9781108985628, 1108985629, and 9781108985628 (ebook)
Description:
1 online resource (xiv, 267 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)
Notes:
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 17 Sep 2021)
Contents:
The Byzantine statue : problems and questions -- Prophecy -- History -- Mimesis -- Epigrams and statues -- Epilopgue. The end : Manuel Chrysoloras and the sense of the past
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