Imagery and iconography served specific functions in public, private, and ritual spheres in the Roman world. State-sanctioned imagery communicated politically charged ideas through an often-complex pictorial language, composed of emblems and attributes that signaled aspects of policy.
In the private sphere, imagery communicated ethnic, social, and religious identities through specific signs, symbols, and forms, and through the emulation of state-sanctioned art. This volume focuses primarily on visual imagery in the Roman world, examined by context and period, and the evolving scholarly traditions of iconographic analysis and visual semiotics that have framed the modern study of these images. Among other subjects, essays touch on iconography and style in republican and early imperial art, public sculpture and social practice in the Roman Empire, coin iconography, funerary imagery, imagery in ritual use, and images and interpretation of Africans in Roman art. The Oxford Handbook of Roman Imagery and Iconography is an important reference work for both the communicative value of images in the Roman world and the tradition of iconographical analysis.
Introduction Lea Cline and Nathan T. Elkins Method and Theory 1 The Creation of an Image Annette Haug 2 Theoretical Approaches to Roman Imagery and Iconography Clare Rowan 3 Relationship between Image and Text Michael Squire 4 Iconography and Archaeology Elizabeth Marlowe 5 Image and Authority Stephan Faust 6 Iconography of the Non-iconic Anna Anguissola Image and Semantics 7 Iconography and Style in Republican and Early Imperial Art Dominik Maschek 8 Iconography and Style in the Late Roman Empire Susanna McFadden 9 Iconography and Style between Rome and the Provinces Vanessa Rousseau and Sarah Lepinski Image and Social Practice/Image and Context 10 Public Sculpture and Social Practice in the Roman Republic Riccardo DiCesare 11 Public Sculpture and Social Practice in the Roman Empire Elizabeth Wolfram-Thill 12 Iconography and Social Practice in the Domestic Sphere Silvana Costa 13 Coin Iconography and Social Practice in the Roman Republic Bernhard Woytek 14 Coin Iconography and Social Practice in the Roman Empire Fleur Kemmers 15 Gems, Cameos, and Social Practice Jörn Lang 16 Glass, Pottery, and Social Practice Manuel Flecker 17 Images and Interpretation of 'the Other' in Roman Social Practice Lisa Trentin 18 Images and Interpretation of Africans in Roman Art and Social Practice Sinclair Bell 19 Iconography of Early Christian Roman Art Sean Leatherbury Imagery in Ritual Use 20 Religion and Iconography Katherine Rask 21 Funerary Imagery and Iconography Regina Gee 22 Judaism and Christianity Matthew Grey and Mark Ellison
Lea K. Cline is Associate Professor of Art History at Illinois State University. Nathan T. Elkins is Visiting Research Scholar at the American Numismatic Society and Editor (ancient world) of the American Journal of Numismatics
Reviews for The Oxford Handbook of Roman Imagery and Iconography
The discussion of Roman imagery and iconography on such a broad level, the interdisciplinary attempt to place Roman imagery and iconography into its larger social context and the wide variety of media taken into consideration, including the minor arts, makes this a handbook that any scholar and student of Roman art should have on their shelves. Its extensive coverage of Roman imagery across chronological, geographic and social contexts makes it an essential resource for any scholar of antiquity. * Journal of Roman Studies * We may congratulate the editors and the authors—both junior and senior researchers—with this fine book and hope that it will get its appreciation in the coming decades. * Eric M. Moormann, Bryn Mawr Classical Review * Fine book * Eric M. Moormann, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
