Sculptures lost at sea: A study of the maritime transport and trade of sculptures during Roman times through shipwreck evidence

Velentza, Katerina

Abstract

From the sixteenth century onwards, hundreds of ancient sculptures have been discovered in the waters of the Mediterranean from the context of shipwrecks, potential unrecorded shipwrecks, or out of context as isolated finds. Scholars have so far analysed several of those sculptural artefacts, mainly from an art-historical perspective, basing the interpretation of their transport and deposition only on possible hypotheses due to the problematic recording, the inaccessibility and the remoteness of their underwater context. Therefore, in the existing scholarship, it has been quite uncertain under which circumstances, by whom, how and when these sculptures were transported in antiquity. Through the examination of a new Mediterranean-wide dataset of underwater deposits with sculptures, this paper presents, firstly, an overview of Roman era underwater evidence for the maritime movement of sculptures. Subsequently, patterns of maritime transport and trade of sculptures during Roman times are analysed through shipwreck case studies in order to determine features of the identified trading processes. Overall, this paper introduces a new research perspective and highlights the important contribution of underwater archaeological evidence in the study of the dynamics, range and circumstances of the maritime transport and trade of sculptures during various periods of Mediterranean antiquity.

Citation

Velentza, K. (2024). Sculptures lost at sea: A study of the maritime transport and trade of sculptures during Roman times through shipwreck evidence. In A. Landskron (Ed.), Hergestellt und aufgestellt – Keryx 12 Produktionsdynamiken und Kontexte römischer Skulpturen im antiken Mittelmeerraum (41-66). Uni-Press Graz

• Online Publication Date: Nov 21, 2024
• Publication Date: Nov 21, 2024
• Deposit Date: Dec 12, 2024
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 41-66
• Series Title: KERYX
• Series Number: 12
• Book Title: Hergestellt und aufgestellt – Keryx 12 Produktionsdynamiken und Kontexte römischer Skulpturen im antiken Mittelmeerraum
• ISBN: 9783903484054
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4963035
• Publisher URL: https://www.unipress-graz.com/buecher/hergestellt-und-aufgestellt---keryx-12