Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome

'With its numerous lavish color illustrations and informative, easy-to-read text, this book is quite enticing. Recommended for art history buffs, students, scholars, and armchair travelers with an interest in Greek and Roman history'  - Library Journal

A richly illustrated volume that demonstrates Sicily's essential role in the development of the ancient Mediterranean world

Ancient Sicily, a prosperous island at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, occupied a pivotal place between Greece, North Africa, and the Italian peninsula. In the opulent courts of the Sicilian city-states, artists, poets, and scientists attained levels of refinement and ingenuity rivalling those of 'old Greece'.  Innovation in architecture, engineering, philosophy, and literature flourished, which offered room for experimentation and gave birth to such influential figures as Theokritos and Archimedes. 

Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome is the only English-language book that focuses on the watershed period between the victory over the Carthaginians at the Battle of Himera in 480 B.C. and the Roman conquest of Syracuse in 212 B.C., a time of great social and political ferment. 

This scholarly anthology, which accompanied an exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Palazzo Ajutamicristo in Palermo features current research by more than forty international scholars. The essays investigate Sicily not simply as a destination for adventurers and settlers, but as a catalyst that shaped Greek culture at its peak and transmitted Hellenism to Rome. 

Details

• Authors: Claire L. Lyons, Head of the Department of Antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum; Michael Bennett, Curator of Greek and Roman Art at isthe Cleveland Museum; Clemente Marconi, James R. McCredie Professor in the History of Greek Art and Archaeology at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts.
• Hardcover: 228 pages | 144 full colour and 23 black and white illustrations
• Date published: May 2013
• Language: English
• Delivery: Allow 2-3 weeks
• ISBN: 978-1606061336
• Product Dimensions: 27.9 x 24.1 x 2.5 cm

Reviews

'General narrative and analysis are profitably juxtaposed with specialized treatments of selected material, including some of the exhibition’s most dazzling items' - Times Literary Supplement

'With its numerous lavish color illustrations and informative, easy-to-read text, this book is quite enticing. Recommended for art history buffs, students, scholars, and armchair travelers with an interest in Greek and Roman history' - Library Journal

'We know that Sicily was especially wealthy during the Classical and early Hellenistic periods, as demonstrated by literary references and by the extant art, but written sources are fragmentary. Perhaps for that reason, it is often overlooked in studies of Greek art and history. . . . The various authors do an admirable job of bringing Sicily to life and making their ideas available to the English-language reader' - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

'A triumph of scholarship and production. . . . Essential.' - Choice