The imagery and aesthetics of late antique cities / edited by Max Ritter and Élodie Turquois.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Ritter, Max, editor.

Turquois, Elodie E. (Elodie Eva), 1986- editor.

Series:

Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité tardive ; 44.

Bibliothèque de l'antiquité tardive ; 44

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cities and towns--Mediterranean Region--History--To 1500--Congresses.

Cities and towns.

City planning--Mediterranean Region--History--To 1500--Congresses.

City planning.

Cities and towns, Ancient--Mediterranean Region--Congresses.

Cities and towns, Ancient.

Cities and towns, Medieval--Mediterranean Region--Congresses.

Cities and towns, Medieval.

Cities and towns in literature--Congresses.

Cities and towns in literature.

Cities and towns in art--Congresses.

Cities and towns in art.

Cities and towns--History.

Genre:

proceedings (reports)

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

viii, 197 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 29 cm.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout, Belgium : Brepols, [2025]

Summary:

"While the role of the city in Late Antiquity has often been discussed by archaeologists and historians alike, it is only in recent years that scholarship has begun to offer a more nuanced approach in our understanding to how such cities functioned, stepping away from the traditional paradigm of their decline and fall with the collapse of the Roman Empire. In line with this approach, this deliberately interdisciplinary volume seeks to provide a more multifaceted understanding of urban history by drawing together scholars of literary and material culture to discuss the concepts of imagery and aesthetics of late antique cities. Gathering together contributions by historians, philologists, archaeologists, literature specialists, and art historians, the volume aims to explore the imagery and aesthetics of cities in Late Antiquity within a strong theoretical framework. The different chapters explore the aesthetics of cityscape representations in literature and art, asking in particular whether literary representations of late antique urban landscapes mirror the urban reality of eclectic ensembles of pre-existing architecture and new buildings, as well as questioning both how the ideal of the city evolved in the imagination of the period and if imperial ideology was reflected in literary depictions of cities."--Page [4] of cover.

Contents:

The imagery and aesthetics of late antique cities : an introduction / Élodie Turquois

From the city of Indians to Jerusalem : Nonnus of Panopolis's real and imagined cities / Arianna Rotondo

Experiencing a city in harmony : the aesthetics and ethics of Gaza in Choricius's Panegyrics / Jan R. Stenger

Aesthetics of urban decor in sixth-century CE Greek ekphraseis : Gaza and Constantinople / Delphine Lauritzen

Constantinople in the Latin geographical imagination (300-600) / Carline Bélanger - The emperor as builder : Justinian, Constantinople, and the past in Malalas's Chronographia and Procopius's Buildings / Olivier Gengler

From Constantinople to Edessa : Syriac historians and the Justinianic city / Lea Niccolai

Cityscapes in early Syrac poetry : Nisibis, Amida, Edessa / Philip Michael Forness

The beautiful wall : militarized cityscapes in the age of Justinian / Conor Whately

A land of small forts and cross walls : the sixth-century Balkans according to the Buildings / Alexander Sarantis

The city foundations of Justinian between imagery and reality through the lenses of Justiniana Prima and Caput Vada / Max Ritter

Why depict a city? Urban imagery in the early medieval eastern Mediterranean / Bill Leal

Why else depict a city? A response / Philipp Niewöhner

Epilogue : cities of the mind, cities of the heart, cities of stone / Hendrik Dey.

Notes:

"This volume is based on research first presented at the conference Imagery and Aesthetics of Cityscapes in Late Antiquity, held 12-14 February 2020 in Mainz ... hosted by the Leibniz-Institut für Europäische Geschichte and the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz..."--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9782503611914

2503611915

OCLC:

1512898915

Publisher Number:

90103186388

CIPO000292654