Egypt in Italy

Visions of Egypt in Roman Imperial Culture

Molly Swetnam-Burland

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781107040489
• eBook ISBN: 9781316236208
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: History of Ancient Art

This book examines the appetite for Egyptian and Egyptian-looking artwork in Italy during the century following Rome's annexation of Aegyptus as a province. In the early imperial period, Roman interest in Egyptian culture was widespread, as evidenced by works ranging from the monumental obelisks, brought to the capital over the Mediterranean Sea by the emperors, to locally made emulations of Egyptian artifacts found in private homes and in temples to Egyptian gods. Although the foreign appearance of these artworks was central to their appeal, this book situates them within their social, political, and artistic contexts in Roman Italy. Swetnam-Burland focuses on what these works meant to their owners and their viewers in their new settings, by exploring evidence for the artists who produced them and by examining their relationship to the contemporary literature that informed Roman perceptions of Egyptian history, customs, and myths.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Frontispiece
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Table of contents
• List of color plates
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Egyptian Objects, Roman Contexts
• 2 Aegyptus Redacta
• 3 The Sanctuary of Isis in Pompeii
• 4 Images of Egypt
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Works Cited and Consulted
• Index
• Plates