Refiguring the Post Classical City: Dura Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem, and Ravenna | National Humanities Center

Work of the Fellows: Monographs

Refiguring the Post Classical City: Dura Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem, and Ravenna

By Annabel Jane Wharton (NHC Fellow, 1985–86; 2002–03; 2016–17)

Christianity; Classical Antiquity; History of Christianity; Monuments; Mediterranean Basin; Jordan; Syria

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995

From the publisher’s description:

Refiguring the Post-Classical City examines the 'Christianisation' of four important Mediterranean centers at critical moments in a cultural paradigm shift, from classical to post-classical, that occurred from the third to sixth century. Tracing the partial displacement of traditional Greco-Roman cultural codes by an alternative set of Christian practices and signs, it presents a critical assessment of specific sites, including the Synagogue at Dura, the Temple of Artemis at Jerash, and the Baptistry in Ravenna. Through an analysis of the actions and audiences that occupied these spaces, Annabel Jane Wharton assesses the performative characteristics of architectural and pictorial space in late antiquity, arguing that changes in form both reveal and inform social meaning. 

Subjects
Art / Architecture / Christianity / Classical Antiquity / History of Christianity / Monuments / Mediterranean Basin / Jordan / Syria /

Wharton, Annabel Jane (NHC Fellow, 1985–86; 2002–03; 2016–17). Refiguring the Post Classical City: Dura Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem, and Ravenna. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.