Palmyrene Sarcophagi

Studies in Palmyrene Archaeology and History, vol. 10 Palmyrene Sarcophagi Olympia Bobou, Rubina Raja Pages:2 vols, 1003 p. Size:216 x 280 mm Illustrations:722 b/w, 95 col., 1 tables b/w., 2 maps b/w, 9 maps color Language(s):English Publication Year:2023 Buy print version ? 365,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE ISBN: 978-2-503-60466-4 Hardback Available SUBJECT(S) Roman Archaeology Ancient Western Asia (Near East) (up to 7th cen.) Objects and materials (antiquities & material culture) Classical sculpture BIO Olympia Bobou is an assistant professor at the Centre for Urban Network Evolutions, Aarhus University. Rubina Raja is professor of Classical Archaeology and directs three projects on Palmyra: The Palmyra Portrait Project; Archive Archaeology: Preserving and Sharing Palmyra's Cultural Heritage through Harald Ingholt's Digital Archive; and Circular Economy and Urban Sustainability in Antiquity. She specialises in the archaeology of the Mediterranean and the Levant and has published widely on Palmyra and the region in general. SUMMARY While the funerary portraiture of Palmyra is rightly world-renowned, up to now, the corpus of sarcophagi from the ancient city has received relatively little attention as a cohesive group in their own right. Comprising sarcophagi, banqueting reliefs and founder reliefs, as well as sarcophagus reliefs, most of these objects share a common iconographic motif, that of the banquet, although other scenes, mostly drawn from the daily life of the city's caravan leaders and their families, also appear. The emphasis on the banqueting scene in particular reveals the crucial importance of dining in ancient Palmyrene society: for the living, banquets were a marker of social standing and gave hosts a chance to honour the gods and offer an ephemeral benefaction to their fellow citizens, while for the dead, the banquet motif offered the opportunity for the entire family to be depicted together and showcase their wealth and sophistication, as well as their connections outside the city. This single corpus of material gathered through the Palmyra Portrait Project, is presented in this beautifully illustrated two-volume monograph. Through careful analysis of the portraits, and the costumes and attribute choices that appear in these images, the authors explore how the sarcophagi were used by Palmyrenes to project an image of local pride, while at the same time participating in the visual cultures of the Roman and Parthian Empires between which their city was situated.