Iconography as an Element of a Research Workshop in Archaeology of Antiquity. Studies on Roman Mosaic from Leptis Magna in the Context of the Romanization of North African Towns
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/AUNC_ARCH.2021.007Keywords
mosaic, Rome, Leptis Magna, iconography, iconologyAbstract
The analysis of iconographic sources is an integral part of studies on the human past. However, the inclusion of material remains of visual culture in the process of reconstructing history evokes an old competence dispute between researchers who tend to leave this domain only to art historians. There is no doubt that in the field of this very discipline, basic research methods have been developed: iconographic (descriptive) and iconological (interpretative),
which constitute the basis for considering the content of the representations. The study focuses on the specificity of these sources in archaeology. For this purpose, the latest
studies in the field of ancient iconography conducted in the Toruń centre were recalled; they concern, inter alia, coins, figural ceramics and mosaic floors. The latter constitute a special category of sources of ancient iconography used to reconstruct historical processes. In the era of the Imperium Romanum, the technique of their execution was mastered to perfection and widespread among the elite; therefore, they are considered one of the symbols of Roman civilization. This idea was common to the culture of the Mediterranean basin – it was present in ancient Greece, Punic Carthage and the Hellenistic kingdoms. Against this background, the region of North Africa in the era of the Roman Empire is extremely interesting. In no other province was floor decoration present on such a large
scale. One should also point out the variety of motifs used in the first three centuries of our era, which is the result of the clash of workshops producing them, but also a reflection of the diversity of local elites. We can distinguish here the workshops of the Hellenistic tradition (often called the Alexandrian workshops) and the activities of local (so-called provincial-Roman) workshops. The studies undertaken as part of this issue concern both the analysis of the archaeological context of the finds, the technique used, and the reinterpretation of the findings on the iconography and iconology of the representations shown in the floors. Two examples of figural panels were used for this purpose – the Aion mosaic, discovered in one of the rooms of a seaside type villa in Silin, and a composition of the four seasons emblems from a villa in Zalitan (Zliten) in the Leptis Magna region (Libya).
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