Inscribing faith in late antiquity : between reading and seeing

Author(s)

• Leatherbury, Sean Villareal

Bibliographic Information

Inscribing faith in late antiquity : between reading and seeing

Sean V. Leatherbury

（Image, text and culture in classical antiquity / series editor, Michael Squire）

Routledge, 2019

• : hard

Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Inscribing Faith in Late Antiquity considers the Greek and Latin texts inscribed in churches and chapels in the late antique Mediterranean (c. 300-800 CE), compares them to similar texts from pagan, Jewish, and Muslim spaces of worship, and explores how they functioned both textually and visually. These texts not only recorded the names and prayers of the faithful, but were powerful verbal and visual statements of cultural values and religious beliefs, conveying meaning through their words as well as through their appearances. In fact, the two were intimately connected. All of these texts - Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and pagan - acted visually, embracing their own materiality as mosaic, paint, or carved stone. Colourful and artfully arranged, the inscriptions framed human relationships with the divine, encouraged responses from readers, and made prayers material. In the first in-depth examination of the inscriptions as words and as images, the author reimagines the range of aesthetic, cultural, and religious experiences that were possible in spaces of worship. Inscribing Faith in Late Antiquity is essential reading for those interested in Roman, late antique, and Byzantine material and visual culture, inscriptions and other texts, and religious life in the ancient Mediterranean.

Table of Contents

• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Chapter One: Introduction
• Chapter Two: Material texts
• Chapter Three: Framing texts, framing belief
• Chapter Four: Ekphrasis and experience
• Chapter Five: Embedding texts into images
• Chapter Six: Embedded prayers
• Conclusion: Reading and seeing faith
• Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BB31417415
• ISBN:
  • 9781472459183
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: New York
• Pages/Volumes: xvii, 366p.
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Architectural inscriptions -- Mediterranean Region -- History -- To 1500
  • LCSH : Decoration and ornament, Architectural -- Mediterranean Region -- History -- To 1500
  • LCSH : Writing and art -- Mediterranean Region -- History -- To 1500
  • LCSH : Mosaics, Ancient -- Mediterranean Region
  • LCSH : Church decoration and ornament -- Mediterranean Region
  • LCSH : Jewish decoration and ornament -- Mediterranean Region
  • LCSH : Islamic decoration and ornament -- Mediterranean Region
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BB27932735