The Triumph and Trade of Egyptian Objects in Rome

Collecting Art in the Ancient Mediterranean

Stephanie Pearson

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9783110700404
• eBook ISBN: 9783110700930
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Egyptian Ancient History

From gleaming hardstone statues to bright frescoes, the unexpected and often spectacular Egyptian objects discovered in Roman Italy have long presented an interpretive challenge. How they shaped and were shaped by religion, politics, and identity formation has now been well researched. But one crucial function of these objects remains to be explored: their role as precious goods in a collector's economy. The Romans imported and recreated Egyptian goods in the most opulent materials available – gold, gems, expensive wood, ivory, luxurious textiles – and displayed them like true treasures. This is due in part to the way Romans encountered these items, as argued in this book: first as dazzling spolia from the war against Cleopatra, then as costly wares exchanged over the expanding Roman trade routes. In this respect, Romans treated Egyptian art surprisingly similarly to Greek art. By examining the concrete mechanisms through which Egyptian objects were acquired and displayed in Rome, this book offers a new understanding of this impressive material at the crossroads of Hellenistic, Roman, and Egyptian culture.

Index

• acrolith 186–187
• Actium 23, 24, 40, 102, 104
• adaptation and imitation 8, 9, 16, 17, 53–58 see also hybridization, hyperluxury, miniaturization, vegetalization
• Adulis 122
• Aemilius Paulus, L. 95–97, 103
• alabaster 44, 103, 164–165, 175–176
• Albano, Villa of Pompey 114–115
• Alexandria 10, 23, 40, 64, 99, 104, 105, 119, 121–127, 129, 145, 150–152, 154 harbor 125–126, 152
• Alexandrian style 13
• animal pelt 134
• annona 122, 125–126
• Antinoopolis 146, 148
• Marc Antony 40, 60, 98, 102, 106, 108
• Anubis 87–88
• Aphrodite see Venus
• Apis bull 83, 176–177, 183
• apotheosis of pleasure 174
• Appian 97, 105
• Apuleius 152
• archaism 12, 17, 49–52, 65, 68, 75, 161–163, 167, 169, 186, 193
• architecture shared across building types 183–184, 188–189
• Arrian 155
• Arsinoe 9, 105–106, 167–169
• art, definition of 4–5
• art reading 3, 4–5, 25–28, 178, 193
• artist 10, 42, 46–47, 53, 58, 184–185, 195
• Athena see Minerva
• Athenaeus 19, 106, 108, 149, 155
• Atum 179–182
• Augustus 15, 23–24, 33, 40, 66, 84, 104–105, 119–120, 122, 125, 128–130, 151, 156, 170 see also Octavian
• Baia, Villa Celle necropolis 189
• banquet 4, 26, 81–82, 84, 86–87, 90, 97, 107–108, 112, 115, 121, 142, 161, 175–177, 193
• basalt 167–168, 170–172, 179–182, 188–189
• benefactions, imperial 119, 129
• Beneventum 159, 186–188
• Berenike 122, 133, 139, 141, 144, 146, 150–153
• Bes 110–111, 113, 182
• Black Sea 59, 139
• Brescia, Republican Temple 141–142, 145, 155
• Beneventum, Iseum 159, 186–188
• biculturalism 13, 17–19
• boat see watercraft
• Boscoreale Villa of P. Fannius Synistor 45–46, 61, 84, 89, 90, 153 Villa Pisanella 89
• Boscotrecase, Villa of Agrippa Postumus 21, 55, 61

• bronze 4, 6–7, 11, 18, 35–36, 45–46, 47, 49, 57, 61, 65–75, 81, 86–88, 90, 98, 99–100, 105, 107–114, 123, 129–130, 132, 161–165, 181, 182, 186, 198

• Caesar, Julius 45, 60, 105–107, 152, 154, 156, 167
• Caesarion 13–14, 35
• Callixeinus see Athenaeus
• cameo 59, 61, 170–172

• Canopus 126

• candelabrum 25, 31, 42, 53, 65–76, 82, 89–90, 110, 112, 115, 123, 139–140, 160, 182, 198
• Cato the Elder 99, 131
• Cecina, Villa dei Cecina 175–176, 186, 189
• ceiling 33, 40, 61, 72, 73, 103, 139–144, 173
• China 137, 154, 156
• chinoiserie 8, 22
• Cicero, M. Tullius 99, 112, 195
• Cleopatra 4, 8, 13–14, 35, 81, 97–98, 102–106, 108, 122, 127, 152–156, 198
• coinage 128–130, 156
• column 16, 42–46, 50, 53–55, 61, 66, 89, 99, 110, 125, 133–134, 153, 175–176, 187
• connoisseurial collecting culture 50, 75, 98, 108, 112, 163, 169, 173
• conquest of Egypt by Rome 4, 10, 15, 19, 23, 24, 26–27, 40, 66, 77, 81–82, 84, 105, 115, 119–120, 128–129, 150, 153, 154, 193
• Coptos 136, 151
• Corinthian bronze see bronze
• Crassus, L. Licinius 44, 95
• crown 4, 5–6, 13–14, 18, 34, 35, 37–39, 59–64, 69, 74–75, 86, 106, 113, 144–145, 147, 154, 164, 173, 176
• Cuma 187–189
• Cybele 69–71
• damage and destruction 4, 24, 25, 51, 97–98, 187–189
• decorative 8, 22, 23, 26, 193
• Dendera, Temple of Hathor 13–14, 35
• Dio Cassius 102–104, 112,...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• I. Introduction: Egyptian Art in Rome as Art
• II. The Lure of Egyptian Treasures
• III. Triumphal Splendor
• IV. Trading in Luxury
• V. Sculptures for Cult and Collecting
• VI. Conclusion: Why Egypt?
• Summary
• List of Figure Sources
• Works Cited
• Index