Between the pagan past and Christian present in Byzantine visual culture : statues in Constantinople, 4th-13th centuries CE

The Resource Between the pagan past and Christian present in Byzantine visual culture : statues in Constantinople, 4th-13th centuries CE
Label
Between the pagan past and Christian present in Byzantine visual culture : statues in Constantinople, 4th-13th centuries CE
Title remainder
statues in Constantinople, 4th-13th centuries CE
Statement of responsibility
Paroma Chatterjee, University of Michigan
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
Up to its pillage by the Crusaders in 1204, Constantinople teemed with magnificent statues of emperors, pagan gods, and mythical beasts. Yet the significance of this wealth of public sculpture has hardly been acknowledged beyond late antiquity. In this book, Paroma Chatterjee offers a new perspective on the topic, arguing that pagan statues were an integral part of Byzantine visual culture. Examining the evidence in patriographies, chronicles, novels, and epigrams, she demonstrates that the statues were admired for three specific qualities - longevity, mimesis, and prophecy; attributes that rendered them outside of imperial control and endowed them with an enduring charisma sometimes rivaling that of holy icons. Chatterjee's interpretations refine our conceptions of imperial imagery, the Hippodrome, the Macedonian Renaissance, a corpus of secular objects, and Orthodox icons. Her book offers novel insights into Iconoclasm and proposes a more truncated trajectory of the holy icon in medieval Orthodoxy than has been previously acknowledged.--
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Provided by publisher
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
dictionaries
Series statement
Cambridge Social Sciences eBooks
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