Overview

In The Greek and Roman Trophy: From Battlefield Marker to Icon of Power, Kinnee presents the first monographic treatment of ancient trophies in sixty years. The study spans Archaic Greece through the Augustan Principate. Kinnee aims to create a holistic view of this complex monument-type by breaking down boundaries between the study of art history, philology, the history of warfare, and the anthropology of religion and magic. Ultimately, the kaleidoscopic picture that emerges is of an ad hoc anthropomorphic Greek talisman that gradually developed into a sophisticated, Augustan sculptural or architectural statement of power. The former, a product of the hoplite phalanx, disappeared from battlefields as the Macedonian cavalry grew in importance, shifting instead onto coins and into rhetoric, where it became a statement of military might. For their part, the Romans seem to have encountered the trophy as an icon on Syracusan coinage. Recognizing its value as a statement of territorial ownership, the Romans spent two centuries honing the trophy-concept into an empire-building tool, planted at key locations around the Mediterranean to assert Roman presence and dominance. This volume covers a ubiquitous but poorly understood phenomenon and will therefore be instructive to upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars in all fields of Classical Studies.

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9780367592196

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"""In this volume Kinnee offers a comprehensive account of the development of the trophy in Greek and Roman culture. Combining study of the literary and archaeological evidence with insights from anthropology and the history of religions, she offers a provocative new interpretation of the Greek trophy, radically different from the icon of power it later became."" - Zahra Newby, University of Warwick, UK ""Kinnee’s dissemination of a chronological approach to the trophy and valuable coverage of the development of the Greek trophy and Roman trophy tableau is a historiographical necessity... Her essential book brings new information to light on the trophy."" - Bryn Mawr Classical Review"

In this volume Kinnee offers a comprehensive account of the development of the trophy in Greek and Roman culture. Combining study of the literary and archaeological evidence with insights from anthropology and the history of religions, she offers a provocative new interpretation of the Greek trophy, radically different from the icon of power it later became. - Zahra Newby, University of Warwick, UK Kinnee's dissemination of a chronological approach to the trophy and valuable coverage of the development of the Greek trophy and Roman trophy tableau is a historiographical necessity... Her essential book brings new information to light on the trophy. - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Author Information

Lauren Kinnee is the Director of Art History and Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, USA.

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