Sol: the sun in the art and religions of Rome

by Steven E. Hijmans

The prevailing ideas about the Roman sun god require revision. That argues researcher Steven Hijmans, who studied the sun god, Sol. In the past two decades, the views over the Roman sun god Sol has changed. The nineteenth - century idea that the worship of the sun was onromeins has finished. Sun worship is precisely rooted in the earliest Roman traditions and has been continuously present in Rome . Written sources for this are scarce, but material resources are readily available. These are particularly valuable because the material culture had an important communicative role in the highly visually oriented Roman Empire.

However, it is not easy to open up. The significance of these sources In Roman imagery example, many performances meanings that do not speak naturally. In the case of Sol shows that conventional types often show no evidence of Sol, or "Sun", but rather gave a presentation on an aura of cosmic stability. These types could also make connections with the rich Roman ideology of a stable world order. It is impossible to list all Sol - related performance groups. Depth analysis in a study After a historical and methodological introduction and a catalog and general discussion of Sol - shows, Hijmans therefore fits the analytical principles advocated in his thesis in a few studies were far more profound. Thus Hijmans sets include that: the glory of the Roman emperors was no sun symbol, but a connected Augustus and Actium wreath, but, that the leitmotiv of Horace's Carmen Saeculare the imaged by Sol and Luna Aeternitas - thought is, that Sol in famous mosaic in the Vatican necropolis wrongly interpreted is Christ, and that the role of the sun cult in the origin of Christmas is negligible...

Table of Contents:
Errata (correction of errors)
Chapter 1. Sol in the Roman Empire: Previous Research, General Trends. A Brief Survey of the Status Quaestionis.
Chapter 2. Classical Art, Roman Religion, and Visual Meanings
Chapter 3. Description and Discussion of the Iconography of Sol
Chapter 4. The Images: Catalogue and Discussion
Chapter 5. Temples of Sol in Rome
Chapter 6. Not all light comes from the sun. Symbolic radiance and solar symbolism in Roman art
Chapter 7. Sol-Luna symbolism and the Carmen Saeculare of Horace
Chapter 8. Image and Word: Christ or Sol in Mausoleum M of the Vatican Necropolis?
Chapter 9. Aurelian, Constantine, and Sol in Late Antiquity
Conclusion.

Genres: History

762 pages

Published January 1, 2009