Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium: Byzantium, Pliska, and the Balkans

Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium: Byzantium, Pliska, and the Balkans

Author: Joachim Henning

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 765

ISBN-13: 3110183587

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this collection leading international authorities analyse the structures and economic functions of non-agrarian centres between ca. 500 and 1000 A.D. - their trade, their surrounding settlements, and the agricultural and cultural milieux. The thirty-one papers presented at an international conference held in Bad Homburg focus on recent archaeological discoveries in Central Europe (Vol. 1), as well as on those from southeastern Europe to Asia Minor (Vol. 2).


Renovatio Urbis

Renovatio Urbis

Author: Nicholas Temple

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2011-04-25

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1136736484

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Examining the urban and architectural developments in Rome during the Pontificate of Julius II (1503–13) this book focuses on the political, religious and artistic motives behind the principal architect, Donato Bramante, and his ambition to create a unified urban/architectural scheme.


Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise

Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise

Author: Amy R. Bloch

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-02-09

Total Pages: 874

ISBN-13: 131640465X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book examines the heretofore unsuspected complexity of Lorenzo Ghiberti's sculpted representations of Old Testament narratives in his Gates of Paradise (1425–52), the second set of doors he made for the Florence Baptistery and a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance sculpture. One of the most intellectually engaged and well-read artists of his age, Ghiberti found inspiration in ancient and medieval texts, many of which he and his contacts in Florence's humanist community shared, read, and discussed. He was fascinated by the science of vision, by the functioning of nature, and, above all, by the origins and history of art. These unusually well-defined intellectual interests, reflected in his famous Commentaries, shaped his approach in the Gates. Through the selection, imaginative interpretation, and arrangement of biblical episodes, Ghiberti fashioned multi-textured narratives that explore the human condition and express his ideas on a range of social, political, artistic, and philosophical issues.


The Material Culture of Sex, Procreation, and Marriage in Premodern Europe

The Material Culture of Sex, Procreation, and Marriage in Premodern Europe

Author: A. McClanan

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-09-23

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1137085037

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This interdisciplinary anthology takes as its starting point the belief that, as the material grounds of lived experience, material culture provides an avenue of historical access to women's lives, extending beyond the reaches of textual evidence. Studies here range from utilitarian tools used in Late Roman abortion to sacred, magical or ritual objects associated with sex, procreation, and marriage in the Renaissance. Together the essays demonstrate the complex relationship between language and object, and explore the ways in which objects become forms of communication in their own right, transmitting both rather specific messages and more generalized social and cultural values.


Publishing for the Popes

Publishing for the Popes

Author: Paolo Sachet

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-04-06

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 9004348654

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this book Paolo Sachet provides a detailed account of the attempts made by the Roman Curia to exploit printing in the mid-sixteenth century, after the Reformation but before the implementation of the ecclesiastical censorship. Conventional wisdom holds that Protestant exploitation of printing was astute, active and forward-looking, whereas the papacy was inept, passive and reactionary in dealing with the relatively new medium of communication. Publishing for the Popes aims to provide an impartial assessment of this assumption. By focusing on the editorial projects undertaken by members of the Roman Curia between 1527 and 1555, Sachet examines the Catholic Church’s attitude towards printing, exploring its biases and tactics. See inside the book.