Graphic Signs of Identity, Faith, and Power in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Cursor Mundi) - Hardcover

Ildar H Garipzanov

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 250356724X ISBN 13: 9782503567242

Publisher: Brepols Publishers, 2017

Synopsis

In this volume, twelve specialists examine the role of graphic signs such as cross signs, christograms, and monograms in the late Roman and post-Roman worlds and the contexts that facilitated their dissemination in diverse media. The essays collected here explore the rise and spread of graphic signs in relation to socio-cultural transformations during Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, focusing in particular on evolving perceptions and projections of authority. They ask whether some culturally specific norms and practices of graphic composition and communication can be discerned behind the rising corpus of graphic signs from the fourth to tenth centuries and whether common features can be found in their production and use across various media and contexts. The contributors to this book analyse the uses of graphic signs in quotidian objects, imperial architectural programmes, and a wide range of other media. In doing so, they argue that late antique and early medieval graphic signs were efficacious means to communicate with both the supernatural and earthly worlds, as well as to disseminate visual messages regarding religious identity and faith, and social power.

About this title

About the Author

Henry Maguire is Professor in the Johns Hopkins History of Art Department. His publications include Earth and Ocean: The Terrestrial World in Early Byzantine Art (Penn State, 1987), the edited volume Byzantine Magic (1995), and Icons of Their Bodies: Saints and Their Images in Byzantium (1996).

Edition details

• Publisher: Brepols Publishers
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 250356724X
• ISBN 13: 9782503567242
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 394
• Editor: Ildar H Garipzanov, Caroline Goodson, Henry Maguire