Roman Art

This project presents and analyses all of the signet rings and intaglios so far unearthed in Roman Britain to reinterpret how they were used and their role within provincial society. These small artefacts have traditionally been regarded as attractive but relatively insignificant minor objets d’art, with little relevance to the wider discourses of Romanists. This thesis attempts a more critical examination of how they were used and their role within provincial Roman society. I argue that signet rings were an essential element in provincial society that should no longer be overlooked. This project builds on the pioneering Corpus assembled by Martin Henig in the 1970s, including more recent
discoveries and more than doubling the material available to him. This combined body of evidence includes 2,012 signet rings and intaglios, making it one of the largest contextualised assemblages of these objects ever studied. It also benefits from the results of developer funded archaeology and the advent of recording by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, enabling us to create a richer and more detailed picture how they were used.

My approach has been to resituate these objects in terms of the archaeological context in which they were found, but also to consider them as functional as well as decorative objects. When
studied in this way signet rings provide a unique perspective on the identity of their wearers, and how they wanted to present themselves to others. I have found growing evidence for the use of signet rings amongst local elites before the Roman invasion of Britain, and it is clear that they had a role to play in negotiating identity after the conquest. I have also been able to identify trends in the way that different communities used signet rings, both as regards their imagery and materiality. It is also apparent that in
some parts of Britain these objects remained a feature of a type of dress and the hallmark of a society that remained alien to their inhabitants throughout the Roman period. However, for those who chose to wear them, signet rings could be more than just objects but reflections of themselves.

Research undertaken in Durham University, Faculty of Social Sciences and Health: Department of Archaeology; supervised by Dr Anna Leone.

Viva voce examination held on April 15th, 2016.
Examiners: Prof. Roland R. R. Smith (University of Oxford), Dr Catherine M. Draycott (Durham University).
Outcome: passed forthwith (no corrections; thesis passed unconditionally).

This book presents a new study of Greek large-scale bronze statuary of the late Archaic and Classical periods. It examines the discovery, origin, style, date, artistic attribution, identification, and interpretation of the surviving bronzes, and focuses in particular on their technical features and casting techniques. It contains over 170 plates of photographs and drawings to illustrate its discussion.

It also places the development of the casting techniques in connection with the stylistic evolution in Greek free-standing sculpture. During the Classical period, artists preferred bronze to marble when creating their contrapposto figures. Indisputably, bronze gave particular freedom to artists in creating three-dimensional figures. In addition, the evolution in style encouraged the development of the uses of bronze to serve the new needs and tendencies in sculpture during the late Archaic and especially the Classical period. Through the examination of how technical matters affect style, this book presents fresh interpretations of these important monuments of Greek art and offers a new approach in the field of Greek free-standing bronze sculpture.

Until recently, an exquisite object of art of the early imperial period, known as the “Warren Cup,” with two figural scenes of homosexual love-making has gained very little attention.  The scenes have been taken either as political satire making sport of certain male youths of the Julio-Claudian family or as representations of activities in a “gay brothel.”  However, based on a new consideration of both internal and external evidence, I conclude that neither of these interpretations is likely. Beside offering a completely new interpretation of the subject matter of the cup, I address another subject that has been neglected in past discussions; namely, the function of the cup and its significance for understanding the nature of its homoerotic subjects.

Although such fine silver cups were regularly made in pairs with similar or related scenes, the few past discussions of the Warren Cup have failed to consider the question of its lost mate.  We may arrive at likely possibilities for the presumed lost mate of the Warren Cup by analyzing similar scenes on early imperial Arretine bowls, usually considered the poor man’s version of cups in precious metals.  I consider also the rhetorical and aporetic nature of the Warren Cup’s scenes, as well as the intended audience of the cup.

The Warren Cup is of great importance for the information it provides about not only Roman concepts of homosexual love making but also the role of such cups in the intellectual discourse of Roman banqueting.

Following on from articles in JRA 6 (1993) and 20 (2007) this paper develops additional arguments in favour of a Hadrianic date for the frieze on Trajan's Column, placing the installation of his tomb at the foot of the Column and the building of a temple for him as Divus Nerva Trajan within the context of Hadrian's imperial succession and the latest archaeological discoveries in the area NE of the Column.

Il contributo analizza la documentazione materiale relativa ad Imola / Forum Corneli in età romana, trattando dei reperti dal punto di vista sia della conoscenza storica, sociale ed economica, sia dei loro aspetti formali ed artistici. Una particolare attenzione è riservata alle testimonianze coroplastiche, musive, scultoree ed architettoniche tra le quali risalta la ricca serie di elementi legati alla monumentalizzazione funeraria.

Walther Amelung & Georg Lippold, Die Sculpturen des Vaticanischen Museums (1908), 220-24. https://books.google.com/books?id=z7-fAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA435&lpg=PA435&dq=Amelung,+Die+Sculpturen+des+Vaticanischen+Museums,+im +Auftrage&source=bl&ots=ZBskAi_hcf&sig=lhXZQCvVgANlA7RSNcQ6MVIzgQA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiwg6nIi_7NAhUC3GMKHePjARUQ6AEIRTAG#v=onepage&q=Ara% 20Pacis&f=false 81

This is a revised museum guide to two of the Ara Pacis panels from the North Frieze.  At the very end Amelung and Lippold provide a bibliography of the material as of 1908.

Se pretende abordar el estudio de los graneros romanos de ámbito militar en Hispania, mediante un análisis del emplazamiento que ocupaban en el interior de los campamentos legionarios y fuertes y, especialmente, de las técnicas de construcción de los edificios. Para ello, resulta necesario presentar la información relativa a los almacenes de grano desde un punto de vista crítico, con el fin de determinar cuáles son los graneros documentados hasta la actualidad en Hispania y señalar qué edificios fueron utilizados simplemente como almacenes. Para ello, se presenta una valoración crítica de la información relativa a los horrea excavados en Hispania para, a continuación, analizar detenidamente los graneros militares de época republicana e imperial documentados hasta la actualidad.

The visual devices used by Tony Blair and George Bush to get themselves elected and maintain power, come not from modern times, but a world that is thousands of years old. How Art Made the World ventures back to the creation of Stonehenge and the reign of Alexander the Great to reveal how imagery became an indispensable weapon in every leader's political armoury.

This episode explores how art can be used as a persuasion device by those in power and when did we learn to use images, to create a powerful icon or symbol, this way?

The use of art as a tool for those in power, started at different times, in different cultures. Near Stonehenge the grave of the Amesbury Archer was discovered in 2002, the grave was different to those previously found near the site, as this one was not Roman, but much earlier, dating to when the first sarsen stones were erected. What made him interesting were his gold hair tresses, possibly the oldest dated gold objects in Britain, and the fact that he was a foreigner, from the region that is now Germany / Switzerland. The archer had completed an epic journey for the time, and the treasures in his grave show a man of status. Art for personal adornment, like these hair clasps, elevated him above his peers.

As time progressed, art became a political tool, kings competed for more dazzling adornments. As kingdoms got bigger the kings had to overcome communication issues. Darius the Great of Persia, ruled over 20 nations from Persepolis. As very few people could read, Darius had stone reliefs created that combined styles from all over the empire, the carvings showed each nation bring tributes to their king. This showed respect, and the carvings communicated that Darius admired and respected his people. Darius created a symbol for himself, that of the archer, symbolic to Persians of leadership and wisdom, central to the concept of kingship. Darius embossed this symbol on gold coins, which became the currency to trade within the empire.

Darius’ conqueror, Alexander the Great, took this concept further. From an early age, Alexander’s image was being made for him. In his fathers tomb, an Ivory head recognisable as Alexander’s was found, showing that his image had been made for him in advance of him becoming king. In Pompeii, a copy of an original Macedonian painting, shows Alexander the Great, fearless, fixated on his enemy and leading from the front. He is in the midst of battle with king Darius, shown fearful and panicking. Where Darius had used a symbol to communicate his power, Alexander used his face. On defeating the Persians, Alexander melted down all their coins replacing them with coins bearing his head. Tests have shown that people are more influenced by the image of the head and this technique has endured 2500 years and still used today.

This artistic power can be used for sinister purposes, to persuade us to see things a certain way or even deceive us. The earliest known use of this dates back to the Romans. In 40BC Rome was in crisis, the city state was split between royalists and republicans. You could tell people’s political allegiance by how they dressed. Octavian (Augustus) understood the power of art and used it to his advantage. He needed to persuade his opponents ,and used artists to create a less threatening image, one that won over the republicans. Although the image showed him as a powerful general, it didn’t show any military arms, and his gestures were more about humility than power. His armour breast plates show him accepting surrender of the Parthian Empire, with the gods looking on approvingly. The statue offered reassurance, but it was all a lie. While he portrayed himself as a peace maker, he was getting rid of the opposition; while he was preaching humility, he lived like corrupt royalty and while pretending to hand power to the people he reinstated himself as a king.

The leaders of past used paint and marble, today we use digital manipulation. But as humans we still remain vulnerable to the persuasive power of art.

le 30e colloque de l'AFPMA aura lieu les vendredi 24 et samedi 25 novembre 2017 au musée départemental Arles antique à Arles.

Vous trouverez ci joint le programme de ces 30e rencontre et dans une autre rubrique la fiche d'inscription auditeur à retourner avant le 31 octobre.

"This book includes 88 contributions (oral and posters) that were presented during the IX International Conference of the Association for the Study of Marbles and Other Stones in Antiquity (ASMOSIA), held in Tarragona between 8 and June 13 2009. These papers reflect the outcome of this meeting, which aimed to provide the scientific community interested in ancient stone a forum to discuss and exchange new data and results about all related aspects (geological and analytical archaeological, artistic and historical).  Following the premises of ASMOSIA, special attention is paid to a multidisciplinary approach and collaboration between researchers and practitioners from different disciplines as an essential tool to advance the identification, use, sale and use of materials tablet in ancient times.  The volume is divided into 8 chapters which are derived from sessions which organized the conference: 1. Applications to specific archaeological questions. Use of Marble 2. Provenances identification and I. Marbles 3. Provenances identification and II. Other stones 4. Transport and trade of stone 5. Quarries 6. Quarrying techniques, organization and stone manufacturing 7. Pigments of paintings and marble 8. Symbolism of stones. Local and imported materials"

La fouille d’un habitat antique, dans un secteur de la cité de Durocortorum / Reims connu pour avoir livré de grandes domus, a mis au jour plusieurs décors malheureusement très fragmentaires. Parmi eux, on retiendra un ensemble à panneaux sous pseudo-édicules au-dessus desquels évoluent des Amours tandis que les candélabres des inter-panneaux sont couronnés de riches figures sommitales dont l’identification demeure difficile. Un autre groupe permet de reconnaître une voûte d’arêtes dont la surface peignée révèle une mode caractéristique de la toute fin du IIe ou du IIIe s. p.C. D’autres indices témoignent encore de la présence de plusieurs décors à scènes figurées de grande taille ou au contraire d’ensembles à l’ornementation particulièrement sommaire, à fond blanc.

This chapter examines Italian images of Dionysus with a view to exploring the dynamics of acculturation of a Greek figure. The aim is to show that images provide major evidence not only for studying art history, but also religious and cultural history; and that far from being representations of cultic ritual, or being mere adaptations of imported iconographic schemes, Roman and Italian images of Dionysus furnish a figurative and reflexive discourse on the very processes of appropriation and domestication. In the case of each representation, the chapter specifies the ways in which Greek forms acquire local inflections, and
identify the ways in which these respond and correspond to Roman or Italian rituals as well as to social and political realities. Where possible, the images are put in the context of Roman literary treatments of related phenomena. Two sets of images are subjected to scrutiny: a miscellaneous cluster from the archaic period, and a more homogeneous body of sacro-idyllic landscapes from the Augustan
era. The early images are particularly sensitive to cultural analysis. The Augustan images show landscape being marked as ritual space through Dionysian and other motifs; and the taming of nature which they evince coheres with the new Augustan view of Dionysus, which is a response to Mark Antony’s cultivation of an exuberant Dionysian persona. The main pieces of evidence on which this chapter draws are: a set of fragments of statuary believed to come from the sixthcentury
sanctuary of Sant’Omobono in the Forum Boarium; some descriptions of
the decorative programme of the late-fifth-century temple of Ceres, Liber and Libera; an image of Liber on an inscribed third-century Praenestine cista (CIL I2, 563. Berlin, Charlottenburg, inv. Misc. 6239); Liber on the fourth-century Cista Ficoroni; a Dionysian fresco from Lanuvium; and frescoes and stucco panels from the Villa della Farnesina, all dating to the early Augustan period.

In “The Armstrong and Nuffler Heads and the Portraiture of Julius Caesar, Livia, and Antonia Minor,” John Pollini discusses two little known basalt portraits of high quality. The Armstrong Head, representing an older male, may be an uncanonical portrait of Julius Caesar, while the Nuffler Head, representing a younger-looking female, is identifiable as an image of Augustus’ wife Livia. Because neither portrait obviously and unquestionably represents the individuals proposed, this essay also presents a new consideration of the portrait typologies of Caesar and Livia, as well as Antonia Minor, to whom the female head bears some resemblance. The Armstrong Head seems to be a portrait of Caesar that was freely interpreted by a Hellenistic sculptor working in Egypt at the very end of the Republic or in the earlier Augustan period, while the Nuffler Head of Livia was probably created some time after the death of her husband Augustus in A.D. 14. Since various factors indicate that both heads may originally have come from the same context, the Nuffler Head, which appears to have been created at a later date than the other sculpture, may have been added to a portrait group that already included the Armstrong Head. Both images have suffered damage consistent with their having been intentionally defaced, quite possibly by iconoclastic Christians who attacked the images of the polytheistic
peoples of the Empire during the Late Antique period. Caesar had been worshiped as a god, so images of him with other members of the Julio-Claudian family, especially if set up in a shrine like the Caesareum/Augusteum at Alexandria, would have been all the more likely targets of assault.

It is a commonplace to point out that Rome's rapid rise to power in the ancient world resulted in great measure from its position in the Italian peninsula. Surrounded by mountains on all sides except on the south the Urbs is situated in the midst of a plain of volcanic origin, known as the Campagna. The Tiber flows through the city from north to south on its way to Ostia, the ancient seaport, where it empties into the ocean. Although the seven traditional hills upon which the city was built still retain their ancient names and may still be traced, in some cases their elevation is so slight as to be disappointing to those who visit Rome for the first time.

What then has caused the changes in ground level which have taken place since the ancient period? It seems clear that many of the elaborate buildings of the Empire were superimposed upon the foundations of earlier structures which had not been completely demolished. Then too, as parts of ancient Rome fell into ruin during the Middle Ages, the débris was not cleared away, but structures of the Renaissance period were build upon the accumulated rubbish. Views of the Roman Forum dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries show the columns of the ancient temples buried deep in the earth, a clear indication of the extent to which the ground level had risen.

In seeking to ferret out the secrets buried beneath the . .