Dining as spectacle in late Roman houses

• JOHN STEPHENSON ^[1]
  1. [1] Appalachian State University

     Appalachian State University

     Township of Boone, Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, ISSN 0076-0730, Vol. 59, Nº. 1, 2016, págs. 54-71
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The elements of visual culture preserved in late Roman houses confirm an intense interest in dramatic visual display. This study employs an interpretive lens of spectacle to examine a new form of banquet space amd furnishings in the period, as well as a new style of ‘dinner-theatre’ they served. By considering ancient art as inseparable from active contexts and ephemeral events, a more sophisticated understanding of a society's self-definition through art emerges. Rather than being epiphenomenal to the poliltical culture of late antiquity, spectacle is argued to be central to the creation and contestation of power structures: performance is politics.