Iconography and Imagery between Rome and the Provinces

Abstract

This chapter examines iconography and imagery in the Roman provinces with a particular focus on decorative media in domestic contexts in the eastern Roman provinces. Specifically, we investigate how decorative ensembles in second- and third-century ce Roman-era houses, and the interplay of imagery in multiple media, further inform our comprehension of how domestic visual vocabularies from distinct cultural and social contexts in the eastern provinces might express both local and Roman identity at Ephesus and Zeugma. The chapter begins with highlighting historiographic and methodological practices and structures inherent in the study of iconography in the Roman provinces and emphasizing issues at play within these structures, such as chronology, geography, cultural continuities, and relationships between center and periphery. We further outline some of the challenges of studying and interpreting domestic ensembles (as opposed to singular monuments), which, to a degree, parallels the broader challenges in making sense of Roman imagery and iconography, including problems in establishing linear progressions and the compartmentalization by media and specialization.