Homer in Stone: The Tabulae Iliacae In Their Roman Context (Greek Culture in the Roman World) - Softcover

Petrain, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1316631931 ISBN 13: 9781316631935

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2016

Synopsis

The Tabulae Iliacae are a group of carved stone plaques created in the context of early Imperial Rome that use miniature images and text to retell stories from Greek myth and history - chief among them Homer's Iliad and the fall of Troy. In this book, Professor Petrain moves beyond the narrow focus on the literary and iconographic sources of the Tabulae that has characterized earlier scholarship. Drawing on ancient and modern theories of narrative, he explores instead how the tablets transfer the Troy saga across both medium and culture as they create a system of visual storytelling that relies on the values and viewing habits of Roman viewers. The book comprehensively situates the tablets in the urban fabric of Augustan Rome. New photographs of the tablets, together with re-editions and translations of key inscriptions, offer a new, clearer view of these remarkable documents of the Roman appropriation of Greek epic.

About this title

Review:

'... this is an instructive and rewarding study of a topic that can seem abstruse and that has endangered controversy. ... Given this work's clear presentation of evidence, balance of iconographic and literary interpretation, and lucid argument, I would advise scholars new to the topic to start with it first.' Jonathon Burgess, The Classical Journal

'The book is handsomely produced and well-illustrated, with few typographical errors; the two appendices provide an invaluable conspectus of the iconography and inscriptions on all the known Tabulae. Petrain has done a great deal to advance the study of these perplexing and intriguing objects, and all scholars of the Roman reception of Greek culture will learn much from his superb monograph.' Thomas R. Keith, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Book Description:

The Tabulae Iliacae are stone plaques created for Imperial Rome that retell Homer's Iliad and the Troy saga through carved images and text. New photographs and translations of key texts will make this study accessible to all readers interested in Greek epic and how it is adapted to new contexts.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1316631931
• ISBN 13: 9781316631935
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 284