This book, first published in 2004, develops a theory for the understanding of Roman pictorial art. By treating Roman art as a semantic system it establishes a connection between artistic forms and the ideological messages contained within. The history of Roman art traditionally followed the model of a sequence of stylistic phases affecting the works of their era in the manner of a uniform Zeitgeist. By contrast, the author shows different stylistic forms being used for different themes and messages. The reception of Greek models, a key phenomenon of Roman art, thus appear in a new light. The formulations of specific messages are established from Greek art types of different eras serving to express Roman ideological values: classical forms for the grandeur of the state, Hellenistic forms for the struggling effort of warfare. In this way a conceptual and comprehensible pictorial language arose, uniting the multicultural population of the Roman state.

This book, first published in 2004, develops a theory for the understanding of Roman pictorial art. By treating Roman art as a semantic system it establishes a connection between artistic forms and the ideological messages contained within. The history of Roman art traditionally followed the model of a sequence of stylistic phases affecting the works of their era in the manner of a uniform Zeitgeist. By contrast, the author shows different stylistic forms being used for different themes and messages. The reception of Greek models, a key phenomenon of Roman art, thus appear in a new light. The formulations of specific messages are established from Greek art types of different eras serving to express Roman ideological values: classical forms for the grandeur of the state, Hellenistic forms for the struggling effort of warfare. In this way a conceptual and comprehensible pictorial language arose, uniting the multicultural population of the Roman state.

Visual culture was an essential part of ancient social, religious, and political life. Appearance and experience of beings and things was of paramount importance. In Visual Power in Ancient Greece and Rome, Tonio Hoelscher explores the fundamental phenomena of Greek and Roman visual culture and their enormous impact on the ancient world, considering memory over time, personal appearance, conceptualization and representation of reality, and significant decoration as fundamental categories of art as well as of social practice. With an emphasis on public spaces such as sanctuaries, agora and forum, Hoelscher investigates the ways in which these spaces were used, viewed, and experienced in religious rituals, political manifestations, and social interaction.

Inhalt: Voraussetzungen und Umfeld: Alter Orient und A"gypten - Von der Antike in die Neuzeit und zurA1/4ck - Kulturelle Geographie - Gegenwelten in Bildern: Griechenland - Gegenwelten in Bildern: Rom Die Griechen haben, seit der frA1/4hen archaischen Zeit, ihre Welt in einem eminenten MaA in Bildern begriffen. In Bildern von sich selbst und Gegenbildern zu sich selbst. Die Selbstbilder sind seit Jahrhunderten bewundert und analysiert worden. Hier geht es um die Gegenbilder. Weitgehend waren es Wertvorsstellungen der eigenen Kultur, die dann durch neue Normen und Verhaltensmuster in die Gegenwelt der groAen Antipoden projiziert wurden. Gerade weil es abgedrAngte Ideale und latente MAglichkeiten der eigenen Kultur waren, gewannen sie solche Faszination und AktualitAt.