In this first English translation of one of his most important works, Michel Serres presents the statue as more than a static entity: for Serres it is the basis for knowledge, society, the subject and object, the world and experience. Serres demonstrates how sacrificial art founded and still persists in society and reflects on the centrality of death and the statufied dead body to the human condition. Each section covers a different time period and statuary topic, ranging from four thousand years ago to 1986; from Baal, the paintings of Carpaccio, and the Eiffel Tower, to Rodin's The Gates of Hell, the Challenger disaster and the literature of Maupassant, La Fontaine and Jules Verne. Expository, lyrical, fictionalized and hallucinatory, Statues plays with time and place, history and story in order to provoke us into thinking in entirely new ways. Through mythic and poetic meditations on various kinds of descent into the underworld and new insights into the relation of the subject and object and their foundation in death, Statues contains great treasures and provocations for philosophers, literary critics, art historians and sociologists.

Statues are among the most familiar remnants of classical art. Yet their prominence in ancient society is often ignored. In the Roman world statues were ubiquitous. Whether they were displayed as public honours or memorials, collected as works of art, dedicated to deities, venerated as gods, or violated as symbols of a defeated political regime, they were recognized individually and collectively as objects of enormous significance. By analysing ancient texts and images, Statues in Roman Society unravels the web of associations which surrounded Roman statues. Addressing all categories of statuary together for the first time, it illuminates them in ancient terms, explaining expectations of what statues were or ought to be and describing the Romans' uneasy relationship with 'the other population' in their midst.

Contains a large quantity and variety of epigraphy - Combines both archaeological and epigraphical material - Offers a new cultural history of the Hellenistic city and a detailed examination of family statues - Illustrated throughout

From antiquity to the present day, this book offers a fascinating insight into the histories, movements and conflicts which have come to shape our world, viewed through the stories of the destruction of 21 statues. Confederate soldiers hacked to pieces. A British slave trader dumped in the river. An Aboriginal warrior twice beheaded. A Chinese philosopher consumed by fire. A Greek goddess left to rot in the desert… Statues stand as markers of collective memory connecting us to a shared sense of belonging. When societies fracture into warring tribes, we convince ourselves that the past is irredeemably evil. So, we tear down our statues. But what begins with the destruction of statues, ends with the killing of people. This remarkable book is a compelling history of love and hate spanning every continent, religion and era, told through the destruction of 21 statues. Peter Hughes’ original approach, blending philosophy, psychology and history, explores how these symbols of our identity give us more than an understanding of our past. In the wars that rage around them, they may also hold the key to our future. The 21 statues are Hatshepsut (Ancient Egypt), Nero (Suffolk, UK), Athena (Syria), Buddhas of Bamiyan (Afghanistan), Hecate (Constantinople), Our Lady of Caversham (near Reading, UK), Huitzilopochtli (Mexico), Confucius (China), Louis XV (France), Mendelssohn (Germany), The Confederate Monument (US), Sir John A. Macdonald (Canada), Christopher Columbus (Venezuela), Edward Colston (Bristol, UK), Cecil Rhodes (South Africa), George Washington (US), Stalin (Hungary), Yagan (Australia), Saddam Hussein (Iraq), B. R. Ambedkar (India) and Frederick Douglass (US). A History of Love and Hate in 21 Statues is a profound and necessary meditation on identity which resonates powerfully today as statues tumble around the world.

The human body represents the perfect element for relating communities of the living with the divine. This is clearly evident in the mythological stories that recount the creation of humans by deities among ancient and contemporaneous societies across a very broad geographical environment. Thus, parts of selected human body parts or skeletal elements can then become an ideal proxy for connecting with the supernatural as demonstrated by the cult of the human skulls among Neolithic communities in the Near East as well as the cult of the relics of Christian saints. The aim of this volume is to undertake a cross-cultural investigation of the role played in antiquity by humans and human remains in creating forms of relationality with the divine. Such an approach will highlight how the human body can be envisioned as part of a broader materialization of religious beliefs that is based on connecting different realms of materiality in perceiving the supernatural by the community of the livings. Case studies on ritual aspects of funerary practices is presented, emphasising the varied roles of body parts in mortuary rituals and as relics. Other papers take a wider look at regional practices in various time periods and cultural contexts to explore the central role of the corpse in the negotiation of death in human culture.

Turning fifteen now, Simon Dreamlee has been allowed to produce his musical production about forbidden teen aged love. Characters resemble Diana Magicdream, the Outsider from Newville with ties to Dreamville and himself, but, they don’t know that. Simon secretly keeps in contact with Diana and their communiqués could have him and his descendants banished from Dreamville forever. Simon quickly learns that his play is not being well received by a small majority of Dreamvillians who do not look like themselves. Simon and his friends are falling ill, still able to dream, but, just miserable when awake. They boycott Simon’s production unsuccessfully, however, this scares Simon into not wanting to share anymore dreams. When King Régimand DreamRoyal is waiting in the hover parkade for Simon and his parents, Simon knows that nothing is right in Dreamville. The dreamy King shows them the secret passages to and from the hover parkade to Dreamtrue School where Simon’s production goes on for Dreamvillians who are still supportive. Simon’s quickly asked to turn himself into the dream police and he learns that the current Dream Squad chief, Louisa DreamNot is the evil Miss DreamNot’s daughter.This knowledge ignites Simon’s ability to dream about the truth, although, this time the clues are more sparse and incoherent.