The first monograph-length study on the intersection of art, science, and the natural world in Hellenistic and Roman times. Examines a series of mosaics, wall-paintings, and papyri surviving from the period 300 BC - AD 100, setting them in their historical and cultural context.

The first systematic exploration of the multifaceted relationship between human bodies and machines in classical antiquity.

In this richly detailed study, Robert Cioffi explores the signficance of the Nile River Valley as the geographic centre of the ancient Greek novel during the genre's heyday in the Roman empire. He shows how the region is repeatedly portrayed in these fictions as a dual-site of ethnographic representation and of resistance to imperial power.

This study considers the relationship between geography and power in the Roman world, most particularly the visualisation of geographical knowledge in myriad forms of geography products: geographical treatises, histories, poems, personifications, landscape representations, images of barbarian peoples, maps, itineraries, and imported foodstuffs.

"Beginning with Cicero and Varro and ending with Statius and Pliny the Younger, this chapter offers a chronological investigation of the ways in which real and literary gardens developed from the first century BCE to the first century CE as a means of elite masculine self-representation and the reactions of elite Roman men to the increased social and cultural power of villa and horti estates and their grounds. Gardens served as powerful symbols of wealth and as creative displays of the cultural aspirations of their owners in ways that challenged traditional definitions of gardens and of Roman manliness. Since these large-scale 'gardens' are primarily associated with leisure (otium), authors are concerned with describing and justifying their activities in these sites as befitting Roman masculine ideals. We can trace a change in attitude towards leisure and the private display of wealth, and consequently gardens, largely attributed to changes in the socio-political circumstances of the Roman elite, in the works of Statius and his contemporary Pliny the Younger, who use laudatory descriptions of extensive villas and grounds as a means of expressing social and literary power"--

A groundbreaking ecocritical study that examines how ideas about the natural and built environment informed architectural and decorative trends of the Roman Late Republican and Early Imperial periods. Landscape emerged as a significant theme in the Roman Late Republican and Early Imperial periods. Writers described landscape in texts and treatises, its qualities were praised and sought out in everyday life, and contemporary perceptions of the natural and built environment, as well as ideas about nature and art, were intertwined with architectural and decorative trends. This illustrated volume examines how representations of real and depicted landscapes, and the merging of both in visual space, contributed to the creation of novel languages of art and architecture. Drawing on a diverse body of archaeological, art historical, and literary evidence, this study applies an ecocritical lens that moves beyond the limits of traditional iconography. Chapters consider, for example, how garden designs and paintings appropriated the cultures and ecosystems brought under Roman control and the ways miniature landscape paintings chronicled the transformation of the Italian shoreline with colonnaded villas, pointing to the changing relationship of humans with nature. Making a timely and original contribution to current discourses on ecology and art and architectural history, Shaping Roman Landscape reveals how Roman ideas of landscape, and the decorative strategies at imperial domus and villa complexes that gave these ideas shape, were richly embedded with meanings of nature, culture, and labor.

Discover the wild and fascinating true stories of the Roman Empire that are rarely taught in history class with this ultimate collection of notorious emperors, scandalous love affairs, rebellion, and more! Whether you think about the Roman Empire every day or not, the legendary stories and fun facts in this book of ancient Roman history are sure to shock you. Discover the lengths Romans would go to please the gods, the most torrid love affairs, the fun that emperors had to create to keep themselves entertained, and the never-ending scandals that caused serious outrage in ancient Roman society. This collection of trivia and history includes: The fall of Crassus, one of the most powerful Romans in his day The tale of the goddess Vesta, who saved Tuccia, a priestess wrongly accused of losing her chastity The story behind the Romans developing a cult for the goddess Cybele, also known as the "Mother of the Gods" And much more! Whether you’re a Roman Empire enthusiast or someone whose knowledge only comes from the movie Gladiator, this book has facts and trivia that will be sure to both educate and entertain you!