Prolegomena to the Study of Portable Luxury Goods and Shared Aristocratic Culture in the Theodosian Age (original) (raw)
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In late eighteenth-century Ottoman Epirus (today northwestern Greece), novel and pleasurable objects expressed on a material level the rise of new mentalities. We discuss specifically the ceramic trefoil jugs with Greek verses manufactured in Pesaro, Italy, by the firm of Casali and Callegari and its successors. These wine jugs follow a pre-existing formal typology and bear painted decoration; their particularity is that they are also inscribed with verses written in Greek, as they were produced following commissions by merchants from Epirus. This region boasted centers of commerce, wealth, and education of an emerging middle class; the economic power of this rising Greek bourgeoisie was combined with deepening ties with Europe, intellectual growth, and the strengthening of a distinct identity. We argue that these jugs are examples of popular luxury and the commissioning individuals were knowledgeable and proactive consumers exhibiting a growing confidence and indeed a new awareness with political connotations.
De luxuria propagata romana aetate. Roman luxury in its many forms , 2023
PONS PUJOL, LL., PÉREZ GONZÁLEZ, J. 2023. Luxonomics, a proxy for Roman studies, in: PONS PUJOL, LL., PÉREZ GONZÁLEZ, J. (editors) 2023. De luxuria propagata romana aetate. Roman luxury in its many forms (Access Archaeology). Oxford: Archaeopress. 2-11. ISBN: 978-1-80327-420-1. ISBN: 978-1-80327-421-8.
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Based on a research project that will provide the fi rst complete catalogue of the Samaria ivories, this contribution provides a context for their re-assessment. It discusses the problematic classifi cation of Iron Age ivories in the context of consumers and producers of these luxury goods, and suggests that Israel may well have produced ivory carvings, and that the Samaria ivories support the existence of a South Syrian style.
The Cultural Lives of Domestic Objects in Late Antiquity
The Cultural Lives of Domestic Objects in Late Antiquity (PhD thesis 2015), 2015
This thesis investigates evidence for the cultural lives of domestic objects in Late Antiquity. As such, it focuses on objects as meaningful possessions, rather than their practical, utilitarian functions. In particular, this research seeks to reveal the personal meaning for domestic possessions and their sentimental, as opposed to economic, value. This is something that has either been ignored or mentioned only in passing and without further qualification in existing studies of late antique material culture. This research is underpinned by specific theoretical approaches from the disciplines of archaeology, art history and anthropology. Object biography, or the understanding that events in the lives of objects can affect their meaning and value, is key to this investigation and provides the opportunity to approach the material evidence in a novel way. It allows the direct comparison of previously disparate textual and archaeological sources to better understand the relationships between people and their possessions across a broad social spectrum. It also governs the structure of the thesis, which has chapters on heirlooms, gifts, and souvenirs Ð all of which are defined by an element of their biography, namely the context of their acquisition. The case study chapter also examines a generally ignored artefact type Ð the basket Ð bringing this undervalued example of domestic material culture to the fore. This thesis reveals that personal domestic possessions had the capacity to function as material vehicles for intangible thoughts, memories, and relationships. This function was known and exploited by the people of Late Antiquity in order to create and possess meaningful domestic objects of various types. It provides a new interpretation of domestic material culture that is different to more traditional studies of economic and social status. As such, it allows an understanding of how material culture transformed dwellings into homes during this period. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS After four years of research, I owe a debt of gratitude to a number of people. Above all, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Ellen Swift, without whose support, enthusiasm and guidance this thesis would not exist. Also Dr Luke Lavan, for providing me with the chance to work on the Visualising the Late Antique City research project and his support in the associated opportunities it provided. I would also like to thank John Beale who generously provided funding for my research scholarship at the University of Kent. Working within a research project offered many benefits, not least the camaraderie and understanding of my fellow PhD students. In particular thanks go to Joe Williams and Faith Morgan, who shared with me any relevant references and insights they found during their own research. Beyond the Visualisation research project, I was lucky to have a number of other friends who kindly shared their thoughts on my research and read sections of my work, namely Dr Gavin Osbourne, Anne Stutchbury, and Dr Nikos Karydis. In particular, I wish to sincerely thank Professor Liz James who has offered me her valuable advice and academic guidance since my time as an undergraduate at the University of Sussex, when my interest in the material culture of Late Antiquity was first sparked. In addition, my thanks go to the staff of the Petrie Museum, London, for providing me with access to a number of basketry artefacts within their collections. Also the department of Ethnobotany at Kew Gardens, London, and Dr Christina Riggs, for their thoughts about the baskets of Egypt. During the course of my own experiments with basket making, I benefitted from the expertise of a number of specialists: Polly Pollock for her time and patience teaching me the basics of plaited basketry; Mary Butcher who kindly shared her knowledge, contacts and resources with me; and Tim Johnson who provided a valuable perspective on modern basket making. I am also indebted to Dr Anne Alwis who checked a number of the Greek papyri translations used in this thesis, and Dr Csaba LaÕda whose ancient language and papyrological expertise I also benefitted from. Thanks also go to the Dover Fund for generously providing a grant that allowed me to attend the Ancient Greek Summer School at Kings College London. Last but not least, my deepest thanks go to my friends and family Ð for providing patience, moral (and sometimes financial!) support throughout the course of my research. In particular to Joe, who experienced the highs and lows alongside me. I would like to dedicate this thesis to the memory of dad, Peter, who always encouraged me in my studies. iv
In: Pl. Petridis-An. G. Yangaki-N. Liaros-El.-Ev. Bia (eds), Proceeding of the 12th Congress of AIECM3 International Association for the study of medieval and modern ceramics on Mediterranean, (Athens Greece, 21-27 October 2018), Vol. II, 615-625, Athens 2021., 2021
A rescue excavation carried out in 2001, at a site at the southeast part of Lakedaimon,-the Byzantine Sparta-, in a distance from the inhabited "extra muros" area of the city, revealed a pit cut into the natural ground and filled with an assemblage of Byzantine pottery. The ceramic material, recovered from the pit, represents the decorative types of the incised-sgraffito ware and the champlevé ware, of high quality, dated from the late twelfth to the early thirteenth century. It also includes coarse ware, mainly "proto-geometric" jugs with slip-painted decoration. The decorative and chronological homogeneity of the deposit in the pit is impressive, together with the fact that it is quite unlikely to have been locally produced. In the proposed communication, the pottery will be presented and discussed in the perspective of the social, economic and everyday life: the productive activities, the economic development of the city during the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, the wider picture of the regional economy, in accordance with the existing maritime and route networks. Une fouille de sauvetage réalisée en 2001 sur un site situé dans la partie sud-est de Lacédémone-Spartes byzantine-, à une certaine distance de la zone «extra muros» habitée de la ville, a révélée une fosse creusée dans le sol naturel, remplie d'un assemblage de céramique byzantine. Le matériel céramique, récupéré de la fosse, représente les types décoratifs de la vaisselle incisée-sgraffito et de la vaisselle champlevé de haute qualité datant de la fin du douzième au début du treizième siècle. L'homogénéité décorative et chronologique du gisement dans la fosse est impressionnante, de même que le fait qu'il soit peu probable qu'il ait été produit localement. Dans la communication proposée, la céramique sera présentée et discutée dans la perspective de la vie sociale, économique et quotidienne: activités productives, développement économique de la ville aux douzième et treizième siècles, la vision d'ensemble de l'économie régionale.