinsky provides not only an
enjoyable account of the major ideas of the age, but also an
interpretation of the creative tensions and contradictions that
made for its vitality and influence.
Galinsky draws on source material ranging from coins and
inscriptions to the major works of poetry and art, and challenges
the schematic concepts and dichotomies that have commonly been
applied to Augustan culture. He demonstrates that this culture was
neither monolithic nor the mere result of one man's will. Instead
it was a nuanced process of evolution and experimentation. Augustan
culture had many contributors, as Galinsky demonstrates, and their
dynamic interactions resulted in a high point of creativity and
complexity that explains the transcendence of the Augustan age. Far
from being static, its sophisticated literary and artistic
monuments call for the active response and involvement of the
reader and viewer even today.
This beautifully illustrated book offers an overview of the
greatest archaeological sites and discoveries from ancient Greece.
The contributors include those who have excavated at the sites in
question and scholars who have spent a lifetime studying the
monuments. Presented here are the legendary sites of ancient
Greece, including the Athenian Acropolis, Olympia, Delphi,
Schliemann's Mycenae, and the Athenian Agora; the most iconic
sculptures in the Greek world, such as the Aphrodite of Melos and
the Nike of Samothrace; and several fascinating chapters on
underwater archaeology that discuss the Kyrenia and Uluburun
shipwrecks and the astonishing bronze masterpieces raised from the
sea. This is the first book to bring together the archaeological
legacy of ancient Greece in a concise and accessible way while
still preserving the excitement of discovery. An introductory text
by Vasileios Petrakos, member of the Academy of Athens, sets the
historical context and describes the course of Greek archaeology
from the foundation of the modern Greek state to the present day.
650 colour illustrations.
Ranging widely over the fields of sculpture, vase painting, and the minor arts, this book provides a brilliant and original introduction to the art of archaic and classical Greece. By looking closely at the social and cultural contexts in which the rich diversity of Greek arts were produced, Robin Osborne shows how artistic developments were both a product of, and contributed to, the intensely competitive life of the Greek city.
This volume, the third in a series of catalogues of
Pre-Columbian art at Dumbarton Oaks, presents the outstanding
collection of Aztec, Mixtec, Zapotec, Teotihuacan, and Classic
Veracruz sculpture, jewelry, and painting. Four leading scholars
present essays on the ancient art and archaeology of Mexico's
Central Highlands, Southwestern Highlands, and Gulf Lowlands as
well as extensive catalogue entries of over one hundred objects of
jade, shell, fine ceramics, wood, and other materials. The
catalogue is richly illustrated with color plates, comparative
illustrations, and diagrams presented as black-and-white figures.
This catalogue will be an important and enduring reference for
scholars and students, as well as an attractive volume for admirers
of Pre-Columbian art.
A lucrative trade in Athenian pottery flourished from the early
sixth until the late fifth century B.C.E., finding an eager market
in Etruria. Most studies of these painted vases focus on the
artistry and worldview of the Greeks who made them, but Sheramy D.
Bundrick shifts attention to their Etruscan customers, ancient
trade networks, and archaeological contexts. Thousands of Greek
painted vases have emerged from excavations of tombs, sanctuaries,
and settlements throughout Etruria, from southern coastal centers
to northern communities in the Po Valley. Using documented
archaeological assemblages, especially from tombs in southern
Etruria, Bundrick challenges the widely held assumption that
Etruscans were hellenized through Greek imports. She marshals
evidence to show that Etruscan consumers purposefully selected
figured pottery that harmonized with their own local needs and
customs, so much so that the vases are better described as
etruscanized. Athenian ceramic workers, she contends, learned from
traders which shapes and imagery sold best to the Etruscans and
employed a variety of strategies to maximize artistry, output, and
profit.
In recent years, there has been intense debate about the reality
behind the depiction of maritime cityscapes, especially harbours.
Visualizing Harbours in the Classical World argues that the
available textual and iconographic evidence supports the argument
that these representations have a symbolic, rather than literal,
meaning and message, and moreover that the traditional view, that
all these media represent the reality of the contemporary
cityscapes, is often unrealistic. Bridging the gap between
archaeological sciences and the humanities, it ably integrates
iconographic materials, epigraphic sources, history and
archaeology, along with visual culture. Focusing on three main
ancient ports - Alexandria, Rome and Leptis Magna - Federico
Ugolini considers a range of issues around harbour iconography,
from the triumphal imagery of monumental harbours and the symbolism
of harbour images, their identification across the Mediterranean,
and their symbolic, ideological and propagandistic messages, to the
ways in which aspects of Imperial authority and control over the
seas were expressed in the iconography of the Julio-Claudian,
Trajan and Severii periods, how they reflected the repute, growth
and power of the mercantile class during the Imperial era, and how
the use of imagery reflected euergetism and paideia, which would
inform the Roman audience about who had power over the sea.
Domesticating Empire is the first contextually-oriented monograph
on Egyptian imagery in Roman households. Caitlin Barrett draws on
case studies from Flavian Pompeii to investigate the close
association between representations of Egypt and a particular type
of Roman household space: the domestic garden. Through paintings
and mosaics portraying the Nile, canals that turned the garden
itself into a miniature "Nilescape," and statuary depicting
Egyptian themes, many gardens in Pompeii offered ancient visitors
evocations of a Roman vision of Egypt. Simultaneously faraway and
familiar, these imagined landscapes made the unfathomable breadth
of empire compatible with the familiarity of home. In contrast to
older interpretations that connect Roman "Aegyptiaca" to the
worship of Egyptian gods or the problematic concept of
"Egyptomania," a contextual analysis of these garden assemblages
suggests new possibilities for meaning. In Pompeian houses,
Egyptian and Egyptian-looking objects and images interacted with
their settings to construct complex entanglements of "foreign" and
"familiar," "self" and "other." Representations of Egyptian
landscapes in domestic gardens enabled individuals to present
themselves as sophisticated citizens of empire. Yet at the same
time, household material culture also exerted an agency of its own:
domesticizing, familiarizing, and "Romanizing" once-foreign images
and objects. That which was once imagined as alien and potentially
dangerous was now part of the domus itself, increasingly
incorporated into cultural constructions of what it meant to be
"Roman." Featuring brilliant illustrations in both color and black
and white, Domesticating Empire reveals the importance of material
culture in transforming household space into a microcosm of empire.
The Han dynasty was the first to forge a stable empire governing
all of China. It ruled during a golden age that shaped much of the
nation's cultural history and development. In an effort to preserve
their legacy of beauty and power, the Han created elaborate tombs
containing exquisite artistic treasures intended for use in the
afterlife. The finest of these treasures to have survived include
exquisite jades, bronzes, and ceramics, found in the tombs of the
Han imperial family and of a rival "emperor" of Nanyue. Many of the
items, including warrior statues, dancing figures, and priceless
jewels-intended to ensure protection, entertainment, and continued
wealth and status, respectively-are brought together for the first
time in this stunning publication. Featuring newly commissioned
photography and essays by leading scholars, this sumptuously
illustrated catalogue presents a ground-breaking account of the
finest treasures from the Han dynasty. Published in association
with The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Exhibition Schedule: The
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge(05/05/12-11/11/12)
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