Book contents
- The Death of Myth on Roman Sarcophagi
- Greek Culture in the Roman World
- The Death of Myth on Roman Sarcophagi
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- One Myth a Casualty of Christianity
- Two Bucolic Sarcophagi and Elite Retreat
- Three Refuge from the Third-Century Crisis
- Four Culture, Status, and Rising Populism
- Five Myth Abstracted
- Six Distinguishing the Mythological
- Seven Conclusion
- Eight Coda
- Works Cited
- Index of Objects by City/Museum
- General Index
Eight - Coda
Myth Revived: Temporality and the Afterlife
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 January 2023
Book contents
- The Death of Myth on Roman Sarcophagi
- Greek Culture in the Roman World
- The Death of Myth on Roman Sarcophagi
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- One Myth a Casualty of Christianity
- Two Bucolic Sarcophagi and Elite Retreat
- Three Refuge from the Third-Century Crisis
- Four Culture, Status, and Rising Populism
- Five Myth Abstracted
- Six Distinguishing the Mythological
- Seven Conclusion
- Eight Coda
- Works Cited
- Index of Objects by City/Museum
- General Index
Summary
One of the most striking things about myth on Roman sarcophagi is that, after exiting the stage during the second half of the third century, it returns with a vengeance in the fourth – this time in Christian guise. How are we to conceive of the relation between the polytheistic myths that had long adorned Roman coffins and the Christian myths that succeeded them? What was their altered view of temporality, allegory, and the afterlife? And what is the relevance of sculptural technique and tooling to understanding this relationship? Such is the subject of this book’s closing chapter.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Death of Myth on Roman SarcophagiAllegory and Visual Narrative in the Late Empire, pp. 215 - 242Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022