Theory and Practice in Late Antique Archaeology

Theory and Practice in Late Antique Archaeology
Author: Luke A. Lavan
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 484
Release: 2003
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9789004125674

An exploration of theoretical frameworks, methodology and field practice suited to the late antique Mediterranean. Broad themes such as long-term change, topography, the economy and social life are covered, but in terms of the issues and problems being tackled by scholars of late antiquity.

Changing Townscapes in North Africa from Late Antiquity to the Arab Conquest

Changing Townscapes in North Africa from Late Antiquity to the Arab Conquest
Author: Anna Leone
Publisher: Edipuglia srl
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2007
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 8872284988

"This book examines the complex transition of North Africa from the Late Roman period to the Arab conquest, focusing on three provinces: Zeugitana, Byzacena and Tripolitana. In particular, it considers the continuity and transformation of towns, as a result of economic, political and social changes. The period sees the wide diffusion of Christianity, the imposition of Vandal rule and Arianism, the presence of a new Empire and the Arab/Muslim takeover. It is also a period of archaeological and material transition: physically towns changed and classical structures, in particular, decayed and were reused. The evidence considered here encompasses a wide range of material, including publications from 1800 (Italian and French colonial excavations) to modern times. These data form the basis for a detailed review of archaeological evidence in this geographical area and for the analysis of the processes of evolution that characterised North African cities"--

The Art and Archaeology of Venetian Ships and Boats

The Art and Archaeology of Venetian Ships and Boats
Author: Lillian Ray Martin
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2001
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781585440986

Presents a brief history of Venetian art and then catalogues each known piece of Venetian art that depicts watercraft. Through detailed analysis of these images the author reveals important facts about the construction, rigging, and use of these watercraft.

East and West

East and West
Author: Euangelos K. Chrysos
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 340
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN: 9789004109292

The End of Antiquity saw an increase in the divide between East and West. This crucial development in the history of the Late and Post-Roman World was addressed in a series of linked papers delivered at the first plenary conference of the European Science Foundation's scientific programme on the Transformation of the Roman World, held in 1995. A group of leading scholars addressed questions of social, cultural, artistic and linguistic change, concentrating largely on developments within the East, while changes in the West were explored in a series of responses.

Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages

Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages
Author: Lucy Donkin
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 526
Release: 2022-02-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1501753851

Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages illuminates how the floor surface shaped the ways in which people in medieval western Europe and beyond experienced sacred spaces. The ground beneath our feet plays a crucial, yet often overlooked, role in our relationship with the environments we inhabit and the spaces with which we interact. By focusing on this surface as a point of encounter, Lucy Donkin positions it within a series of vertically stacked layers—the earth itself, permanent and temporary floor coverings, and the bodies of the living above ground and the dead beneath—providing new perspectives on how sacred space was defined and decorated, including the veneration of holy footprints, consecration ceremonies, and the demarcation of certain places for particular activities. Using a wide array of visual and textual sources, Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages also details ways in which interaction with this surface shaped people's identities, whether as individuals, office holders, or members of religious communities. Gestures such as trampling and prostration, the repeated employment of specific locations, and burial beneath particular people or actions used the surface to express likeness and difference. From pilgrimage sites in the Holy Land to cathedrals, abbeys, and local parish churches across the Latin West, Donkin frames the ground as a shared surface, both a feature of diverse, distant places and subject to a variety of uses over time—while also offering a model for understanding spatial relationships in other periods, regions, and contexts.

From Idols to Icons

From Idols to Icons
Author: Robin M. Jensen
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2022-09-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0520975731

Even the briefest glance at an art museum’s holdings or an introductory history textbook demonstrates the profound influence of Christian images and art. From Idols to Icons tells the fascinating history of the dramatic shift in Christian attitudes toward sacred images from the third through the early seventh century. From attacks on the cult images of polytheism to the emergence of Christian narrative iconography to the appearance of portrait-type representations of holy figures, this book examines the primary theological critiques and defenses of holy images in light of the surviving material evidence for early Christian visual art. Against the previous assumption that fourth- and fifth-century Christians simply forgot or ignored their predecessors’ censure and reverted to more alluring pagan practices, Robin M. Jensen contends that each stage of this profound change was uniquely Christian. Through a careful consideration of the cults of saints’ remains, devotional portraits, and pilgrimages to sacred sites, Jensen shows how the Christian devotion to holy images came to be rooted in their evolving conviction that the divine was accessible in and through visible objects.