Product Description: "A survey of all the mosaics in the J. Paul Getty Museum's collection, documenting their physical features as well as the contexts of their discovery and excavation across Rome's expanding empire--from its center in Italy to provinces in southern Gaul, North Africa, and ancient Syria"--Provided by publisher...read more

Product Description: As Athens prepares for 2004, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, proudly presents the original Olympics in all their sweaty, heroic glory. Like today, sports were a vital part of daily life in ancient Greece. Games for the Gods unearths the original traditions of athletics, highlighting both the fascinating similarities and the jarring differences between the ancient ways and our own...read more

This lavish exhibition catalog brings to life Antioch, the magnificent city known for its Hellenic culture and luxurious way of life, once ranking with Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople as one of the great metropolises of the Roman and early Christian world. Located in what is now southern Turkey, Antioch was the capital of Ancient Syria, a vital marketplace at the crossroads between East and West. It was here that St. Paul preached to the first gentile community to be called "Christians" and where a Greek-speaking Jewish culture flourished alongside Roman, Egyptian, and Near Eastern cults. A large middle-class shared in the wealth and culture of the city, and art abounded in numerous forms, especially in beautiful mosaics depicting scenes from mythology and everyday life. Featuring 118 objects excavated from the city's ruins, all reproduced in full color, Antioch: The Lost Ancient City recreates the spatial sensation, visual splendor, and cultural richness of this urban center. Devastated by an earthquake in 526 C.E., as well as by fires, plagues and invasions by Persians, Antioch survived only in memory through ancient written accounts until the 1930s, when excavations revealed a wealth of finds from the private houses of its inhabitants, including a large cache of floor mosaics. In addition, archaeologists found several churches, a stadium, a circus, a theater, and several baths. This catalog displays and describes the excavated artifacts--mosaics, sculpture, glass, metalwork, coins--within their architectural and cultural contexts, thereby evoking the street life as well as the domestic lives of Antioch's citizens. Among the treasures are the mosaics The Drinking Contest between Dionysos and Herakles and The Judgment of Paris, the Antioch chalice, gold jewelry from Syria, bronze tyche figurines, and mosaics of river and sea deities. Antioch emerges as a compelling model of a melting-pot city, one that challenges our own notions of civic community and diversity. The contributors are Susan Boyd, Bernadette Brooten, John J. Dobbins, Anna Gonosová, Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Florent Heintz, Sandra Knudsen, Christine Kondoleon, Michael Maas, William Metcalf, James Russell, Sarolta Takács, Cornelius Vermeule III, and Fikret Yegul. EXHIBITION SCHEDULE: The Worcester Art MuseumWorcester, MassachusettsOctober 7, 2000-February 4, 2001 The Cleveland Art MuseumCleveland, OhioMarch 18, 2001-June 3, 2001 The Baltimore Museum of ArtBaltimore, MarylandSeptember 16, 2001-December 30, 2001 (view table of contents)

Product Description: Festivals, ceremonies, rituals, and other displays provide powerful ways to create and express a collective identity. This engaging book is the first to explore the intersection between ancient Greek and Roman spectacles and visual artefacts...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: "Christine Kondoleon presents the extraordinary mosaics of the House of Dionysos on Cyprus in a multifaceted study that explores their technique, style, iconography, architectural setting, chronology, and social import. This richly textured exploration provides a compelling reconstruction of the social and political aspirations of Romanized aristocratic patrons of the first and second centuries...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: by Anna Gonosova and Christine Kondoleon. From Rome to Byzantium, classical to medieval, pagan to Christian--this book beautifully documents momentous changes as well as surprising continuities. Softcover, 472 pp., 300 b&w, 25 color illustr.