A comprehensive collection of ancient literary evidence on Roman art and artists, assembled in translation and provided with linking passages that set the historical context. Reissue of a highly-esteemed volume originally published by Prentice-Hall in 1966.

Architecture and Politics in Republican Rome is the first book to explore the intersection between Roman Republican building practices and politics (c.509–44 BCE). At the start of the period, architectural commissions were carefully controlled by the political system; by the end, buildings were so widely exploited and so rhetorically powerful that Cassius Dio cited abuse of visual culture among the reasons that propelled Julius Caesar's colleagues to murder him in order to safeguard the Republic. In an engaging and wide-ranging text, Penelope J. E. Davies traces the journey between these two points, as politicians developed strategies to manoeuver within the system's constraints. She also explores the urban development and image of Rome, setting out formal aspects of different types of architecture and technological advances such as the mastery of concrete. Elucidating a rich corpus of buildings that have been poorly understand, Davies demonstrates that Republican architecture was much more than a formal precursor to that of imperial Rome.

This study examines the five extant large Imperial cameos of the Early Roman Empire as a coherent whole, revealing that these gemstones were a referential group with complex interrelationships. Power and Propaganda in the Large Imperial Cameos of the Early Roman Empire offers a feminist theory that explains why large Imperial cameos were in dialogue and why the medium appears with Octavian and disappears by the Flavian dynasty: female Imperial family members commissioned them to advance their husbands and sons. This volume is an introduction to large Imperial cameos and reveals their importance for the understanding of Roman art and iconography and the implications of its theorized Imperial female patronage. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, classics, and archaeology.

A collection of essays exploring key aspects of the relationship between Rome and its empire.

This highly acclaimed collection, the first sourcebook on ancient women and now in its fourth edition, provides a unique look into the public and private lives and legal status of Greek and Roman women. The texts represent women of all social classes, from public figures remembered for their deeds (or misdeeds), to priestesses, poets, and intellectuals, to working women, such as musicians, wet nurses, and prostitutes, to homemakers. The editors have selected texts from hard-to-find sources, such as inscriptions, papyri, and medical treatises, many of which have not previously been translated into English. The resulting compilation is both an invaluable aid to research and a clear guide through this complex subject. The brand new design of the fourth edition integrates the third edition's appendix and adds many new and unusual texts and images, as well as such student-friendly features as a map and chapter overviews. Many notes and explanations have been revised with the non-classicist in mind. Its readings cover women's legal status, domestic conditions, health issues, and relations with other people. The emphasis throughout is not so much on what ancient writers thought about women, as on what women actually did, both within the home and outside it, from their intellectual achievements, benefactions, and religious roles, to humble jobs and acts of physical and moral courage.

"Short History of the Ancient World examines the emergence of urban civilization on the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia. Tracing developments from prehistoric times through the end of antiquity, the book investigates the unique social, cultural, religious, economic, and political characteristics of each civilization. Use of evidence from material cultural reconstructs patterns of social development and quality of life, while ancient texts help assess the belief systems and cultural aspirations of those civilizations."--

New to this expanded & updated edition are revisions of Ferguson's original material, updated bibliographies, & a fresh dicussion of first century social life, the Dead Sea Scrolls & much else.

This detailed overview traces the story of western sculpture from its beginnings to the present day, passing through the Aegean, classical Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Romantic, and Modern periods along the way. The text explains how Western sculpture evolved over time as it adapted to changing cultural contexts. All the while, the book also highlights influential sculptors and key works. Rich in detail, highly informative and wide-ranging, and lavishly illustrated with photographs of the leading examples of sculpture from each period, this volume deserves an honored place in every school and library.

The first study in English of Vitruvius' De architectura to take the work seriously as a literary and cultural product.

A landmark volume on the uses and reuses of statuary in late antiquity.