Offers the most comprehensive, interpretative introduction to Roman funerary art available
Contextual approach does justice to the objective importance one of the most significant bodies of material from the Roman imperial period
Extensive illustration, including a great number of new colour photographs, allows detailed study, analysis, and aesthetic appreciation
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.