MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 03442fam a22004098a 4500
001 1678738
005 20220608211353.0
008 940901s1995 caua b 001 0 eng
010 $a 94036581
020 $a0520085183 (alk. paper)
035 $a(OCoLC)31207171
035 $a(OCoLC)ocm31207171
035 $9AKU5932CU
035 $a(NNC)1678738
035 $a1678738
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dOrLoB
043 $aff-----$ae------$aaw-----
050 00 $aNB133.5.S46$bK66 1995
082 00 $a733/.5$220
100 1 $aKoortbojian, Michael.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n93021850
245 10 $aMyth, meaning, and memory on Roman sarcophagi /$cMichael Koortbojian.
260 $aBerkeley :$bUniversity of California Press,$c1995.
263 $a9509
300 $axx, 172 pages :$billustrations ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520 $aIn this study of Roman mythological sarcophagi, Michael Koortbojian unravels the meaning of these ancient funerary monuments and assesses their significance in the broader context of Roman life. As he examines the character and structure of the mythological narratives of Adonis and Endymion, he demonstrates how the stories depicted on these marble sarcophagi were conflated with the lives of those individuals they were intended to recall.
520 8 $aMythology was an evocative force in ancient life and imagery, one that powerfully manifested the complicity between past and present. Stories of the ancient heroes, traditionally regarded as examples of conduct or models for emulation, were elaborated in light of contemporary needs and played a fundamental role in an ongoing process of cultural self-identity.
520 8 $aAn ancient penchant for analogy, and a Roman appreciation of allusion, provided artists with the rationale to transform the Greek myths they had inherited. As the artists likened one thing to another on the basis of distinctive affinities, they sought to express characteristically Roman themes: the sarcophagus reliefs were sculpted to evoke such correspondences. The seemingly inevitable fate of Adonis, to die in the arms of his lover Aphrodite, might be recast in analogy with the altogether different destiny of Aeneas, who was revived at the hands of this very goddess despite a similar wound.
520 8 $aOr the constancy of Selene's nightly visits to her paramour Endymion might be refigured by emphasis on her departure and allusion to the abandonment of Ariadne by her faithless lover, Theseus.
520 8 $aThis fascinating study illuminates for us the real function of the sarcophagus imagery: to allow the beholder to draw from these depictions not only the significance of the myths, but also the meanings of the lives they were intended to commemorate. The sculpted marble caskets demonstrate the power of images to preserve something essential of the dead, as well as the role of myth in both the formulation of those memories and the creation of profound and enduring monuments.
650 0 $aSarcophagi, Roman.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85117514
650 0 $aRelief (Sculpture), Roman.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh86000019
650 0 $aMythology, Roman, in art.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh97002686
852 80 $bfax$hNB115$iK835
852 00 $bbar$hNB133.5.S46$iK66 1995