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One - The Great Divide

from I - Moving beyond Dichotomies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2023

Matthias Friedrich
Affiliation:
Universität Wien, Austria
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Summary

Ethnicity and identity have formed a major focus in late antique and early medieval archaeology and history. Wide-ranging debates between the so-called Vienna and Toronto Schools have had massive impacts beyond early medieval history, as has the famous project, The Transformation of the Roman World.1 Here, a new paradigm emerged, slowly substituting the previous ‘decline-and-fall’ ideas of the antique world with that of ‘transformation’. The study of late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages in the Roman West is thus very much entangled with research on identity, ethnicity, and grand narratives, such as transformation or decline, ‘Germanic’ or barbarian invasions. These influential concepts and ideas should not be underestimated in the study of art and visual culture as they too frame the historical scenes in which art history is set. Since the mid-2000s, there have been new debates, mostly (but not solely) triggered by Heather, Ward-Perkins, and Halsall.2 The question of the extent to which ethnicity has played a significant role in the use of material culture, and to which it can thereby be identified in the archaeological record, has been widely, and often intensely, debated across late antique and medieval archaeology.3 The research on art and visual culture, however, embarked on a different tangent. Largely ignoring recent debates in history and archaeology, most scholars still emphasise the function of early medieval art and images as fostering perceptions of ‘Germanic’ identity, ethnicity, or religion.4 But why does the ‘Germanic’ remain such a pervasive terminology?

Type
Chapter
Information
Image and Ornament in the Early Medieval West
New Perspectives on Post-Roman Art
, pp. 7 - 36
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • The Great Divide
  • Matthias Friedrich, Universität Wien, Austria
  • Book: Image and Ornament in the Early Medieval West
  • Online publication: 14 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009207768.003
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  • The Great Divide
  • Matthias Friedrich, Universität Wien, Austria
  • Book: Image and Ornament in the Early Medieval West
  • Online publication: 14 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009207768.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Great Divide
  • Matthias Friedrich, Universität Wien, Austria
  • Book: Image and Ornament in the Early Medieval West
  • Online publication: 14 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009207768.003
Available formats
×