Examines a diverse range of house types in an effort to understand how people imagined and articulated their place in the Roman world, from Britain to Syria. Shelly Hales considers the nature and role of domestic decoration and its role in promoting social identities. From the Egyptian themes of imperial residences in Italy, to the viticultural designs found in the rock-cut homes in Petra, this decoration consistently appeals to fantasies beyond the immediate realities of their inhabitants. Hales contends that fantasy served a key role in allowing individuals and communities to meet expectations and indulge aspirations, to confirm and to compete within the diverse empire. Employing a wide range of approaches to the study of the house and acculturation in the Roman Empire, her book serves as the first synthesis of Roman domestic architecture and offers new insights into the complexities and contradictions of being Roman.
“Italians say that someone who acquires a new language ‘possesses’ it. In my case, Italian possesses me. With Italian racing like blood through my veins, I do indeed see with different eyes, hear with
Recent studies have highlighted the diversity, complexity and plurality of identities in the ancient world. At the same time, scholars have acknowledged the dynamic role of material culture, not simply in reflecting those identities but their role in creating and transforming them. This volume explores and compares two influential approaches to the study of social and cultural identities, the model of globalisation and theories of hybrid cultural development. In a series of case studies, an international team of archaeologists and art historians considers how various aspects of material culture can be used to explore complex global and local identity structures across the geographical and chronological span of antiquity. The essays examine the civilisations of the Greeks, Romans, Etruscans, Persians, Phoenicians, and Celts. They also dwell on contemporary thoughts of identity, cultural globalisation and resistance that shape and are shaped by academic discourses on the cultural empires
Commuters. Tract homes. Strip malls.Is this what you think of when you think of the suburbs? Or do you think of safety, beauty, comfort, and ease?More than half of Americans live in the suburbs. Ashle
The 400-year-old Kepler conjecture asserts that no packing of congruent balls in three dimensions can have a density exceeding the familiar pyramid-shaped cannonball arrangement. In this book, a new proof of the conjecture is presented that makes it accessible for the first time to a broad mathematical audience. The book also presents solutions to other previously unresolved conjectures in discrete geometry, including the strong dodecahedral conjecture on the smallest surface area of a Voronoi cell in a sphere packing. This book is also currently being used as a blueprint for a large-scale formal proof project, which aims to check every logical inference of the proof of the Kepler conjecture by computer. This is an indispensable resource for those who want to be brought up to date with research on the Kepler conjecture.
Recent studies have highlighted the diversity, complexity and plurality of identities in the ancient world. At the same time, scholars have acknowledged the dynamic role of material culture, not simply in reflecting those identities but their role in creating and transforming them. This volume explores and compares two influential approaches to the study of social and cultural identities, the model of globalisation and theories of hybrid cultural development. In a series of case studies, an international team of archaeologists and art historians considers how various aspects of material culture can be used to explore complex global and local identity structures across the geographical and chronological span of antiquity. The essays examine the civilisations of the Greeks, Romans, Etruscans, Persians, Phoenicians, and Celts. They also dwell on contemporary thoughts of identity, cultural globalisation and resistance that shape and are shaped by academic discourses on the cultural empires
Everybody knows her smile, but no one knows her story: Meet the flesh-and-blood woman who became one of the most famous artistic subjects of all time—Mona Lisa.A genius immortalized her. A French king
Shooting Polaris is John Hales’s fascinating and far-reaching account of working as a government surveyor in the southern Utah desert. In it, he describes his search for a place in the natural world,
From the New York Times bestselling author knighted by the President of Italy for her writing, a jubilant exploration of how Italy transformed the Western world's most vibrant passions -- from literat
