Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans: Visual Representation and Non-Elite Viewers in Italy, 100 B.C.-A.D. 315

399 Pages·2003·5.04 MB·English

The Joan Palevsky Imprint in Classical Literature
In honor of beloved Virgil—
“O degli altri poeti onore e lume . . .”
—Dante, Inferno
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution to this book provided
by the Classical Literature Endowment of the University of California Press Associates,
which is supported by a major gift from Joan Palevsky,
and by a University Cooperative Subvention grant awarded by the
University of Texas at Austin.
ART IN THE LIVES OF ORDINARY ROMANS

ART IN THE LIVES OF ORDINARY ROMANS
VISUAL REPRESENTATION AND
NON-ELITE VIEWERS IN ITALY, 100 B.C.––A.D. 315
JOHN R. CLARKE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
BERKELEY • LOS ANGELES • LONDON
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2003 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clarke, John R., 1945–
Art in the lives of ordinary Romans :visual representation and non-elite
viewers in Italy, 100 b.c.–a.d.315 / John R. Clarke.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-520-21976-7 (cloth :alk. paper)
1. Art, Roman—Themes, motives. 2. Art, Roman—Social aspects.
3. Social classes in art. 4. Social status—Rome. I. Title.
N72.S6 C58 2003
709'.37—dc21 2002154934
Manufactured in Canada
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).8
TO MICHAEL LARVEY

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • ix
INTRODUCTION • 1
PART 1: IMPERIAL REPRESENTATION OF NON-ELITES • 15
1. AUGUSTUS’S AND TRAJAN’S MESSAGES
TO COMMONERS • 19
2. THE ALL-SEEING EMPEROR AND ORDINARY VIEWERS:
MARCUS AURELIUS AND CONSTANTINE • 42
PART 2: NON-ELITES IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE • 69
3. EVERYMAN, EVERYWOMAN, AND THE GODS • 73
4. EVERYMAN AND EVERYWOMAN AT WORK • 95
5. SPECTACLE: ENTERTAINMENT, SOCIAL CONTROL,
SELF-ADVERTISING, AND TRANSGRESSION • 130
6. LAUGHTER AND SUBVERSION IN THE TAVERN:
IMAGE, TEXT, AND CONTEXT • 160