What is honorific representation? Starting from this simple question, this study analyses the practice of granting benefactors a monument in their own image. At once historical, material and iconographical, this book brings to light the diverse facets of this Panhellenic genre, one as much a sign of the vitality of democratic institutions as an instrument of social prestige. Inherited from the practices of the aristocracy in the Archaic period, honorific representation painted a picture of the ideal city-state and its ...
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What is honorific representation? Starting from this simple question, this study analyses the practice of granting benefactors a monument in their own image. At once historical, material and iconographical, this book brings to light the diverse facets of this Panhellenic genre, one as much a sign of the vitality of democratic institutions as an instrument of social prestige. Inherited from the practices of the aristocracy in the Archaic period, honorific representation painted a picture of the ideal city-state and its social hierarchy, from the victorious general to the good wife. But honorific representation also shaped the public space, itself peopled - sometimes to saturation point - with a diverse range of monuments, from the most modest painting to the dazzling gilt bronze statue perched atop the highest column. By focussing on the outward appearance of works that have all too often been reduced to clauses in honorific decrees, this study offers a new interpretation of the political, social and cultural role of these monuments.
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