Death and the Emperor: Roman Imperial Funerary Monuments from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius / Edition 1

by Penelope J. E. Davies

Overview

The role of monuments in the Roman imperial cult.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292702752
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	03/01/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	281
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Penelope J. E. Davies is Associate Professor of Roman Art and Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. Her book Death and the Emperor was first published by Cambridge University Press in 2000. It won the Vasari Award, sponsored by the Dallas Museum of Art.

Table of Contents

• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. The Monuments
• 2. An Image of Things Achieved
• 3. An Imperial Cosmos: The Creation of Eternity
• 4. Fire, Fertility, Fiction: The Role of the Empress
• 5. The Dynamics of Form
• 6. The Power of Place
• Conclusion
• Abbreviations Used in Notes
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index

Editorial Reviews

Davies sets out to ask, How did the Romans bury Caesar? And with what monuments did they sing his praises? . . . The architectural elaboration of these structures, their siting in the capital, the lines of vision and approaches that exposed them to view, the paths their complex outworks formed for visitors to walk, are all picked out with skill and presented with care in Death and the Emperor.

Times Literary Supplement

Even though its focus is on only seven specimens of architecture, the book touches upon a broad array of aspects of Roman imperial culture. Elegantly written and generously illustrated . . . this book should be of great interest to the general public as well as to the scholarly community.

American Journal of Archaeology

This concise and lucidly written book is a very valuable new contribution to the studies of Roman imperial cult, political propaganda, and topography, and has the added benefit of discussing complex scholarly disputes in a manner that the non-specialist will probably follow with ease. . . . There is material in this volume that will be immensely useful to researchers in many areas: archaeology, history of architecture, iconography, history of religion, and Roman political propaganda, to name just a few. I strongly recommend it to scholars interested in any or all of the above topics.

Bryn Mawr Classical Review

'This concise and lucidly written book is a very valuable new contribution to the studies of Roman imperial cult, political propaganda, and topography …'. Susan Wood, Oakland University

'… stimulating and well-written … Davies has performed a signal service in making us look with new eyes at a number of long familiar monuments. On this she must be warmly congratulated.' The Burlington Magazine

'… imaginatively interprets the experience and effect of these monuments and restores them to their settings.' Mortality

From the Publisher