Reuse and Renovation in Roman Material Culture: Functions, Aesthetics, Interpretations - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108461700 ISBN 13: 9781108461702

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2019

Synopsis

This book explores the spoliation of architectural and sculptural materials during the Roman empire. Examining a wide range of materials, including imperial portraits, statues associated with master craftsmen, architectural moldings and fixtures, tombs and sarcophagi, arches and gateways, it demonstrates that secondary intervention was common well before Late Antiquity, in fact, centuries earlier than has been previously acknowledged. The essays in this volume, written by a team of international experts, collectively argue that re-use was a natural feature of human manipulation of the physical environment, rather than a sign of social pressure. Re-use often reflected appreciation for the function, form, and design of the material culture of earlier eras. Political, social, religious, and economic factors also contributed to the practice. A comprehensive overview of spoliation and re-use, this volume examines the phenomenon in Rome and throughout the Mediterranean world.

About this title

Book Description:

This book is for those interested in the Roman world. It treats the re-use of sculptural and architectural materials in new contexts, and explores the new associations that these 'out of place' materials created for their viewers. Materials were sometimes used to create new meanings, and sometimes for economic expedience.

About the Author:

Diana Y. Ng is Associate Professor of Art History, Department of Literature, Philosophy, and the Arts, University of Michigan, Dearborn. Her scholarship focuses on the public art and architecture of the Roman empire, especially in the Greek East. She has been published in the Journal of Roman Studies and Istanbuler Mitteilungen.

Molly Swetnam-Burland is Associate Professor of Classical Studies at the College of William and Mary, Virginia, and is a scholar of Roman painting and sculpture. She is the author of Egypt in Italy: Visions of Egypt in Roman Imperial Culture (Cambridge, 2015).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1108461700
• ISBN 13: 9781108461702
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 291
• Editor: Ng Diana Y., Swetnam-Burland Molly