The Language of Images in Roman Art

Tonio Hölscher develops a new theoretical concept for understanding the Roman art of images by establishing a connection between artistic forms and content and expressions of ideology--such as the glorification of state and ruler, war and triumph. A large role is played here by the reception of earlier images from Greek art. Roman art therefore appears to operate as a semantic system which, from an interdisciplinary perspective, can be compared with the forms of Roman literature as well as the language of images of other cultures.
This book, first published in 2004, develops a theoretical concept for understanding the Roman art of images.
Tonio Hölscher is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Heidelberg. His publications focus on public monuments, political iconography and urbanism in Ancient Greece and Rome and on general art and cultural theory. His is a member of various scientific institutions, including the Academia Europae, London.
Anthony Snodgrass is Emeritus Professor of Classical Archaeology in the University of Cambridge whose books include Homer and the Artists (Cambridge University Press, 1998).
Jas' Elsner is Humfry Payne Senior Research Fellow in Classical Art and Archaeology in the University of Oxford. His books include Art and the Roman Viewer (Cambridge University Press, 1995) and Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph (1998).
"it provides rich material with which to think. While Holscher's structuralist methodology may seem limited today, he s till gives us much to ponder, question and debate, which is no small feat." CAA Reviews Lauren Hackworth Petersen
"The text is copiously illustrated with fifty-two generally clear plates and supported by a chronology of Greek art and artists, a glossary, bibliography, and index...teachers who include Greco-Roman art in discussion of Roman culture will probably find this work of great interest and of some classroom utility." - Robert I. Curtis, University of Georgia