Death by analogy: identity crises on a Roman sarcophagus
This article examines how images on a sarcophagus involved Roman viewers in processes of thinking by analogy and so invited them to engage in meditation on death. This more thanatological slant is sidelined in current approaches that emphasise how exemplary figures on sarcophagi consoled the bereave...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2023
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| _version_ | 1826311649821196288 |
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| author | Clifford, E |
| author_facet | Clifford, E |
| author_sort | Clifford, E |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This article examines how images on a sarcophagus involved Roman viewers in processes of thinking by analogy and so invited them to engage in meditation on death. This more thanatological slant is sidelined in current approaches that emphasise how exemplary figures on sarcophagi consoled the bereaved and praised the dead. Building on these approaches, together with work on the mediating role played by artefacts in thought, this article proposes that analogies on sarcophagi also invited the living to think about their own death and the possibilities and limitations of analogy for thanatological reflection. It argues, further, that sarcophagi should be read more expansively, allowing for figures and scenes to have more than one identity rather than collapsing them into one: this multiplicity reinforces meditation on death. The article focuses on Roman sarcophagi that feature Adonis, with emphasis on the Rinuccini sarcophagus; this unusual sarcophagus explicitly juxtaposes real-life and mythological scenes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:14:20Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:9cf0c574-b9fc-4645-af24-6f0e3fb8b741 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:14:20Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:9cf0c574-b9fc-4645-af24-6f0e3fb8b7412023-12-13T10:22:25ZDeath by analogy: identity crises on a Roman sarcophagusJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:9cf0c574-b9fc-4645-af24-6f0e3fb8b741EnglishSymplectic ElementsCambridge University Press2023Clifford, EThis article examines how images on a sarcophagus involved Roman viewers in processes of thinking by analogy and so invited them to engage in meditation on death. This more thanatological slant is sidelined in current approaches that emphasise how exemplary figures on sarcophagi consoled the bereaved and praised the dead. Building on these approaches, together with work on the mediating role played by artefacts in thought, this article proposes that analogies on sarcophagi also invited the living to think about their own death and the possibilities and limitations of analogy for thanatological reflection. It argues, further, that sarcophagi should be read more expansively, allowing for figures and scenes to have more than one identity rather than collapsing them into one: this multiplicity reinforces meditation on death. The article focuses on Roman sarcophagi that feature Adonis, with emphasis on the Rinuccini sarcophagus; this unusual sarcophagus explicitly juxtaposes real-life and mythological scenes. |
| spellingShingle | Clifford, E Death by analogy: identity crises on a Roman sarcophagus |
| title | Death by analogy: identity crises on a Roman sarcophagus |
| title_full | Death by analogy: identity crises on a Roman sarcophagus |
| title_fullStr | Death by analogy: identity crises on a Roman sarcophagus |
| title_full_unstemmed | Death by analogy: identity crises on a Roman sarcophagus |
| title_short | Death by analogy: identity crises on a Roman sarcophagus |
| title_sort | death by analogy identity crises on a roman sarcophagus |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT clifforde deathbyanalogyidentitycrisesonaromansarcophagus |