The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire

The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire
Author: Arjan Zuiderhoek
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2009-04-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521519306

A study of public benefactions by elite individuals to their communities in Roman Asia Minor.

The Last Statues of Antiquity

The Last Statues of Antiquity
Author: R. R. R. Smith
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2016
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0198753322

Spanning centuries and the vastness of the Roman Empire, The Last Statues of Antiquity is the first comprehensive survey of Roman honorific statues in the public realm in Late Antiquity. Drawn from a major research project and corresponding online database that collates all the available evidence for the "statue habit" across the Empire from the late third century AD onwards, the volume examines where, how, and why statues were used, and why these important features of urban life began to decline in number before eventually disappearing around AD 600. Adopting a detailed comparative approach, the collection explores variation between different regions--including North Africa, Asia Minor, and the Near East--as well as individual cities, such as Aphrodisias, Athens, Constantinople, and Rome. A number of thematic chapters also consider the different kinds of honorand, from provincial governors and senators, to women and cultural heroes. Richly illustrated, the volume is the definitive resource for studying the phenomenon of late-antique statues. The collection also incorporates extensive references to the project's database, which is freely accessible online.

The Material Dynamics of Festivals in the Graeco-Roman East

The Material Dynamics of Festivals in the Graeco-Roman East
Author: Zahra Newby
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2024-01-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 0192868799

The Material Dynamics of Festivals in the Graeco-Roman East explores the various ways in which the experience of civic festivals in the Graeco-Roman East was created and framed by material culture. By the second and third centuries AD, Greek festivals were thriving across the eastern Mediterranean. Much of our knowledge of these festivals, and their associated processions, rituals, banquets, and competitions, comes from material culture-- inscriptions, coins, architecture, and art-works. Yet each of these pieces of material evidence was the result of a conscious act, of what to record, and where and how to record it, with varying patterns discernible across different areas, and in different media. This volume draws attention to the choices made in a variety of different forms of material culture relating to Greek festivals from the Hellenistic to Roman periods, and unpicks the ways in which they encode or forge particular social relationships and power structures, as well as creating senses of community or communication between different groups. These helped to fix ephemeral events into public memory, to present particular views of their significance for the wider community, and to frame the experience of their participants.

The First Urban Churches 5

The First Urban Churches 5
Author: James R. Harrison
Publisher: SBL Press
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2019-11-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0884144194

A fresh examination of early Christianity by an international team of New Testament and classical scholars Volume 5 of The First Urban Churches investigates the urban context of Christian churches in first-century Roman Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea. Building on the methodologies introduced in the first volume and supplementing the in-depth studies of Corinth, Ephesus, and Philippi (vols. 2-4), essays in this volume challenge readers to reexamine preconceived understandings of the early church and to grapple with the meaning and context of Christianity in its first-century Roman colonial context. Features: Analysis of urban evidence found in inscriptions, papyri, archaeological remains, coins, and iconography Proposed reconstructions of the past and its social, religious, and political significance A nuanced, informed portrait of ancient urban life in the cities of the Lycus Valley

Clothing the Body of Christ at Colossae

Clothing the Body of Christ at Colossae
Author: Rosemary Canavan
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2012
Genre: Design
ISBN: 9783161517167

What we think of our bodies and what we wear says something about who we are and how we belong. This was the same in the ancient world. Rosemary Canavan explores the imagery of clothing and body in the first century CE Christian writing. An examination of statuary, funerary monuments and coins in this geographical location contemporaneous with the letter's writing reveals how clothing and body images were understood. This is then placed in dialogue with the metaphorical use of clothing and body in other texts, especially the Letter to the Colossians. Social identity and rhetorical studies draw on archaeological, epigraphical, iconographical and literary sources to formulate a new approach to biblical interpretation aptly named "visual exegesis."

Recycling and Reuse in the Roman Economy

Recycling and Reuse in the Roman Economy
Author: Chloë N. Duckworth
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 507
Release: 2020-09-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0192604864

The recycling and reuse of materials and objects were extensive in the past, but have rarely been embedded into models of the economy; even more rarely has any attempt been made to address the scale of these practices. Recent developments, including the use of large datasets, computational modelling, and high-resolution analytical chemistry are increasingly offering the means to reconstruct recycling and reuse, and even to approach the thorny issue of quantification. This volume is the first to bring together these new approaches, and the first to present a consideration of recycling and reuse in the Roman economy, taking into account a range of materials and using a variety of methodological approaches. It presents integrated, cross-referential evidence for the recycling and reuse of textiles, papyrus, statuary and building materials, amphorae, metals, and glass, and examines significant questions about organization, value, and the social meaning of recycling.

Space, Movement and the Economy in Roman Cities in Italy and Beyond

Space, Movement and the Economy in Roman Cities in Italy and Beyond
Author: Frank Vermeulen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 436
Release: 2021-05-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000379388

How were space and movement in Roman cities affected by economic life? What can the study of Roman urban landscapes tell us about the nature of the Roman economy? These are the central questions addressed in this volume. While there exist many studies of Roman urban space and of the Roman economy, rarely have the two topics been investigated together in a sustained fashion. In this volume, an international team of archaeologists and historians focuses explicitly on the economics of space and mobility in Roman Imperial cities, in both Italy and the provinces, east and west. Employing many kinds of material and written evidence and a wide range of methodologies, the contributors cast new light both on well-known and on less-explored sites. With their direct focus on the everyday economic uses of urban spaces and the movements through them, the contributors offer a fresh and innovative perspective on the workings of Roman urban economies and on the debates concerning space in the Roman world. This volume will be of interest to archaeologists and historians, both those studying the Greco-Roman world and those focusing on urban economic space in other periods and places as well as to other scholars studying premodern urbanism and urban economies.