Images of chariot racing in the funerary sculpture of the Roman Empire : typology, chronology and context
Among the many forms of spectacles that were staged in Imperial Rome and its provinces, chariot racing is arguably the one most often represented in the visual arts, where it appears in public, domestic and funerary contexts. This dissertation analyses the role and significance of chariot racing in Roman society through its visual representation in funerary sculpture. The work is structured into two parts: a survey and critical analysis of images of the chariot race and of its constituent parts, the charioteer and race horse; and an illustrated catalogue of the monuments. The first chapter situates the aims of the dissertation within the framework of past and current research in Roman art, in particular studies of scenes of spectacles on funerary monuments. A statistical analysis of the corpus surveys the different forms of circus scenes (i.e. realistic, mythological), the various types of sculptured monuments, and their dates and contexts. The subsequent chapters discuss the imagery on these monuments, including ash urns, grave altars, sarcophagi, reliefs, portrait busts, statues and statuettes. The analysis of each image explicates its dating and provenance (where known), fixes its iconography within the
Bell, Perry Sinclair
Images of chariot racing in the funerary sculpture of the Roman Empire : typology, chronology and context. Among the many forms of spectacles that were staged in Imperial Rome and its provinces, chariot racing is arguably the one most often represented in the visual arts, where it appears in public, domestic and funerary contexts. This dissertation analyses the role and significance of chariot racing in Roman society through its visual representation in funerary sculpture. The work is structured into two parts: a survey and critical analysis of images of the chariot race and of its constituent parts, the charioteer and race horse; and an illustrated catalogue of the monuments. The first chapter situates the aims of the dissertation within the framework of past and current research in Roman art, in particular studies of scenes of spectacles on funerary monuments. A statistical analysis of the corpus surveys the different forms of circus scenes (i.e. realistic, mythological), the various types of sculptured monuments, and their dates and contexts. The subsequent chapters discuss the imagery on these monuments, including ash urns, grave altars, sarcophagi, reliefs, portrait busts, statues and statuettes. The analysis of each image explicates its dating and provenance (where known), fixes its iconography within the
images chariot race funerary sculpture roman_empire typology_chronology context among many form spectacle stag imperial_rome province chariot race arguably often represent visual_art appear public domestic funerary_context analysis role significance chariot race roman_society visual_representation funerary sculpture work structure two_part survey critical_analysis image chariot race constituent_part race horse illustrate catalogue monument first situate aim within_framework past_current roman art particular study spectacle funerary_monument statistical_analysis corpus survey different_form scene realistic mythological various_type sculpture monument date contexts subsequent discus imagery monument include ash urn grave altar relief portrait statue statuette analysis image explicate date provenance know iconography within