Touring the museums of Turkey, the number of Roman sarcophagi on view cannot help but amaze. Of couse the great demand for them from collectors have led to widespread plundering, but even many of those in Turkish museums have been in the hands of treasure hunters. This is clear from the many sarcophagi with large […]
Author archives: Troels
Before the Fig Leaf: Christian Response to Nude Statuary
It’s about time that I give some archaeological examples of early Christian iconoclasm. I start with one of the less ferocious cases. There were many different motives for Christians to smash pagan sculpture, and one of them was an aversion to nudity. This is clear from a series of sculptures, whose genitalia have been mutilated. […]
Late Antique Countrysides and Rural Iconoclasm
Although most studies of late antiquity have concentrated on urbanism, the recent upsurge of interest in landscapes and countrysides has also left its mark on late antique archaeology. The recent volumes edited by William Bowden et. al. and Neil Christie are good examples of this shift. In the former there’s a really good paper by […]
The Afterlife of Roman Sculpture #1: The Lime Kiln
The first post in a continuing series on the fate of ancient sculpture. One of the reasons why so much ancient sculpture is lost to us today is the widespread medieval practice of burning marble into lime. This was done in kilns, that have been archaeologically documented on a number of sites. Here’s an example […]
Bush in Denmark and the Fall of the Roman Empire
Comparisons between the US and the Roman Empire are very common these days. In fact, RogueClassicism is tracking them pretty much on a daily basis. Just now, George W. Bush has arrived in Denmark for a 2-day official visit. In antipication of his visit, the Copenhagen-based Politiken newspaper interviewed a broad spectrum of political commentators, […]
Iconoclasm and Damnatio Memoriae
During the Roman empire there were two different kinds of iconoclasm. Broadly speaking, these can be termed secular and religious iconoclasm, but the spheres of religion and politics were closely intertwined in antiquity. For that reason, the separation between the two cannot be made so easily, and must be treated with some caution. I will, […]
The Imaginative Power of Iconoclasm
Images of iconoclasm have a particular impact on people. Thus, the ‘liberation’ of Baghdad was captured in that one photo of the toppling of Saddam’s statue – on TV, newspaper frontpages and in cartoons: A take on the toppling of one of Saddam’s statues in Baghdad from the Cartoonist Group by Kirk Anderson. When I […]
A Depiction of Iconoclasm in the Via Paisiello Hypogeum
I better start off by explaining the photo at the top of this page. Here’s the full version: Actually, there’s another person, who is not shown here, on the left side of the statue throwing rocks. But what is shown here is a statue, identifiable by its base and a staff (Jupiter has been suggested), […]
Welcome to iconoclasm.dk
Welcome. This blog tracks work on my thesis that investigates the phenomenon of iconoclasm in the late antique period, mainly 4th century CE. I’ll cover topics that are related to the study of iconoclasm as well as give some case studies. My main area is Roman sculpture, but all kinds of media were victims of […]