The Afterlife of Greek and Roman Sculpture: Late Antique Responses and Practices
For centuries, statuary décor was a main characteristic of any city, sanctuary, or villa in the Roman world. However, from the third century CE onward, the prevalence of statues across the Roman Empire declined dramatically. By the end of the sixth century, statues were no longer a defining characteristic of the imperial landscape. Further, changing religious practices cast pagan sculpture in a threatening light. Statuary production ceased, and extant statuary was either harvested for use in construction or abandoned in place.
The Afterlife of Greek and Roman Sculpture is the first volume to approach systematically the antique destruction and reuse of statuary, investigating key responses to statuary across most regions of the Roman world. The volume opens with a discussion of the complexity of the archaeological record and a preliminary chronology of the fate of statues across both the eastern and western imperial landscape. Contributors to the volume address questions of definition, identification, and interpretation for particular treatments of statuary, including metal statuary and the systematic reuse of villa materials. They consider factors such as earthquake damage, late antique views on civic versus “private” uses of art, urban construction, and deeper causes underlying the end of the statuary habit, including a new explanation for the decline of imperial portraiture. The themes explored resonate with contemporary concerns related to urban decline, as evident in post-industrial cities, and the destruction of cultural heritage, such as in the Middle East.  
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The Afterlife of Greek and Roman Sculpture: Late Antique Responses and Practices
For centuries, statuary décor was a main characteristic of any city, sanctuary, or villa in the Roman world. However, from the third century CE onward, the prevalence of statues across the Roman Empire declined dramatically. By the end of the sixth century, statues were no longer a defining characteristic of the imperial landscape. Further, changing religious practices cast pagan sculpture in a threatening light. Statuary production ceased, and extant statuary was either harvested for use in construction or abandoned in place.
The Afterlife of Greek and Roman Sculpture is the first volume to approach systematically the antique destruction and reuse of statuary, investigating key responses to statuary across most regions of the Roman world. The volume opens with a discussion of the complexity of the archaeological record and a preliminary chronology of the fate of statues across both the eastern and western imperial landscape. Contributors to the volume address questions of definition, identification, and interpretation for particular treatments of statuary, including metal statuary and the systematic reuse of villa materials. They consider factors such as earthquake damage, late antique views on civic versus “private” uses of art, urban construction, and deeper causes underlying the end of the statuary habit, including a new explanation for the decline of imperial portraiture. The themes explored resonate with contemporary concerns related to urban decline, as evident in post-industrial cities, and the destruction of cultural heritage, such as in the Middle East.  
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The Afterlife of Greek and Roman Sculpture: Late Antique Responses and Practices

The Afterlife of Greek and Roman Sculpture: Late Antique Responses and Practices

The Afterlife of Greek and Roman Sculpture: Late Antique Responses and Practices

The Afterlife of Greek and Roman Sculpture: Late Antique Responses and Practices

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Overview

For centuries, statuary décor was a main characteristic of any city, sanctuary, or villa in the Roman world. However, from the third century CE onward, the prevalence of statues across the Roman Empire declined dramatically. By the end of the sixth century, statues were no longer a defining characteristic of the imperial landscape. Further, changing religious practices cast pagan sculpture in a threatening light. Statuary production ceased, and extant statuary was either harvested for use in construction or abandoned in place.
The Afterlife of Greek and Roman Sculpture is the first volume to approach systematically the antique destruction and reuse of statuary, investigating key responses to statuary across most regions of the Roman world. The volume opens with a discussion of the complexity of the archaeological record and a preliminary chronology of the fate of statues across both the eastern and western imperial landscape. Contributors to the volume address questions of definition, identification, and interpretation for particular treatments of statuary, including metal statuary and the systematic reuse of villa materials. They consider factors such as earthquake damage, late antique views on civic versus “private” uses of art, urban construction, and deeper causes underlying the end of the statuary habit, including a new explanation for the decline of imperial portraiture. The themes explored resonate with contemporary concerns related to urban decline, as evident in post-industrial cities, and the destruction of cultural heritage, such as in the Middle East.  

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780472121823
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Publication date: 06/27/2016
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 432
File size: 12 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

Table of Contents

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction The Lives and Afterlives of Greek and Roman Sculpture: From Use to Refuse - Troels Myrup Kristensen and Lea Stirling Part I. Practices of Deposition and Reuse One. Metal Sculpture from Roman Britain: Scraps but Not Always Scrap - Ben Croxford Two. Sculptural Deposition and Lime Kilns at Roman Villas in Italy and the Western Provinces in Late Antiquity - Beth Munro Three. “Christ-Loving Antioch Became Desolate”: Sculpture, Earthquakes, and Late Antique Urban Life - Troels Myrup Kristensen Part II. Regional Perspectives Four. Old Habits Die Hard: A Group of Mythological Statuettes from Sagalassos and the Afterlife of Sculpture in Asia Minor - Ine Jacobs Five. The Reuse of Ancient Sculpture in the Urban Spaces of Late Antique Athens - Nadin Burkhardt Six. Crosses, Noses, Walls, and Wells: Christianity and the Fate of Sculpture in Late Antique Corinth - Amelia R. Brown Seven. The Reuse of Funerary Statues in Late Antique Prestige Buildings at Ostia - Cristina Murer Eight. Germans, Christians, and Rituals of Closure: Agents ofCult Image Destruction in Roman Germany - Philip Kiernan Nine. The Fate of Classical Statues in Late Antique and Byzantine Sicily: The Cases of Catania and Agrigento - Denis Sami Ten. The Fate of Sculpture on the Lower Danube in Late Antiquity: Preliminary Observations - Cristina-Georgeta Alexandrescu Part III. Grand Narratives Eleven. Shifting Use of a Genre: A Comparison of Statuary Décor in Homes and Baths of the Late Roman West - Lea Stirling Twelve. The Disappearing Imperial Statue: Toward a Social Approach - Benjamin Anderson Tthirteen. The Sunset of 3D - Paolo Liverani Fourteen. Travelers’ Accounts of Roman Statuary in the Near East and North Africa: From Limbo and Destruction to Museum Heaven - Michael Greenhalgh Contributors Bibliography Index
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