Architectural Symbolism of Imperial Rome and the Middle Ages

Smith, E. Baldwin

Published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1956

About this Item

Number XXX of the Princeton Monographs in Art and Archeology, published in 1956. Contains 175 b/w illustrations. The author examines royal ceremonies of Hellenistic origin, imperial palace concepts and theophanic ideas of rulership to determine their influence on the archetectural symbolism of Rome, Byzantium, the Carolinginian and Holy Roman Empires, and the Islamic East. By means of documentary evidence, such as Roman coins and mosaics, medieval manuscripts, tapestries, and medallions, this study traces the stages by which both political and religious ideologies were associated with castrum, city-gate, towered facade, cupola, orbis, royal ciborium, and domical vestibule. In addition to showing the influence of the Sacrum palatium upon the church architecture and graphic symbolism of the Middle Ages, the author raises such questions as how the destroyed palaces of Rome, Constantinople, and the Middle Ages should be visualized, and whether the imperial tradition of palace symbolism did not persist in the Islamic East as the Moghul Empire in India. 10% discount with purchase direct through bookseller.

Seller Inventory # 000156

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Architectural Symbolism of Imperial Rome and the Middle Ages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
• Publication Date: 1956
• Binding: Black Cloth
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: About Very Good