George IV’s Coronation as Festival

This article analyzes George IV’s coronation as a multisensory festive experience in order to understand the meanings of diamonds within British material culture in 1821. Reframing the coronation as a festival allows historical scholars to bridge the premodern/modern divide in early nineteenth-century historiography and demonstrates the ongoing centrality of festivals in consumer culture in the modern era. It also offers a vantage point from which to study sensory paradigm shifts and clashes that occurred in this context and evaluate diamonds in relation to other pieces of material culture outside of the confines of a formal marketplace. The article argues that the coronation shifted how diamonds were thought about in Britain, though this shift was subtle and deeply embedded in the turmoil of the moment. On a widespread scale, the event normalized the association of diamonds with monarchy, imperial power, and light, in ways that made diamonds seem like quotidian items. The article is based on accounts of the event in newspapers, periodicals, and official histories.

Décor as a form of social belonging in Ancient Rome

The purpose of the article consists of exploring the category of décor as a form of social belonging in ancient Rome. The methodology consists in the application of analytical method – to determine the theoretical and methodological foundations of the study of the décor in the works of Roman architects and philosophers: Vitruvius, Cicero, Seneca, Epicurus; formalization method – to clarify the concept of "décor" within the subject field of art history; the hermeneutic method – for interpreting the semantic load of the notion "décor" in the context of the culture of Ancient Rome; method of comparative studies – for analyzing approaches to understanding the category of décor as a form of social belonging in Ancient Rome. The scientific novelty of the work is that for the first time the essence of the décor as a form of social belonging in Ancient Rome. Conclusions. In Ancient Rome, the phenomenon of "Entertainment" was an important component of the socio-cultural life of this period, there was not a single sphere where this phenomenon did not act as the main decoration, the triumphs of emperors, the luxurious life of the patricians, all this was expressed in one definition of Juvenal – "Bread and circuses", Which became a defining marker in the culture and art of Ancient Rome. Décor, as an integral part of this phenomenon, becomes a form of social belonging, reflecting the characteristics of the corresponding lifestyle. The transformation of the concepts "décor" and "ornare" is considered, the first - in the ideological aspect of respect for the imperial power, the second - in the traditional decoration of Roman armor for legionnaires, as a means of emphasizing their belonging to the military. The most striking example of décor was the Arc de Triomphe, built in honor of the emperors (the Arc de Triomphe of Titus, Trajan, Constantine, etc.). On the example of the works of Vitruvius, Cicero, Seneca, the meaning of the category "décor" was considered as "Decor ornamentorum", the correspondence of details in relation to the whole, individual, special beauty that organically combines the combination of individual parts of an object into a single whole, situation or setting. Defined "décor" as a form of social belonging in the context of the transformation of the four Pompeian styles based on the decoration of insula and domus for different segments of the population (Domus aurea, "Villa of the Mysteries" in Pompeii, the house of Marcus Lucretius Frontinus in Pompeii, the villa in Oplontisi, the house of Menander in Pompeii, "House with Red Walls", "House of the Century" and "House of Julius Polybius"). Keywords: décor, interpretation, a culture of Ancient Rome, Vitruvius, Entertainment, Seneca, mosaic.

Drawing Distinctions: Assyrians and Others in the Art of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

Between the ninth and seventh centuries BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire became the largest the world had yet seen. In the process of imperial conquest, the Assyrian state incorporated previously foreign territories and people into their world. Landscapes, materials, and the labor of conquered bodies became a part of the Assyrian royal palaces of northern Iraq, both as elements of their construction and as themes emphasized within the extensive visual programs of the palace reliefs. Within and through visual depiction of enemy bodies and foreign landscapes, in the process of being (often violently) reshaped by Assyrian hands, Neo-Assyrian kings brought the farthest reaches of their world into the center of imperial power. This article considers how specific strategies of representation in palace art allowed the Assyrian palace to serve as a microcosm of the empire and a map of its borders. Palace art emphasized the remade, reworked, or recreated, defining “Assyrianness” as that which remakes and has been remade. As a central act of remaking, I examine representations of captive or submissive foreigners, whose presence in the reliefs commemorates their humiliation while compounding and enhancing it in the very ways that these figures are depicted: cringing, deficient, and physiologically incorrect. I pay particular attention to examples from the late King Ashurbanipal’s reign, in which foreign leaders are singled out through representation with distinctive facial features. I argue that this act of (literally) drawing distinctions was an inherently imperial process, one that both expressed and enabled an ideology of expansion and control.

Ruling the Empire

Jovian, who had been elevated to imperial status in Persia, soon after his treaty with Shapur II started to secure his position as emperor. Like any ruler, Jovian was aware of the fact that his authority depended not only on his authoritative position as emperor, but also on how his imperial power was presented and perceived. A variety of visual, literary, and other media, such as coins, inscriptions, legislation, panegyrics, and official ceremonies, were available to help in publicizing an emperor’s supremacy and legitimacy as ruler. This chapter focuses on how Jovian established his rule by using the media of coinage, legislation, and inscriptions, as well as Themistius’s oration in honor of his first consulship. Ideologically he clearly distinguished himself from the regime of Julian by connecting himself to Constantius II and especially by anchoring himself in the imperial tradition of Constantine the Great. The chapter also discusses practical matters of imperial administration and the nomination of officials, and very importantly, how Jovian secured the western provinces of the empire, in particular Gaul, by sending various envoys, among them his father-in-law Lucillianus and the later emperor Valentinian. Jovian’s imperial administration relied for the most part on military and civil officials that had already been nominated under Constantius II and Julian.

Rise to Power

This chapter offers a reconstruction of Jovian’s rise to imperial power after Julian died in the Persian heartland. A few hours after Julian’s death, the army generals, the commanders of the legions and cavalry squadrons, as well as high civil officials assembled at the dawn of June 27, 363, to elect a successor. After the praetorian prefect Salutius had declined the emperorship and no agreement could be reached on a suitable candidate, the imperial guardsmen (protectores) put their commander (primicerius domesticorum) Jovian forward as the new emperor. He was soon accepted by the generals, high officials, and the complete army as their new ruler. Although sometimes argued otherwise, Jovian’s elevation to the throne was legitimate according to the primary sources. According to the Christian sources, Jovian initially refused to became emperor (recusatio imperii). Although Ammianus Marcellinus mentions that he was unfit for the emperorship, it is argued that Jovian’s background, his family connections (his own father Varronianus and his father-in-law Lucillianus), as well as his own military career, made him eligible for the emperorship. Nevertheless, Jovian was a compromise candidate and was made emperor not for his dynamic leadership, but in the expectation that he would work in collaboration with the senior staff (the men who had elected him) to get the army out of Persia and to lead the soldiers back to Roman territory.

Kyiv City Communities of the Early 1880s in the Context of Alexander Polovtsov’s “Diary”

The article examines the life of urban communities of Kyiv in 1880–1881 in the perception of an imperial official, senator Alexander Polovtsov (1832–1909). The author`s concept based on the opinion that an important part of historical urban studies is the analysis of the activities of urban communities. They represent the state of urban life at a particular historical stage. The article uses excerpts from the “Diary” of Alexander Polovtsov, the Head of the Senatorial Revision Commission, dedicated to his stay in Kyiv in the autumn of 1880 and early 1881. This source is valuable mainly because the author, who did not live in Kyiv (wider — in Ukraine), looked at inhabitants of the city from “outside”. Such a detached view allows us to see Kyiv citizens, firstly the officials of the administrative and administrative apparatus, clergy, landlords, intellectuals — from conservatives to liberals — through the eyes of an “outsider”, a representative of imperial power. At the same time, the article presents diaries and memoirs of representatives of the Kyiv national-democratic intelligentsia, where the events described by Alexander Polovtsov are shown from a different perspective. This perspective of the study deepens the ideas about the peculiarities of the social and cultural life of Kyiv at a crucial moment in history — on the eve of the death of Alexander II and the accession of Alexander III and the change in the political course of the Empire. The informative character of Polovtsov`s diary is determined by its genre specificity. The text is full of facts, descriptions of events, meetings with people. From the position of the imperial high official represented a diverse range of beliefs, opinions, and attitudes of Kyivans in the field of politics, economics, land tenure, education, urban development, etc. The diary is full of succinct descriptions of the individuals contacted by the author. Polovtsov`s assessments help to understand not only how the tsarist government dealt with pressing economic, social and political problems in Ukraine. It helps understand the actions in resolving urgent economic and sociopolitical problems of Ukrainian provinces, the tsarist official`s own attitude to the people in whose milieu he found himself.

COMPETITION, MEANING, AND MONUMENTALIZATION IN GALLIA COMATA

Perhaps the most striking, and archaeologically speaking the most evident, change that occurred in Gallia Comata from the 1st century BCE to the end of the 2nd century CE was the incorporation of massive, monumental, Roman-style architecture. Many of these monuments still stand to this day, providing an obvious, visual argument for the impact that Roman culture had on Gallic society. Overall, the incorporation of Roman architecture and monuments, paid for and dedicated by members of the local elite, seems to indicate a clear cultural shift in Gallic society and the adoption of Roman conceptions of urbanism and the role of the urban aristocracy in providing munera for the populace. This paper will examine the remains of monumental structures in the Gallic civitas-capitals, examining the initial stages of monumentalization. While early structures advertised the connection between the community as a whole with the Imperial power structure, the construction of amphitheaters in particular emerged rapidly throughout the Three Gauls and, as this paper will argue, was tied to the glorification and memorialization of the dedicator and his family. The edification of urban space thus became a new ground for the Gallic aristocracy to play out its internal rivalries, rather than a public expression of acceptance or obedience under Rome, and through the use of amphitheaters, urban edification allowed the Gallic aristocracy to retain their ties to the concept of competitive status and martial prowess.

British Literature in Transition, 1900–1920: A New Age?

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, Britain's imperial power and influence was at its height. These were years of daring, when adventurers sounded the mysteries of the deep sea and the distant poles, aviators sped through the skies, and new media technologies transformed communication. They were years of social upheaval, during which long-suppressed voices – particularly those of women, of the labouring classes, and of colonial subjects – grew louder and demanded to be heard. They were years of violence, of insurrection and political agitation, and of imperial conflicts that would encompass continents. By subjecting specific developments in literature and related culture to a fine-grained and historically-informed analysis, British Literature in Transition, 1900–1920: A New Age? explores the writing of this extraordinary period in all its complexity and vibrancy.