An Introduction to Late Antiquity.pdf (original) (raw)
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"The island of Naxos, situated in the heart of Aegean Sea, Greece, occupies a significant position in Byzantine art due to the large number of churches, many of which with wall paintings, that date from the early and middle Byzantine periods, as well as from the period between the 13th and 14th centuries, when Naxos was under the rule of the Venetians. The existence of such a large number of wall panting layers constitute an authentic testimony to the artistic vitality, and furthermore, to the social and financial level of the island at that time. Recently, the 2nd Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities for the Cyclades (Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism) has conducted a rescue operation to the church of Holy Anargyroi in the region of Sagri, from which two layers of significant painted surfaces were discovered and conserved. This paper will concentrate on the analysis of the programme and style of the wall paintings, trying to draw conclusions on the dating, the patronage and the monument function. My research, also, is intended to shed light to related subjects, like the role of the Naxians to the artistic output during the period under Venetian occupation, the probable existence of western influences in the art of Naxian wall paintings of this period, and in general, the process of the artistic confrontation and integration between the two cultures. In this way, I will try to envisage the cultural setting within which the monumental painting of this period was produced. "
Representing the Self: Understanding Late Roman Mausolea in Pannonia and Dalmatia
Mausolea were distinguished places of memory in Roman cemeteries. As a result of the shift of representation of power from the city to the cemeteries and the countryside in Late Antiquity funerary buildings became one of the centres of power both in religious and cultural way. This was expressed by the spatial distribution of burials around funerary buildings, which shows that the most prestigious spots within the Late Antique cemeteries were the ones close to the martyria and other mausolea. While comparing the details of mausolea and mapping the spatial distribution of them has some advantage for the research of the situation in Pannonia and Dalmatia in itself, my research wants to make a step forward from the architectural and art historical analysis. The representations of power which have been expressed through the mausolea are connected with the representation of various identities. Social, cultural, religious, professional, geographical and ethnic identities were important identifiers in Late Antiquity together with age and gender distinctions. In the constantly changing environment of Late Antiquity these identity markers connected with the representation of power had an important place. Mausolea represented the social selves of the deceased members of the local society and the power of the relatives, who built them. In the case of martyria the spiritual power of the martyrs brought into connection with the builder of the martyria or the donor of the relics, but their power were also belonged to the whole community. To conclude, my research on the one hand collects the published data about mausolea in Pannonia and Dalmatia, and on the other hand analyse the data using aspects, like the role if different identities in the representations and the importance of remembrance and forgetting for the contemporary viewers, which has not been applied for that material previously.
Reusing and Kinds of Reusing of a Roman Commercial Space in Late Antiquity: The Macellum Case Study
ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE (RAC) / THEORETICAL ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE (TRAC) 2018
This research focuses on the Roman macellum and its potential to be transformed and adapted to the evolution of society and contributes to the reflection on the urban reuse in Late Antique Latin West. However, these functional (and sometimes architectural) transformations had not previously been studied in depth, although well-documented. But in this paper, the end of use of the Roman food-stuff markets is also important, because the macellum in Latin West was abandoned only when the urban life started to decline, i.e. between the 3th and the 5th centuries A.D. Under this point of view, the macellum is an important proof of the changing happened in the cities. When it was defunctionalized, the market building was not used for anything else, never charged of symbolic values. Otherwise, when the building was turned into something else, it was chosen only for its peculiarities (public function, urban environment, constructive standards, water supply systems) indispensable to the development of city activities. At last, the list of the food-stuff markets reused demonstrate their total dependence on the urban context for their transformations: the new city needs determined the best reuse of the already useless macella. Because of its direct relationship with the city life, once again this building provides information on its social and economic dynamics. In these data we can see another aspect of that characteristic “flexibility” of macellum, already evident in the lack of a unique layout of this building.