Underworld

Underworld
Author: David Saunders
Publisher: Getty Publications
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2022-01-11
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1606067494

Abundantly illustrated, this essential volume examines depictions of the Underworld in southern Italian vase painting and explores the religious and cultural beliefs behind them. What happens to us when we die? What might the afterlife look like? For the ancient Greeks, the dead lived on, overseen by Hades in the Underworld. We read of famous sinners, such as Sisyphus, forever rolling his rock, and the fierce guard dog Kerberos, who was captured by Herakles. For mere mortals, ritual and religion offered possibilities for ensuring a happy existence in the beyond, and some of the richest evidence for beliefs about death comes from southern Italy, where the local Italic peoples engaged with Greek beliefs. Monumental funerary vases that accompanied the deceased were decorated with consolatory scenes from myth, and around forty preserve elaborate depictions of Hades’s domain. For the first time in over four decades, these compelling vase paintings are brought together in one volume, with detailed commentaries and ample illustrations. The catalogue is accompanied by a series of essays by leading experts in the field, which provides a framework for understanding these intriguing scenes and their contexts. Topics include attitudes toward the afterlife in Greek ritual and myth, inscriptions on leaves of gold that provided guidance for the deceased, funerary practices and religious beliefs in Apulia, and the importance accorded to Orpheus and Dionysos. Drawing from a variety of textual and archaeological sources, this volume is an essential source for anyone interested in religion and belief in the ancient Mediterranean.

Papers in Italian Archaeology VII: The Archaeology of Death

Papers in Italian Archaeology VII: The Archaeology of Death
Author: Edward Herring
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 630
Release: 2018-08-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1784919225

This volume collects more than 60 papers by contributors from the British Isles, Italy and other parts of continental Europe, and North and South America, focussing on recent developments in Italian archaeology from the Neolithic to the modern period.

Territory, Time and State

Territory, Time and State
Author: Francesco Allegrucci
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 1994-09-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521355681

Territory, Time and State is a study of long term archaeological history in the remote and beautiful upland valley of Gubbio within the Umbrian Apennines of Italy. The aim of the work is well defined by the natural constraints of this mountainous region. The authors have developed a multi-disciplinary approach to study the human and physical characteristics of the valley from the paleolithic to the medieval period. They integrate the analysis of a unique text (the Iguvine Tables) with excavation, field survey and environmental reconstruction to provide a synthesis of current knowledge. They break boundaries of time and tradition which are normally compartmentalised between different scholars. Although the linkage is sometimes controversial, it is always stimulating. The book has two major focuses: the first is on the Bronze Age landscape where spectacular sites and finds have contributed very significantly to our knowledge of pre-state Italy; and the second is on the identity and character of the early city state of Gubbio and its incorporation into the Roman world.

Even More Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis

Even More Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis
Author: Thomas Heine Nielsen
Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2002
Genre: Cities and towns, Ancient
ISBN: 9783515081023

A series of new Papers from the Copenhagen Polis Centre. Among other things, these important papers discuss the role and function of theatres in the Greek world, the nature of early Cretan laws, how Greeks and indigenous peoples interacted on Sicily and in Magna Graecia, and whether or not the modern concept of 'the stateless society' applies to the ancient Greek polis.

Heritage Studies

Heritage Studies
Author: Marie Louise Stig Sørensen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2009-09-18
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1135249504

This is the first volume specifically dedicated to the consolidation and clarification of Heritage Studies as a distinct field with its own means of investigation. It presents the range of methods that can be used and illustrates their application through case studies from different parts of the world, including the UK and USA. The challenge that the collection makes explicit is that Heritage Studies must develop a stronger recognition of the scope and nature of its data and a concise yet explorative understanding of its analytical methods. The methods considered fall within three broad categories: textual/discourse analysis, methods for investigating people’s attitudes and behaviour; and methods for exploring the material qualities of heritage. The methods discussed and illustrated range from techniques such as text analysis, interviews, participant observation, to semiotic analysis of heritage sites and the use of GIS. Each paper discusses the ways in which methods used in social analysis generally are explored and adapted to the specific demands that arise when applied to the investigation of heritage in its many forms. Heritage Studies is a seminal volume that will help to define the field. The global perspective and the shared focus upon the development of reflexive methodologies ensure that the volume explores these central issues in a manner that is simultaneously case-specific and of general relevance.

The Early Christian Book (CUA Studies in Early Christianity)

The Early Christian Book (CUA Studies in Early Christianity)
Author: William E. Klingshirn
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2007
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0813214866

Written by experts in the field, the essays in this volume examine the early Christian book from a wide range of disciplines: religion, art history, history, Near Eastern studies, and classics.

Neolithic Landscapes

Neolithic Landscapes
Author: Peter Topping
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2002-12-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1785701541

Reprint of another classic Neolithic Studies Group volume. 'It is a sign of the intellectual health of a specialist study group that its deliberations can generate collections of papers of general interest. The topical issue of landscape is addressed, although with the added complication of attempting to focus on the domestic as opposed to ceremonial aspects of Neolithic life'.

Greek Identity in the Western Mediterranean

Greek Identity in the Western Mediterranean
Author: Kathryn Lomas
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2017-07-31
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9047402669

This collection of essays, in honour of Professor B.B. Shefton, provides an innovative exploration of the culture of the Greek colonies of the Western Mediterranean, their relations with their non-Greek neigbours, and the evolution of distinctive regional identities.

The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe

The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe
Author: Chris Fowler
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 1303
Release: 2015-03-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0191666890

The Neolithic --a period in which the first sedentary agrarian communities were established across much of Europe--has been a key topic of archaeological research for over a century. However, the variety of evidence across Europe, the range of languages in which research is carried out, and the way research traditions in different countries have developed makes it very difficult for both students and specialists to gain an overview of continent-wide trends. The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe provides the first comprehensive, geographically extensive, thematic overview of the European Neolithic --from Iberia to Russia and from Norway to Malta --offering both a general introduction and a clear exploration of key issues and current debates surrounding evidence and interpretation. Chapters written by leading experts in the field examine topics such as the movement of plants, animals, ideas, and people (including recent trends in the application of genetics and isotope analyses); cultural change (from the first appearance of farming to the first metal artefacts); domestic architecture; subsistence; material culture; monuments; and burial and other treatments of the dead. In doing so, the volume also considers the history of research and sets out agendas and themes for future work in the field.

Sicily Before History

Sicily Before History
Author: Robert Leighton
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780801485855

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the most varied in appearance, and least insular in terms of cultural development. It has often been described as a meeting place of cultures, where East meets West.