Late Antique and Medieval Art of the Mediterranean World

This comprehensive anthology offers a new approach to the visual arts classified as Early Christian–Byzantine. It creates an integrated study of the art and culture in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean from late antiquity through medieval times (3rd to 13th centuries CE), bringing together material that routinely had been separated by labels such as "Early Christian," "Byzantine," "Romanesque," and "Islamic." Beginning with a thorough introduction that maps the late antique and medieval Mediterranean world, this volume includes an extensive range of pertinent topics, from the effect that converging cultures in late antiquity had on art, to the cultural identities that can be observed by looking at difference of tradition in visual art, and to the variance of illuminations in holy books. The result is a valuable anthology that explores the historical, geographical, and cultural interactions in the visual arts of this period, rethinking the classifications in late antique, medieval, and Mediterranean art.

List of Contributors. List of Illustrations. Series Editor’s Preface. Editor’s Acknowledgments. Acknowledgments to Sources. Introduction: Remapping the Art of the Mediterranean. Part I: Late Antiquity: Converging Cultures, Competing Traditions. Pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Sasanian Art . 1. The Changing Nature of Roman Art and the Art–Historical Problem of Style: Jás Elsner. 2. Good and Bad Images from the Synagogue of Dura Europos: Contexts, Subtexts, Intertexts: Annabel Jane Wharton. 3. Exotic Taste: The Lure of Sasanian Persia: Anna Gonosová. 4. Dionysiac Motifs: Richard Ettinghausen. Part II: Continuities: Tradition and Formation of Cultural Identities . 5. The Good Life: Henry Maguire. 6. Hellenism and Islam: G. W. Bowersock. 7. The Draped Universe of Islam: Lisa Golombek. Part III: Image and Word: Early Medieval, Byzantine, and Islamic Art . 8. The Beginnings of Biblical Illustration: John Lowden. 9 Sacred Image, Sacred Power: Gary Vikan. 10. The Umayyad Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem: Oleg Grabar. 11. The Image of the Word: Notes on the Religious Iconography of Islam: Erica. Cruikshank Dodd. 12. Islam, Iconoclasm, and the Declaration of Doctrine: G. R. D. King. Part IV: Local Syncretistic Traditions: Jews, Muslims, and Christians . 13. Hebrew Book Illumination in the Fatimid Era: Rachel Milstein. 14. An Icon at Mt. Sinai and Christian Painting in Muslim Egypt during the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Robert S. Nelson. Part V: Luxury Arts and the Representation of the Court. 15. The Cup of San Marco and the “Classical” in Byzantium: Ioli Kalavrezou. 16. Images of the Court: Henry Maguire. 17. But Is It Art?: Robin Cormack. Part VI: Expanding Boundaries: Spain, Sicily, Venice, and Beyond . 18. Pathways of Portability: Islamic and Christian Interchange from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century: Eva R. Hoffman. 19. Islam, Christianity, and the Problem of Religious Art: Jerrilyn D. Dodds. 20. The Medieval Object–Enigma, and the Problem of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo: William Tronzo. 21. Venice and Islam in the Middle Ages: Some Observations on the Question of Architectural Influence: Deborah Howard. Index

Eva R. Hoffman is Associate Professor and Faculty Coordinator for World Art Surveys at Tufts University.

"Blackwell Publishing are to be congratulated on their decision to revive he scholarly anthology of which the present book is a splendid example." ( International Review of Biblical Studies , 2007–2008)