John R. Clarke

Archaeobotany at Oplontis: woody remains from the Roman Villa of Poppaea (Naples, Italy)

The Vesuvius area near Naples, southern Italy, is one of the richest places for archaeological finds from Roman times. The a.d. 79 volcanic eruption also caused the preservation of a huge quantity of archaeobotanical material. In this paper the available wood and charcoal remains from the timber structures as well as from the garden soils of the Villa of Poppea at Oplontis are presented. The analyses provide new evidence of the history of some significant trees of the Mediterranean region, such as Abies alba and Cupressus sempervirens, and allow us to put forward hypotheses about wood use during the Roman period. The identification of the building material confirms that the Romans had a good knowledge of the technological properties of wood and mainly used local resources. There is also evidence of trade in high quality timber, in particular Picea abies. The strong presence of climbing plants and of branches and small size stems of wild trees together with typical ornamental plants in the two gardens of the villa reveals a lack of regular gardening maintenance. This evidence is in agreement with the absence of occupants at the moment of the eruption, since the villa was under restoration after the a.d. 62 earthquake.

Aesthetics, Ethnicity, and the History of Art

Part of a symposium providing a range of critical perspectives on aesthetics, ethnicity, and the history of art. The writer examines how two etchings of the Regensburg synagogue by Albrecht Altdorfer both encode a history of Christian-Jewish ethnic conflict and foreclose on it through the image of “disappearing” Jews. She contends that the etchings can be read as formative and constitutive of the new “science” in early modern European ethnography that grounded itself on the ontological absence of Jews. She concludes that a critique of this ethnography makes it possible to rethink Christian-Jewish ethnic conflict as a genealogy of the power of the “rational” and the “technical” rather than as something incomprehensible, instinctive, and ahistorical.

The Warren Cup and the Contexts for Representations of Male-to-Male Lovemaking in Augustan and Early Julio-Claudian Art

Augustan visual and literary remains shed light on the two images of males making love on the Warren Cup. Similar silver vessels date it to the Augustan period and show that erotic imagery was common in the tableware of the wealthy. Imagery on Arretine ware supports the Warren Cups style and date while revealing lower-class appreciation of such representations. In Pompeian and Roman wall paintings and mosaics similar erotica appears in public buildings and noble boudoirs. Though official policy toward male-male sexual activity restricted the passive role to non-aristocrats, unofficial morality—as seen in Augustan poetry and the visual arts—was more tolerant about sexual acts and roles.

3D Model, Linked Database, and Born-Digital E-Book: An Ideal Approach to Archaeological Research and Publication

The objective of the Oplontis Project is to study and publish two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Villa A and Villa B at Torre Annunziata, Italy, buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. Faced with the high costs of traditional print publication, the Project has opted for a born-digital publication. An additional publication consists of a navigable 3D model linked to a database in order to provide the fullest possible documentation both of the actual states of these Villas and proposals for their reconstructions. This article presents several of these reconstructions, highlighting the importance of digital technologies, including laser scanning and 3D modeling, for research and long-term preservation of these cultural artifacts.

Before Pornography: Sexual Representation in Ancient Roman Visual Culture

The study of ancient visual representations of sexual activity reveals the modernity of the term ‘pornography’. Not only is pornography a modern word, its genesis lies in modern collecting practices that so isolated ancient erotic objects from their contexts as to render them meaningless. Beginning with the Renaissance, wealthy collectors assembled collections of Greek and Roman sculptures, vase paintings, mosaics, ceramics, small bronzes and gems with sexual representations, calling them ‘erotica’. The discovery of Herculaneum (1738) and Pompeii (1748) brought about an explosive proliferation of such objects. Antiquarians studied and collected them, attempting to explain them on the basis of ancient texts (e.g. Barre 1839–40) or by comparison with contemporary phallic cults (Knight 1786).

Looking at Lovemaking: Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art, 100 B. C.-A. D. 250

What did sex mean to the ancient Romans? In this lavishly illustrated study, John R. Clarke investigates a rich assortment of Roman erotic art to answer this question--and along the way, he reveals a society quite different from our own. Clarke reevaluates our understanding of Roman art and society in a study informed by recent gender and cultural studies, and focusing for the first time on attitudes toward the erotic among both the Roman non-elite and women. This splendid volume is the first study of erotic art and sexuality to set these works--many newly discovered and previously unpublished--in their ancient context and the first to define the differences between modern and ancient concepts of sexuality using clear visual evidence. Roman artists pictured a great range of human sexual activities--far beyond those mentioned in classical literature--including sex between men and women, men and men, women and women, men and boys, threesomes, foursomes, and more. Roman citizens paid artists to decorate expensive objects, such as silver and cameo glass, with scenes of lovemaking. Erotic works were created for and sold to a broad range of consumers, from the elite to the very poor, during a period spanning the first century B.C. through the mid-third century of our era. This erotic art was not hidden away, but was displayed proudly in homes as signs of wealth and luxury. In public spaces, artists often depicted outrageous sexual acrobatics to make people laugh. Looking at Lovemaking depicts a sophisticated, pre-Christian society that placed a high value on sexual pleasure and the art that represented it. Clarke shows how this culture evolved within religious, social, and legal frameworks that were vastly different from our own and contributes an original and controversial chapter to the history of human sexuality.