The Death of Myth on Roman Sarcophagi: Allegory and Visual Narrative in the Late Empire

by Mont Allen

Overview

A strange thing happened to Roman sarcophagi in the third century:  their Greek mythic imagery vanished. Since the beginning of their production a century earlier, these beautifully carved coffins had featured bold mythological scenes. How do we make sense of this imagery's own death on later sarcophagi, when mythological narratives were truncated, gods and heroes were excised, and genres featuring no mythic content whatsoever came to the fore? What is the significance of such a profound tectonic shift in the Roman funerary imagination for our understanding of Roman history and culture, for the development of its arts, for the passage from the High to the Late Empire and the coming of Christianity, but above all, for the individual Roman women and men who chose this imagery, and who took it with them to the grave? In this book, Mont Allen offers the clues that aid in resolving this mystery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009041249
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/29/2022
Series:	Greek Culture in the Roman World
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mont Allen is Associate Professor of Classics and Art History at Southern Illinois University. A National Lecturer for the Archeological Institute of America, he is a recipient of the University's Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award as well as a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to create an inter-disciplinary program on Ancient Practices.

Table of Contents

Introduction – the death of myth on Roman sarcophagi; 1. Myth a casualty of Christianity; 2. Bucolic sarcophagi and elite retreat; 3. Refuge from the third-century crisis; 4. Culture, status, and rising populism; 5. Myth abstracted: from narrative to symbol; 6. Distinguishing the mythological: function and form; 7. Myth, history, and the desire for proximity; Coda – myth revived: temporality and the afterlife.