The post-Homeric literary sources of the Greek period mention Aioiorec. inhabitants of a distant land, whose physical appearance differs from the Mediterranean somatic norm, but approximates that of peoples referred to in modem times as Black Africans. In the Roman era Aethiopes appear in the literary sources, perceived not only as distant strangers but also as persons familiar to the Roman experience. The sources also mention other peoples: Mauri, Libyes, and Indi, who are distinguished from Aethiopes, but are perceived as having some of the physical characteristics of Aethiopes. An evaluation of the archaeological evidence reveals the methods by which Roman artists conveyed difference from their somatic norm, and the problems they faced in their attempt to portray difference. An INTRODUCTION explains the aims of the thesis and reviews the modem literature. CHAPTER 1 sets out the methodological approach and summarizes ancient literary testimony concerning Greek and Roman perceptions of Blacks. CHAPTER 2 provides an overview of relevant archaeological material of the Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman periods not included in the catalog. CHAPTERS 3, 4, 5, and 6 deal with the iconography of the Black in the Roman period focussing on their appearance in thematic contexts (baths, spectacle, domestic service, and mythology). Following theCONCLUSION, a CATALOGUE lists and describes 56 objects with museum, inventory number, provenience and bibliography. The selected representations date from the Late Hellenistic to the sixth century A.C. They appear in mosaics, sarcophagi, in sculpture, and in paintings from the Mediterranean, Egypt, North Africa, and continental Europe. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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No description available.

The subject matter for this research is the representation of femininities and masculinities in Roman art with particular reference to that of Roman Britain. The study focuses on the visual presentation of gender for specific deities, personifications and figural images in funerary art; this includes concepts of sexuality that in some cases become entwined with the study of gender. I have endeavoured to demonstrate how socially constructed values add to the understandings of gender and Roman art. The first chapter concentrates on Roman concepts relating to masculinities and femininities, detailing how these are portrayed in visual culture. This entails the identification of gender markers in various forms including clothing (for example the toga and stola), jewellery (such as the bulla) and distinct objects (for instance, military paraphernalia, weaving combs and spinning equipment). Following this broad introduction to gender in Roman art, the study then centres on specific deities, commencing with Venus and Mars, then Diana and Apollo, and Minerva and Hercules - each one has a particular gender ascription. I examine these in terms of visual representation and how their specific femininities and masculinities were presented. Personifications and figural funerary art, respectively, are the following and final chapters of the research. The former deals with the use of personifications in Roman art and the latter with patronage and presentation of figural tombstones and inscriptions. Both chapters observe these issues with preference towards the demonstration of gender allocation and any undertones implicated.

This thesis focuses on the mosaic scenes of Roman era, especially on the gods and other mythological figures associated with water. The thesis is divided into 10 chapters. The first chapter is dedicated to the mythology of gods and characters and their brief iconographic characterization. Other chapters are divided by the areas that were under domination of Roman Empire. Each of these chapters has identical structure. The text deals with the mosaics and motifs of these areas in general. Then there are described subsequently collected examples of mosaics. On the basis of the description and characteristics is the last chapter sub-section dealing with similarities and comparison. The penultimate chapter focuses on a mosaic in terms of several aspects: production, technology, workshops, location, different techniques, signatures and trademarks. The conclusions that result from surveyed sample mosaics are summarized at the end of thesis. It is especially focused on the motifs and characters. Keywords Iconography, mosaics, Roman art, deities

In Rome, the activity of hunting was a pastime traditionally associated with the emperor and aristocracy. As such, hunting imagery in Roman art became symbolic of masculinity and power, expressions of which were important for the self-representation of status-conscious citizens. More specifically, virtus, often translated as “manliness” or “courage,” is the principal quality that is expressed through hunting scenes, although other ideas such as wealth and erudition were alluded to in these scenes as well. This thesis examines hunting scenes in the media of sarcophagi, mosaics, and silverware from the third to the sixth centuries AD. It focusses on the kinds of hunting imagery found on different media in order to discern the values that were important to patrons in the later Roman period, and the ways in which these values were expressed in the visual arts. In the funerary context, mythological hunting scenes on sarcophagi most often present the deceased as a man of virtus. However, owing to the Entmythologisierung of Roman sarcophagi during the third century, the ways in which virtus was expressed through these scenes underwent significant change during this period. On domestic floor mosaics, virtus was also a principal virtue that was expressed, but other ideas such as wealth and generosity were also displayed on hunting scenes in this medium, both mythological and non-mythological. Moreover, hunting scenes on silverware often highlight the wealth of the vessel’s owner. Additionally, allusions to a patron’s paideia, his formal educational background in Greek and Latin literature, as well as expressions of one’s Christian faith, also served as claims of membership in exclusive groups. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

My dissertation offers the first complete compilation of all known examples of the door motif in Roman Italy, from its initial appearance in the second century BCE, to its disappearance in the early fourth century CE. My research expands the corpus from 91 examples to 242 examples. The door motif can be defined as the fundamental rather than incidental rendering of a door found in various media in Roman art. In this project, I examine seven types of works with this motif: domestic decorations, urns, altars, cippi, loculus slabs, stelae, and sarcophagi. Particular attention is paid to the distribution of this extant material, their chronology, context, formal characteristics, and any unusual features related to the door motif’s appearance. In addition, this dissertation includes catalogue entries with the most up-to-date information on the location, date, findspot, descriptions, and images of every example of the door motif found on the Italian peninsula. Despite considerable earlier literature on the door motif, the subject has not been systematically investigated. In current and previous scholarship, the door motif is often mentioned but almost always in passing, and primarily in relation to its appearance in funerary contexts or occasionally in domestic wall paintings. The two most extensive publications on the door motif, now forty-five years old, are incomplete and focus largely on the door’s symbolic meaning. My dissertation compiles and updates this existing scholarship to present the only comprehensive catalogue of door motif examples in Roman Italy. In addition, by gathering this previously disparate material, I use the catalogued group of objects to open new discussions that focus specifically on the depiction of the door. These discussions include the door’s formal characteristics, context, and frequency of its appearance. In re-examining the door motif and its representation more closely, this dissertation also provides a foundation for future scholars to ask new questions about the image’s meaning. Altogether, the materials presented in this dissertation provide a new foundation for the examination of the popular door motif and a springboard for future scholarship.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Art History, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Lille III, 1976. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 930-950).

Roman wallpainting has been the subject of innumerable studies from the eighteenth century to the present day, but the epic-themed friezes of Late Republican and Early Imperial Italy have been comparatively neglected throughout this history of scholarship. This thesis therefore seeks to examine the three painted and stucco Iliad friezes from Pompeii, all found on the Via dell'Abbondanza, and the Odyssey frescoes from a house on the Esquiline in Rome, as four examples of a type which had a long history in the Graeco-Roman world, even if their survival in the archaeological record is scant. The primary aim of the study is to understand each frieze in the knowledge of how they might have been regarded in antiquity, as elucidated in Pausanias' commentaries on Polygnotus' Iliupersis and Nekyia frescoes in Delphi, and to understand their extra-textual insertions and spelling discrepancies not as artistic errors but as reflections of the geographical and chronological contexts in which the friezes were displayed. Through detailed study of their iconography and epigraphy, alongside contemporary writers' discussion of the epic genre and its specific concerns for a Roman audience, this study aims to show that the most fruitful course of enquiry pertaining to the friezes lies not in an argument about whether they are entirely faithful to the Homeric epics or depart from them in puzzling ways, but in the observation that reliance on the text and free play on it go hand in hand as part of the epic reception-culture within which these paintings belong.