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Caterina Maderna

Caterina Maderna is Professor in the Institute of Classical Archaeology at Ruprecht-Karl-University Heidelberg. She studied Classical Archaeology, Ancient History, Latin Philology, Christian Archaeology and Art History at the Universities of Heidelberg and Göttingen and received her PhD 1982 at the Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Heidelberg (Prof.Dr.Tonio Hölscher).
In the following years she was active in research and teaching as member of the faculties of Classical Archaeology at the Universities of Heidelberg, Darmstadt and Frankfurt a.M. as well as an Associate Member of the Liebieghaus -Museum at Frankfurt a.M.
In 2003 she get her postdoctoral lecture qualification as Professor in the Department of Classical Archaeology at the University of Mainz. Representing since 2010 the Chair of Tonio Hölscher at the Institute of Classical Archaeology in Heidelberg she is now member of this faculty.

Funded research projects
Stiftung Volkswagen:
Exploration of political Art in Rome
DFG:
Exploitation and Publication of the Collection Villa Albani in Rome
Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Hessen:
Scientific exploitation and design of a marketing concept for the Antiquity Collection Franz I. zu Erbach Erbach

Conceptual and scientific collaboration on exhibitions
"Kaiser Augustus und die verlorene Republik" (Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin 1988)
„Polyklet. Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik“ (Liebieghaus, Frankfurt a.M. 1990/91)
„Bill Viola“ (Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt am Main (1999)
“Alighiero e Boetti” (Museum of Modern Art and Galerie der Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst 1998)
„Ägypten-Griechenland-Rom. Abwehr und Berührung“ (Städel-Museum, Frankfurt am Main 2005/06)

Research priorities
Greek and Roman Sculpture
Politics and Religion in the image media of Greece and Rome
Antiquity Reception
Museology

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Papers by Caterina Maderna

An examination of the paintings on classic attic white ground funerary lekythoi that depict ‘deat... more An examination of the paintings on classic attic white ground funerary lekythoi that depict ‘death and grave’ in a tight association with the re-emerging attic grave-reliefs after the middle of the 5th century B.C. leads to the conclusion that here and there not only the social role of the deceased in this world, but also the accomplishment of the experience of death was a central concern of the images: one hand by describing death as an experienced farewell, but also on the other hand by making strongly aware the potential reunion and lasting community of life and death on the regular erected and visited grave-monument. Especially the rituals described on the grave lekythoi certified on the later grave reliefs that the integrity of familiar communities was not destroyed by death. The painful and disturbing experience of death was integrated in this way as an indispensable part of life in the polis community, but dealing with it also awarded it (in accordance with the established rules) a customizable form, which set structure and a secure hold against the event invading the family all of a sudden. The erection of the tombs and the execution of the rituals attached to it promised - not least also as factors averting fear - the possibility of an ideational cancellation of human finitude.

This topic is a small part of a more comprehensive investigation into a mythic legend which is a... more This topic is a small part of a more comprehensive investigation into a mythic legend which is also of central importance for the understanding of Greek religion. A central theme here was that the continued existence of both divine and human communities was defined in terms of a never-ending antagonism - the existing order against the everlasting forces of disintegration and destruction. The divine order was, as was the case in many other religions of early advanced civilisations, defined in terms of the waging of a primeval struggle from the very beginning of creation and in the subjection of hostile powers. Since telling the story of this particular myth was used in an extraordinarily intensive manner in several different periods of history as a projection screen for various contemporary political threats, as well as for other types of existential anxieties, and finally for an epitome of ethical and moral general principles, this study seeks as primary objective to record its functionalization, reception and effect and to make the many secondary levels of meaning transparent which were associated with it time and time again across centuries. The implied meaning “behind” the myth manifests itself, however, all the more clearly against the background of an analysis of its explicit meaning and function for the societies which lived with it and both quoted and used it as guiding principle as well as counterpoint for their concept of their own way of life, their actions as well as of their demeanour.
Because this study analyses the preserved visual depictions of the myth in virtually all different types of monuments by covering a broad timeframe - from the early manifestations of these monuments in the second quarter of the sixth century B.C. until late Roman Antiquity – and interprets these and evaluates them - whilst always directly taking into account both the importance of the different functions of the various types of image-bearing media - in the light of the context of contemporary documents, it modifies as a result the interpretations of older research history which were nearly always limited to the political aspects of the mythic story only, and thus allows to achieve a more vigorous and extensive insight into the changing intellectual and cultural structures of Greco-Roman Antiquity.
This study is therefore also an attempt, against this background, to improve our understanding of the specific relationship between the two media of “image” and “language” by illustrating the potential inherent in images, possibly even more so than in language, to communicate myths, both in its exemplary core as well as on the basis of its own fairly flexible grammar, in a way which is adjusted to the specific needs of its contemporary recipients thus continuously communicating them in an updated manner. Finally it also attempts to shed some light on the phenomenon of the myth itself whose current rise in popularity is determined both on the one hand by the conflict between the increasing rationality of our everyday lives, combined with a need for another understanding of the world and of the self; an understanding which provides more meaning for the individual, and on the other hand by a general lack of orientation of our society.

Zusammenfassung Im folgenden Beitrag soll in einer Perspektive auf die Bildmedien der griechische... more Zusammenfassung Im folgenden Beitrag soll in einer Perspektive auf die Bildmedien der griechischen und römischen Antike dem Phänomen nachgegangen werden, dass dort die Angehörigen eini-ger ferner Ethnien dezidiert als hässliche Fremde geschildert wurden. Dabei ist einerseits die in der bildenden Kunst beider Kulturen zu diesem Zweck entwickelte Formensprache entsprechender Darstellungen interessant, anderseits stellt sich die Frage nach den Ursa-chen eines solchen Bedürfnisses sowie dem Nutzen dieser Praxis. Umso mehr, als gerade in der sogenannten Klassischen Antike das Cliché "Schön ist auch Gut/Hässlich ist auch Böse" geboren wurde, welches noch bis in unsere heutige Gegenwart ausstrahlt, wie ein Ausblick beleuchten wird. 1 Prämisse Angesichts dessen, dass sich schon in den antiken Kulturen Griechenlands und Roms bereits all diejenigen ganz unterschiedlichen Ebenen, Formen und Bewer-tungen von als fremd empfundenen Anderen fassen lassen, wie sie auch noch gegenwärtig zwischen Faszination, Neugier, Anziehung, Bewunderung, Respekt und bereichernden Adaptationen auf der einen, aber auch Furcht, Verachtung und http://dx.

Weitere Informationen: https://klass-archaeologie.univie.ac.at/news-events/ V K

The face holds great potential as a vehicle for non-verbal communication in both the living worl... more The face holds great potential as a vehicle for non-verbal communication in both the living world and constructed images. In order to exploit the face as a means of expressing particular ideas, messages, emotions, and narratives , an artist might alter the presentation of the face and its features. Communication through the face might be achieved, and its eff ect controlled, through a variety of means; perhaps most apparently through the materials used and the physiological presentation of individual features. Since presentation and understanding of concepts embedded within the face are in large part culturally determined , our comprehension and appreciation of the many nuances in artistic representations of the face are strengthened through an interdisciplinary approach. From observable trends in the ways that faces are portrayed in diff erent regions, time periods, and media, as well as the ways in which ancient writers discuss, describe , and visualize them, we might better understand the cultural context in which certain images were created and understood.

Gerade in der gegenwärtigen Forschung erweist sich der Begriff der ‚Romanisation‘ als außerordent... more Gerade in der gegenwärtigen Forschung erweist sich der Begriff der ‚Romanisation‘ als außerordentlich virulent, obwohl die mit ihm verbundenen Implikationen recht problematisch sind. Suggeriert er letztendlich doch die Vorstellung eines Dominanzkonzeptes, in dessen Folge das machtbewusste Imperium Romanum eine absolute kulturelle Vormachtstellung nicht nur angestrebt habe, sondern es ihm auch gelungen wäre, die von ihm unterworfenen Provinzen im Interaktionsgeschehen der Jahrhunderte zu einer weitgehenden Assimilation und Selbstaufgabe zu bewegen.
Anhand einiger exemplarisch ausgewählter griechischer Skulpturen der römischen Kaiserzeit möchte der Vortrag aufzeigen, dass im Besonderen die Formensprache dieser Werke jedoch ganz im Gegenteil stets ihren eigenen, Jahrhunderte alten Traditionen verpflichtet blieb – und das antike Griechenland mithin, ungeachtet des politischen Wandels, seine spezifische kulturelle Identität zu bewahren wusste.

Augustus ist tot – lang lebe Claudius! Vor der Folie der mit ‚realistischen‘ Formeln gestalt... more Augustus ist tot – lang lebe Claudius!

Vor der Folie der mit ‚realistischen‘ Formeln gestalteten Herrscherbildnisse des Claudius, dem es als erstem Kaiser der iulisch-claudischen Familie mit Erfolg gelang, aus dem Schatten des bereits zu seiner Zeit legendären Begründers des monarchischen Staatssystems herauszutreten, werden die kommunikativen Schwächen des rigiden Klassizismus der bildlichen Selbstdarstellung des Augustus aufgezeigt. Einer vom Princeps selbst ebenso den Porträts sämtlicher Mitglieder seiner neuen ‚Dynastie‘ offenbar strikt verordneten Kunstform, die zwar in der von den zahlreichen klassizistischen Strömungen der Nachantike maßgeblich mit beeinflussten Forschung stets hoch geschätzt wurde, deren weitgehend leblose Idealität von den antiken Betrachtern – vorzüglich in den Provinzen des Imperium Romanum – jedoch wohl als allzu distanziert empfunden wurde.