A01=Diliana N. Angelova
ancient roman empire
ancient rome
ancient world
antiquity
art history
artwork
augustus
Author_Diliana N. Angelova
authority
build environment
Category=NHB
Category=NHC
christian art
christian transformation
christianity
church and state
constantine
divine founders
early byzantium empire
early christian art
emperor
emperor augustus
emperor constantine
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
female imperial power
history
imperial art
imperial honors
literature
medieval world
myth of origins
religion
religious studies
roman empire
sacred founders
virgin mary
Product details
- ISBN 9780520284012
- Weight: 998g
- Dimensions: 178 x 254mm
- Publication Date: 02 Sep 2015
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Diliana Angelova argues that from the time of Augustus through early Byzantium, a discourse of "sacred founders" - articulated in artwork, literature, imperial honors, and the built environment - helped legitimize the authority of the emperor and his family. The discourse coalesced around the central idea, bound to a myth of origins, that imperial men and women were sacred founders of the land, mirror images of the empire's divine founders. When Constantine and his formidable mother Helena established a new capital for the Roman Empire, they initiated the Christian transformation of this discourse by brilliantly reformulating the founding myth. Over time, this transformation empowered imperial women, strengthened the cult of the Virgin Mary, fueled contests between church and state, and provoked an arresting synthesis of imperial and Christian art. Sacred Founders presents a bold interpretive framework that unearths deep continuities between the ancient and medieval worlds, recovers a forgotten transformation in female imperial power, and offers a striking reinterpretation of early Christian art.
Diliana N. Angelova is Assistant Professor of the History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley.
