Art of the Ancient World (CX903-30) Week eight: Funerary art and self-representation The tomb provided one of the main contexts for self-display in the ancient world. Many who did not have the social position or status to be commemorated publicly could and were celebrated in the funerary contexts. Funerary monuments consequently varied, from royal tombs, such as we find at Vergina, to large public monuments which framed the roads in and out of ancient cities, to intimate gold-glass commemorations which decorated the columbaria of Rome. It was in this setting that families could both mourn and commemorate the deceased. Funerary monuments consequently fulfilled a tri- function of celebrating the achievements and status of the deceased, providing a nexus for grief and a focus for religious ritual. This week I hope that you will be able to explore this context in greater depth. For those presenting, after some general reading, choose one or two funerary contexts to focus on. You may either choose to compare and contrast monuments from different historical and cultural contexts (i.e. a Hellenistic tomb with a Roman sarcophagus) or choose a couple of funerary monuments from the same context (i.e. Isola sacra). Questions to think about: ‘Help for the bereaved’ or reflections on the afterlife? How could funerary monuments be used to express grief and to aid mourning? What can funerary monuments tell us about the identity of the deceased? How was myth used in funerary monuments? What was its social function? How were funerary monuments viewed and how does this impact our interpretation? Greek grave stelae Boardman, J., Greek Sculpture: The Archaic Period (London 1978) Boardman, J., Greek Sculpture: The Classical Period(London 1995). Boardman, J., Greek Sculpture: The Late Classical Period (London 1995). Kurtz, D.C. and Boardman, J., Greek Burial Customs (London 1971) Leader, R.E., 'In death not divided: Gender, family, and status on Classical Athenian grave stelae', American Journal of Archaeology 101 (1997) 683-699 Meyer, E., ‘Epitaphs and citizenship in Classical Athens', In the Journal of Hellenic Studies 113(1993)99-121 Stears, K., funerary monuments', in Oliver, G. (ed) The Epigraphy of Death (Liverpool 2000), 25-54 Hellenistic tombs M, Andronikos, Vergina. The Royal tombs and the ancient city, Ekdotike Athenon (1984) M, Andronikos, Vergina II. The tomb of Persephone, Ekdotike Athenon (1994) H. Breculaki, in: Rois, cités, nécropoles : institutions, rites et monuments en Macédoine : actes des colloques de Nanterre, décembre 2002 et d'Athènes, janvier 2004, edited by A.-M. Guimier-Sorbets, M.B. Hatzopoulos et Yvette Morizot (2006) Art of the Ancient World (CX903-30) A, Rouveret, A survey of Greek wall painting, in, Carratelli, The Western Greeks, Thames and Hudson (1996), p100-107 Drougou and Paliadeli, Vergina: wandering through to archaeological site, Athens (1999) Ginouves, Macedonia, From Phillip II to the Roman conquest, Princeton (1994) Osborne, Archaic and Classical Greek Art, Oxford (1998) Pedley, Greek Art and Archaeology, London (2003) Pollitt, The art of Ancient Greece, Sources and documents (1990) Robertson, A history of Greek art, Cambridge (1975) Rumpf, Classical and post classical Greek painting, JHS 67 (1947) Roman funerary art General Clarke, J. (2003). Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans (Berkeley): Chs. 4 & 7 Davies, E. Death and the Emperor: Roman Imperial Funerary Monuments from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius Fejfer, J. (2009) Roman Portraits in Context: 105-152 (Tombs) Kampen, N. (1981a). “Biographical narration and Roman funerary art,” American Journal of Archaeology 85: 47-58.* Kleiner, D. (1981) ‘Second-Century Mythological Portraiture: Mars and Venus’ Latomus, 40, 512-44. Kleiner, D.E (1987) Roman Imperial Funerary Altars with Portraits. Bretschneider. Kleiner and S.B. Matheson (eds.) I, Claudia (New Haven), 182-93 Leach, E.W. (2006) ‘Freedmen and Immortality in the tomb of the Haterii’ in E. D’Ambra and and G. Métraux (eds.) The Art of Citizens Soldiers and Freedmen in the Roman World. BAR. 1-19 Matheson, S. B. (1996) “The Divine Claudia: Women as Goddesses in Roman Art,” in D.E.E. Stewart, P. (2008). The Social History of Roman Art (Cambridge): Ch. 2. Walker, S. (1985) Memorials to the Roman Dead. British Museum Publications. Sarcophagi E. d'Ambra, 'A myth for a smith: A Meleager sarcophagus from a tomb in Ostia' in American Journal of Archaeology 92 (1988). 85-99. Borg, B., Crisis and Ambition: tombs and burial customs in third-century CE Rome (2013) (relevant chapters on sarcophagi iconography and sarcophagi display) Elsner, J. & Huskinson, J., (eds.) Life, Death and Representation: some new work on Roman sarcophagi (online) - must read! K. Hopkins, Death and Renewal (1983) 205-35 (dated but generally sound) N. B. Kampen, ‘Omphale and the Instability of Gender’ in Sexuality in Ancient Art (1996), 233-246 M. Koortbojian, Myth, Meaning, and Memory on Roman Sarcophagi (1995) Chapters I and VII and then as much as you can from II-VI A.M. McCann, Roman Sarcophagi in the Metropolitan Museum (1978) 34-85 (but look at the other sarcophagi types if you have time) F.G.J.M. Muller, The so-called Peleus and Thetis Sarcophagus in the Villa Albani (1994) 121- 8 and 139-70 E. Öğüs (2014) ‘Columnar Sarcophagi from Aphrodisias: Elite Emulation in the Greek East’. In the American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 118, no.1 : 113-136 (Jstor) Art of the Ancient World (CX903-30) S Walker, 'The sarcophagus of Maconiana Severiana' in Roman Funerary Monuments in the John Paul Getty Museum (1990), 83-94 S. Wood, 'Alcestis on Roman sarcophagi' in E. d'Ambra, ed., Roman Art in Context (1993). 84-103. R.R.R. Smith 'Sarcophagi and Roman citizenship', in C. Ratté, R.R.R. Smith (eds), Aphrodisias Papers 4: New Research on the City and its Monuments (JRA Supplement 70; Providence, RI 2008), 347-94, figs. 1-87 P. Zanker, Living with Myths: the Imagery of Roman sarcophagi (2012) - must read! .