The Sculptural Environment of the Roman near East: Reflections on Culture, Ideology, and Power
Public sculptures were the "mass media" of the Roman world. They populated urban centers throughout the empire, serving as a "plastic language" that communicated political, religious, and social messages. This book brings together twenty-eight experts who otherwise rarely convene: text-based scholars of the Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian realms from the fields of classics, history, and religion and specialists in the artistic traditions of Greece and Rome as well as art historians and...
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Public sculptures were the "mass media" of the Roman world. They populated urban centers throughout the empire, serving as a "plastic language" that communicated political, religious, and social messages. This book brings together twenty-eight experts who otherwise rarely convene: text-based scholars of the Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian realms from the fields of classics, history, and religion and specialists in the artistic traditions of Greece and Rome as well as art historians and archaeologists. Utilizing the full spectrum of ancient sources, the book examines the multiple, at times even contradictory, meanings and functions that statues served within the complex world of the Roman Near East. Moreover, it situates the discussion of sculpture in the broader context of antiquity in order to reevaluate long-held scholarly consensuses on such ideas as the essence of Hellenism (the culture that emerged from the encounter of Greco-Romans with the Near East) and the everlasting "conflict" among paganism, Christianity, and Judaism.
List of Figures and Maps IXAcknowledgments XXIIIIntroduction 1List of Contributors 13Abbreviations 17I Encompassing Hellenism: The Dynamics of Extended CulturesReconsidering Hellenism in the Roman Near East: Introductory Remarks Glen Bowersock 21The Nature of Syrian Hellenism in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine Periods Maurice Sartre 25The Jews in the Roman World Aharon Oppenheimer 51II Origin, Production, and FateMarble Sculpture of the Roman Period in the Near East and Its Hellenistic Origins Gideon Foerster 69The Sculptor's Studio at Aphrodisias: The Working Methods and Varieties of Sculpture Produced Peter Rockwell 91The Classical Heritage in Late Antique Palestine: The Fate of Freestanding Sculptures Yoram Tsafrir 117The Destruction of Pagan Statuary and Christianization (Fourth-Sixth Century C.E.) Frank R. Trombley 143The Imperial Cult in the East: Images of Power and the Power of Intolerance John Pollini 165III Two-Dimensional Landscapes: Re-Presenting Statues in Other MediaStatues on the Wall: The Representation of Statuary in Roman Wall Painting Eric M. Moormann 197Narrative and Identity in Mosaics from the Late Roman Near East: Pagan, Jewish, and Christian Fergus Millar 225The Missing Pieces: Miniature Reflections of the Hellenistic Artistic Landscape in the East Sharon Herbert 257Statues and Inscriptions in Iudaea/Syria Palaestina Werner Eck 273IV Engaging the Realm of the GodsBaetyls as Statues? Cult Images in the Roman Near East Peter Stewart 297Visualizing Deities in the Roman Near East: Aspects of Athena and Athena-Allat Elise A. Friedland 315Roman Sculpture fromthe Exedra in the Temenos of the Qasr al-Bint at Petra Fawzi Zayadine 351Sculptures from Southern Syrian Sanctuaries of the Roman Period Thomas M. Weber 363The Statues of the Sanctuary of Allat in Palmyra Michal Gawlikowski 397The Role of Sculpture in Worship at the Temples of Dura-Europos Susan B. Downey 413Divine Statues in the Works of Libanius of Antioch: The Actual and Rhetorical Desacralization of Pagan Cult Furniture in the Late Fourth Century C.E. Ellen Perry 437V Urban Landscapes and PerceptionsImagining an Eastern Roman Empire: A Riot at Antioch in 387 C.E. Raymond Van Dam 451Sculpture in Roman Palestine and Its Architectural and Social Milieu: Adaptability, Imitation, Originality? The Ascalon Basilica as an Example Moshe L. Fischer 483Caesarean Sculpture in Context Rivka Gersht 509Caesarea's Fortune: Ancient Statuary and the Beholder in a Late Antique City Kenneth G. Holum 539Sculptures and Sculptural Images in Urban Galilee Ze'ev Weiss 559VI Social, Political, and Religious DiscoursesRoman Victory Displayed: Symbols, Allegories, Personifications? Benjamin Isaac 575The Desolating Sacrilege: A Jewish-Christian Discourse on Statuary, Space, and Sanctity Yaron Z. Eliav 605Idolatry in Late Antique Babylonia: The Evidence of the Babylonian Talmud Richard Kalmin 629The Vitality of Egyptian Images in Late Antiquity: Christian Memory and Response David Frankfurter 659Bibliography 679Index 751
