Living with Myths: The Imagery of Roman Sarcophagi (Oxford Studies in Ancient Culture and Representation)

Roman sarcophagi have fascinated posterity since the Middle Ages, largely because of their mythological reliefs. Living with Myths provides a comprehensive introduction to this important genre, exploring such subjects as the role of the mythological images in everyday life of the time, the messages they convey about the Romans' view of themselves, and the reception of the sarcophagi in later European art and art history. The volume is fully illustrated with high-quality photographs, which enable readers to appreciate the artistic quality of the reliefs and to explore for themselves the messages they convey. Together with the text, which includes analyses of specific sarcophagi, the pictures open up a panorama of Roman cultural history in the 2nd to the early 4th centuries CE.