OUR STORE IS CLOSED ON ANZAC DAY: THURSDAY 25 APRIL

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

Roman Tombs and the Art of Commemoration

Contextual Approaches to Funerary Customs in the Second Century CE

Barbara E. Borg (University of Exeter)

$193.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

QTY:

English
Cambridge University Press
18 April 2019
The history of funerary customs in Rome contains many unanswered questions and controversial debates, especially concerning the significant developments of the second century CE. In this book, distinguished historian Barbara E. Borg employs the full range of material and written evidence to explore four key questions that change our view of Roman society and its values. For the first time, senatorial burial practices can be reconstructed and contrasted with those of other classes. Borg then explains the change from incineration to inhumation as a revival of old Roman mores that accelerated after the example set by Hadrian. In the third chapter, she argues that tombs became prime locations for promoting and displaying long family lines among the elite, which then inspired freedmen to undertake similar commemorative practices. Finally she explores the association of deceased persons with the divine and apotheosis through portraits on divine body shapes and temple tombs.

By:  
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 254mm,  Width: 179mm,  Spine: 22mm
Weight:   920g
ISBN:   9781108472838
ISBN 10:   1108472834
Pages:   368
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Further / Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Barbara E. Borg is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Exeter. She has published widely on Greek and Roman art, archaeology and history, and her monographs include Crisis and Ambition: Tombs and Burial Customs in Third-Century CE Rome (2013). She is editor of Paideia: The World of the Second Sophistic (2004) and A Companion to Roman Art (2015).

Reviews for Roman Tombs and the Art of Commemoration: Contextual Approaches to Funerary Customs in the Second Century CE

Advance praise: 'This is an outstanding piece of work - the product of a very long period not only of thinking about this material but of doing fundamental research into what we know archaeologically. Borg is a pioneer in the new era that has been systematic about the study of assemblages - notably looking back into the old archives as well as at relatively rare modern finds. The book casts vibrant new light on questions of monument and memory, the shift from cremation to inhumation, the problems of individual apotheosis; it brilliantly marshals archaeological evidence against a series of epigraphically generated assumptions about individualism and against familial commemoration in the context of the Roman tomb, which dominated the scholarship of last generation.' Jas Elsner, University of Oxford 'This is an outstanding piece of work - the product of a very long period not only of thinking about this material but of doing fundamental research into what we know archaeologically. Borg is a pioneer in the new era that has been systematic about the study of assemblages - notably looking back into the old archives as well as at relatively rare modern finds. The book casts vibrant new light on questions of monument and memory, the shift from cremation to inhumation, the problems of individual apotheosis; it brilliantly marshals archaeological evidence against a series of epigraphically generated assumptions about individualism and against familial commemoration in the context of the Roman tomb, which dominated the scholarship of last generation.' Jas Elsner, University of Oxford


See Also