Author

Sarah Tew

Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Carrasco, Malena

Keywords

Sperlonga, Italy, Tivoli, Italy, Roman Culture, Spectacle

Area of Concentration

Art History

Abstract

The dining complexes at Tivoli and Sperlonga offer two different case studies of ancient art that should be understood in the context of creative re-vision and participatory reenactment. The dining rooms use the physical landscape to create idealized visions of the empire. This type of vision and revitalization is not unique to the dining room but an incarnation of a culture of spectacle in ancient Rome. Similar phenomena occur in the funeral and triumph, where idealized histories are depicted and reenacted. The architecture and décor of the triclinia at Sperlonga and Tivoli function as stages, on which the foundation and expansion of the empire are reenacted.

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