Greek Myths in Roman Art and Culture: Imagery, Values and Identity in Italy, 50 BC–AD 250 (Greek Culture in the Roman World)

"Images of episodes from Greek mythology are widespread in Roman art, appearing in sculptural groups, mosaics, paintings and reliefs. They attest to Rome's enduring fascination with Greek culture, and its desire to absorb and reframe that culture for new ends. This book provides a comprehensive account of the meanings of Greek myth across the spectrum of Roman art, including public, domestic and funerary contexts. It argues that myths, in addition to functioning as signifiers of a patron's education or paideia, played an important role as rhetorical and didactic exempla. The changing use of mythological imagery in domestic and funerary art in particular reveals an important shift in Roman values and senses of identity across the period of the first two centuries AD, and in the ways that Greek culture was turned to serve Roman values"-- Provided by publisher Cover......Page 1 Half title......Page 3 Series......Page 4 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 20 List of Abbreviations......Page 22 Introduction: Greek Myths, Roman Lives......Page 23 1 Art and Power in the Public Sphere......Page 54 2 Recreating Myth in the Roman Villa......Page 102 3 Paideia, Rhetoric and Self-representation: Responses to Mythological Wall-paintings......Page 159 4 Mythological Wall-paintings in the Roman House......Page 194 5 From Home to Tomb: Myths in the Funerary Realm......Page 258 6 The Rhetoric of Mythological Sarcophagi: Praise, Lament and Consolation......Page 303 7 Epilogue: The Roman Past, the Culture of Exemplarity and a New Role for Greek Myth......Page 350 Bibliography......Page 378 Index......Page 415 This book explores the representations of Greek myths in Roman art, including public, domestic and funerary contexts. It shows the crucial role Greek culture played in forming Roman identity, and how this changed over time. The book is aimed at scholars and students of Roman art and of Roman social and cultural history.