TY - BOOK ID - 113602351 TI - The death of myth on Roman sarcophagi : allegory and visual narrative in the Late Empire PY - 2022 SN - 1009039032 1009041444 100904124X 1316510913 PB - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Sarcophagi, Roman KW - Sarcophagi, Early Christian KW - Themes, motives. KW - Early Christian sarcophagi KW - Roman sarcophagi KW - Relief (Sculpture) KW - Mythology, Classical, in art. KW - Art and society KW - Art KW - Art and sociology KW - Society and art KW - Sociology and art KW - Sculpture KW - Social aspects UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:113602351 AB - A strange thing happened to Roman sarcophagi in the third century: their Greek mythic imagery vanished. Since the beginning of their production a century earlier, these beautifully carved coffins had featured bold mythological scenes. How do we make sense of this imagery's own death on later sarcophagi, when mythological narratives were truncated, gods and heroes were excised, and genres featuring no mythic content whatsoever came to the fore? What is the significance of such a profound tectonic shift in the Roman funerary imagination for our understanding of Roman history and culture, for the development of its arts, for the passage from the High to the Late Empire and the coming of Christianity, but above all, for the individual Roman women and men who chose this imagery, and who took it with them to the grave? In this book, Mont Allen offers the clues that aid in resolving this mystery. ER -