Representations of War in Ancient Rome

Description

War suffused Roman life to a degree unparalleled in other ancient societies. Through a combination of obsessive discipline and frenzied (though carefully orchestrated) brutality, Rome's armies conquered most of the lands stretching from Scotland to Syria, and the Black Sea to Gibraltar. The place of war in Roman culture has been studied in historical terms, but this is the first book to examine the ways in which Romans represented war, in both visual imagery and in literary accounts. Audience reception and the reconstruction of display contexts are recurrent themes here, as is the language of images: a language that is sometimes explicit and at other times allusive in its representation of war. The chapters encompass a wide variety of art media (architecture, painting, sculpture, building, relief, coin), and they focus on the towering period of Roman power and international influence: the 3rd century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D.

Sheila Dillon is Associate Professor of Art History at Duke University. She is the author of Ancient Greek Portrait Sculpture: Contexts, Styles and Subjects (Cambridge University Press, 2006). Katherine E. Welch is Associate Professor of Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She is the author of The Roman Amphitheater: From its Origins to the Colosseum (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

'Anyone interested in Roman preoccupation with war ... and the centrality of asserted military success in Roman culture and ideology will want a copy of this book.' Choice 'The reader who seeks to add to their understanding of Roman culture by flipping through the book will be amply rewarded, and historians who might take a dim view of the usefulness of art as a tool for interpreting Roman culture will find themselves repeatedly corrected ... The work here demonstrates an ingenious use of art history to open a broad window on Roman society - a lot more of the history of Rome can be explained by the study of looted statues than one might think.' Bryn Mawr Classical Review 'Representations of War is an engaging, well-illustrated and timely collection of essays' The Times Literary Supplement '... especially for the republican era, Dillon and Welch's book is a significant and welcome addition to the literature.' Cambridge Archaeological Journal '... handsome ... demonstrates an ingenious use of art history to open a broad window on Roman society ... deft and wide-ranging ...' Bryn Mawr Classical Review '... a significant and timely contribution to art-historical and cultural studies. In a world in which military historians are still peeling the armour from Trajan's Column as though it were direct evidence of what Roman soldiers wore, these essays offer a refreshing riposte ...' Art History '... a set of interesting and thought-provoking studies on the subject which demonstrate the depth and breadth possible in an important and burgeoning field.' Journal of Roman Studies