Edited by G. Papantoniou, D. Michaelides and M. Dikomitou-Eliadou, Hellenistic and Roman Terracottas is a collection of 29 chapters with an introduction presenting diverse and innovative approaches (archaeological, stylistic, iconographic, functional, contextual, digital, and physicochemical) in the study of ancient terracottas across the Mediterranean and the Near East, from the Hellenistic period to Late Antiquity. The 34 authors advocate collectively the significance of a holistic approach to the study of coroplastic art, which considers terracottas not simply as works of art but, most importantly, as integral components of ancient material culture. The volume will prove to be an invaluable companion to all those interested in ancient terracottas and their associated iconography and technology, as well as in ancient artefacts and classical archaeology in general.

English summary: The catalogue of all the Egyptian terracotta objects of the Hellenistic and Roman periods in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. The presentation of the individual pieces includes a full discussion of their relative chronology and their iconography. Since the material is mostly of unknown provenance, it has been possible to propose a dating almost exclusively on the basis of careful stylistic analysis. Italian description: La catalogazione di tutti gli oggetti in terracotta egiziani di epoca ellenistica e romana conservati nel Museum of Fine Arts di Budapest. La presentazione dei singoli pezzi comprende unampia discussione sulla loro cronologia relativa e sulla loro iconografia. Trattandosi infatti per la maggior parte di materiale di cui non si conosce la provenienza, e stato possibile proporre una datazione quasi esclusivamente sulla base di unaccurata analisi stilistica.

The papers in this volume derive from the proceedings of the nineteenth International Bronze Congress, held at the Getty Center and Villa in October 2015 in connection with the exhibition Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World. The study of large-scale ancient bronzes has long focused on aspects of technology and production. Analytical work of materials, processes, and techniques has significantly enriched our understanding of the medium. Most recently, the restoration history of bronzes has established itself as a distinct area of investigation. How does this scholarship bear on the understanding of bronzes within the wider history of ancient art? How do these technical data relate to our ideas of styles and development? How has the material itself affected ancient and modern perceptions of form, value, and status of works of art? www.getty.edu/publications/artistryinbronze

Situates the study of Roman sculpture within the fields of art history, classical archaeology, and Roman studies, presenting technical, scientific, literary, and theoretical approaches.

This book investigates the long-term continuity of large-scale states and empires, and its effect on the Near East’s social fabric, including the fundamental changes that occurred to major social institutions. Its geographical coverage spans, from east to west, modern-day Libya and Egypt to Central Asia, and from north to south, Anatolia to southern Arabia, incorporating modern-day Oman and Yemen. Its temporal coverage spans from the late eighth century BCE to the seventh century CE during the rise of Islam and collapse of the Sasanian Empire. The authors argue that the persistence of large states and empires starting in the eighth/seventh centuries BCE, which continued for many centuries, led to new socio-political structures and institutions emerging in the Near East. The primary processes that enabled this emergence were large-scale and long-distance movements, or population migrations. These patterns of social developments are analysed under different aspects: settlement patterns, urban structure, material culture, trade, governance, language spread and religion, all pointing at movement as the main catalyst for social change. This book’s argument is framed within a larger theoretical framework termed as ‘universalism’, a theory that explains many of the social transformations that happened to societies in the Near East, starting from the Neo-Assyrian period and continuing for centuries. Among other influences, the effects of these transformations are today manifested in modern languages, concepts of government, universal religions and monetized and globalized economies.

"Egypt in the Roman world" --- Studies on the meaning of Aegyptiaca Romana and the understanding of the cults of Isis in their local context.

Memphis was one of the great melting pots of Mediterranean and African culture during the reigns of the heirs of Alexander and under the Roman Empire, a vibrant and complex community well after the end of the age of its ancient Pharaonic founders. For too long, its importance during this critical period has been wrongly eclipsed by the younger city of Alexandria. This book challenges such assumptions by taking a closer look at Memphis through the lens of the rich material excavated there by Flinders Petrie over a century ago, and exhibited in University College London’s Petrie Museum. These finds bring alive the diversity of the city’s inhabitants and raise questions, still relevant today, about the representations and realities of ethnic groups. This book presents the excavation background to the finds, their manufacturing processes and their cultural implications. It is accompanied by downloadable resources that illustrate this informative and neglected material.

This book draws together a wide range of evidence across disciplines to show how the ordinary people of Roman Egypt experienced and enacted change.