Roman Art + Architecture Funerary Catacombs

[Restitvtvs]

Few good Roman Art books & no good Roman Catacomb books "in-print" in English. I have the Roman Art books, but they have relatively little catacomb content.

I would appreciate your recommendations for good books on Roman Art &/or Roman Catacombs.

I prefer books in English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norse, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, or Swedish, as I can reasonably translate when reading (albeit more slowly for some of these than others).

Basque, Finnish, Greek, Japanese, Slavic, and many other languages not mentioned above would be OK, but I would need help with translations. Babelfish is OK to a point. Regardless, I would also appreciate recommendations for good Roman Art &/or Roman Catacomb books in these languages as well.

Thanks!

[Graham Sumner]

Hi

There are few books on Roman art available nowadays outside a good Library.

Try looking for 'The Unknown Catacomb', A. Ferrua. New Lanark 1991.

Most books on Roman art also have an annoying habit of ignoring catacomb art and the mummy portraits in favour of pictures of the Colosseum, aqueduct's and the Pantheon!

The most recent in my collection are:

If you like Mummy portraits you must get 'The Mysterious Fayum Portraits' by E. Doxiadis London 1995 and 'Ancient Faces', by S. Walker and M. Bierbrier. London 1997.


In general try:

'Roman Painting', R. Ling. Cambridge. 1991.
and 'The Handbook of Roman Art' ed M. Henig. Oxford. 1983.

A bit further back in time:

'Roman Painting'. G. Picard. London 1970.

'Arte Romano' M . Tarradell. Barcelona 1969.
Late Roman Painting. W. Dorigo. Milan 1966.

Most of these I have bought second hand but the latest ones might still be in print.

Hope this helps.

Graham.

[Carlton Bach]

Currently going at a discount, an excellent scholarly introduction for general readership is

J. Fink / B. Asamer: Die römischen Katakomben, Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1997

There was also an article on the Italian catacomns outside of Rome by R. Sörries in the last edition of 'Antike Welt' (4/2006, pp. 47-54). He also published the 'Katalog der Katakomben im römischen Reich' (FAU Unikurier 27/102 pp. 91-2). I don't know how far that helps, but he should know hios literature. A lot of the catacomb material is still only very badly - if at all - published.

You can also most likely get a good literature list from V. Fiocchi Nicolai: Zum stand der Katakombenforschung in Latium, Römische Quartalsschrift 89 (1994) pp 199-220. German periodicals don't even look ast an article unless it has a bibliography as long as your right arm.

[Restitvtvs]

Thank you, Graham & Volker. This helps me sort through publishers & retailers' lists of new & used books. It also helps me not to get my hopes up too high! Bibliographies as long as your right arm!!! :lol: Das stimmt! Thanks again. Best regards, +r

[Restitvtvs]

Thank you again for the good Roman catacomb references. I've managed to get several German, in-print Roman catacomb books. The Italian books have been more difficult to get , so I may seek professional help (you could interpret that several ways :lol: ). I'll eventually also try inter-library loans for the out-of-print books.

For anyone interested, here is a collection (work in progress) of some of the better internet Roman catacomb websites:

[url:1gj2vmb4]http://www.romaspqr.it/ROMA/Catacombe_di_roma.htm[/url]
[url:1gj2vmb4]http://web.tiscali.it/catacombe_priscilla/[/url][url:1gj2vmb4]http://www.santagnese.org/catacombe.htm[/url]
[url:1gj2vmb4]http://www.catacombe.domitilla.it/[/url]
[url:1gj2vmb4]http://www.catacombe.roma.it/[/url]
[url:1gj2vmb4]http://www.jesuswalk.com/christian-symbols/[/url]
[url:1gj2vmb4]http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_commissions/archeo/documents/rc_com_archeo_doc_20011010_cataccrist_it.html[/url]
[url:1gj2vmb4]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Rome[/url]
[url:1gj2vmb4]http://www.catacombsociety.org/visiting_Christian.html[/url]

[Robert Vermaat]

Good to see you William. :wink:

[Ioannis]

Also:

The Catacombs of Rome. By William Ingraham Kip, American Sunday-School Union, Benjamin Franklin Hosford, 1854 (republished in 2005).

[Tarbicus]

I think my favourite is Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans: Visual Representation and Non-Elite Viewers in Italy, 100 B.C. - A.D. 315, by John R. Clarke.

"Fresh, improvised, and anything but standard... Clarke's book will constitute the best and maybe the only way of looking at much of Roman art. This thoughtful and humane book is a welcome reminder of how much there is to art history than social status and political power. Lvishly and beautifully illustrated with original photography."
Times Literary Supplement.

[Restitvtvs]

From Columbia University, NYC:

deleted links (they're now limited access)

[Restitvtvs]

Another Roman catacomb website (Austrian):

http://www.minoritenkulturgraz.at/Lehre ... efault.htm

This [had] some exceptionally good images.

[Restitvtvs]

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v4 ... 6339a.html

It should be no surprise that the Jewish built Rome's first Catacombs.

Up until the 1st century B.C., Romans generally practiced cremation (used urns to hold the ashes), and built mostly above ground funerary structures (ranging from small niches in home walls to large, free standing mausoleums). They also did relative shallow surface burials.

Before and after Roman contact, Jews generally practiced inhumation (surface burials, caves, and small catacombs), used ossuaries and sarcophagi to hold the body or bones, and built mostly underground funerary structures (ranging from small pits to cave-like catacombs).

Christianity started as a Jewish branch, so it should be no surprise that the early Christians, may of them being Jewish Christians (in addition to the Pauline Christians), continued/adopted the Jewish practice of building catacombs.

[Restitvtvs]

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03417b.htm (altough a bit dated, still much good content)

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... anity.html

[Marcus Mummius]

One of my professors who is specialised in early Christianity (Dr. Arnold Provoost) made an inventory of the frescos in several catacombs in Rome. This inventory consisted of two books and a cd-rom with colour photos of all these frescos. The university library has these books but I don't know if they were ever officialy published. I have that cd-rom somewhere but don't know exaclty were I put it... A lot of the photographs were taken by himself. I'll try to locate this cd when I have the time...

He also did archaeological research in the catacombs when he was still member of the Jezuit order (Is this the correct english term?).

[Restitvtvs]

Jef: Thank you for your kind offer.

Very close. English spelling is: Jesuit

Thanks again. Best regards, r

P.S. Fortunately, I can read Flemish, so I can understand most of his work that I've found on the internet today.

[Marcus Mummius]

P.S. Fortunately, I can read Flemish, so I can understand most of his work that I've found on the internet today.

That's impressive! How did you learn it?