Friday, October 31, 2025

Athens Demapped: Archaeology, Heritage, and Urban Transformation

Dimitris Plantzos 
Dimitris Plantzos 

Athens Demapped: Archaeology, Heritage, and Urban Transformation explores the entangled relationships between classical heritage, memory, and modernity in the evolving city of Athens. Dimitris Plantzos interrogates how archaeology, tourism, and urban planning have shaped the city's identity, revealing Athens not as a timeless monument to antiquity but as a contested landscape where past and present collide.
Rather than a neutral cultural asset, Athens’ classical legacy has been mapped, commodified, and weaponised – used both to forge collective memory and to marginalise dissenting voices. Plantzos critically engages with nostalgia, gentrification, and the politics of heritage, exposing how the myth of Athens as the “cradle of Western civilisation” continues to serve shifting ideological and economic agendas.
At the heart of the book is the concept of “demapping”: the erasure or overwriting of certain spaces, histories, and communities to reinforce dominant narratives and commercial interests. Drawing on archaeological insight, urban theory, and cultural critique, Athens Demapped reimagines the city as a site of overlapping histories and contested futures.
At a moment of rapid urban transformation, this book offers a vital perspective on the uses of the past and the right to the city. Essential reading for scholars of heritage, politics, and space.

Published
October 6, 2025

Details about the available publication format: PDF

PDF
ISBN-13 (15)
978-989-26-2771-7
doi
10.14195/978-989-26-2771-7

 

Department of Classics at Cologne joins Nomisma

More than 100 Seleucid and Ptolemaic coins from the Department of Classics at the University of Cologne have been integrated into the Hellenistic Royal Coinages platform, the first tranche of a collection consisting of over 12,000 specimens. This is, in fact, the second collection housed at the University of Cologne to join Nomisma, the other associated with the Department of History and part of the NUMID consortium.

A Department of Classics coin among CPE I.2 B126

 


 

Die Keramik vom unteren Aufweg und der Hafenanlage zur Knickpyramide in Dahschur

Dirk Blaschta

Dieser Band stellt die Publikation einer 2018 abgeschlossenen Dissertation dar, deren Gegenstand die Untersuchung des keramischen Fundmaterials vom unteren Aufweg und der Hafenanlage zur Knickpyramide in Dahschur bildet. Die Ausgrabungen wurden zwischen 2009 und 2018 vom Deutschen Archäologischen Institut, Abteilung Kairo, durchgeführt. Der zeitliche Horizont des Corpus erstreckt sich vom frühen Alten Reich (frühe 4. Dynastie) bis ins Neue Reich (Ende 18. Dynastie). Neben der klassischen Keramikbearbeitung widmet sich die Arbeit Fragestellungen zum Landschaftswandel im memphitischen Raum im 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr.

This volume presents the publication of a doctoral thesis completed in 2018, which offers a study of the ceramic finds from the lower causeway and the harbour leading to the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. Excavations were conducted by the Cairo Department of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut between 2009 and 2018. The corpus includes material dating from the early Old Kingdom (early 4ᵗʰ Dynasty) to the New Kingdom (end of the 18ᵗʰ Dynasty). In addition to using traditional methods of ceramic analysis, the study explores questions concerning landscape transformation in the Memphite area during the 3ʳᵈ millennium B.C.

Version 1.0
Last Updated October 23, 2025, 8:15 PM (UTC-04:00)
Created October 22, 2025, 12:19 PM (UTC-04:00)
Subtitle Materialien und Arbeitsmittel aus Projekten des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairo (MAPDAIK) 5
Publisher Deutsches Archäologisches Institut
In Language German
Year of publication 2025
Resource Type General Book
DOI 10.34780/1cfsy3pf
iDAI Gazetteer ID https://gazetteer.dainst.org/app/#!/show/2282701

 

Erasing and Rewriting in Manuscript Cultures: Practices of Text Obliteration and Manuscript Reuse in a Global Perspective

Edited by: Michele Cammarosano 
book: Erasing and Rewriting in Manuscript Cultures 

Across the most diverse societies, the reuse of writing surfaces in contexts such as learning to write, note-taking, literary creation, and bookkeeping has been not only desirable but essential to optimising resources. In these contexts, it has been typical to use erasable media of various kinds – a practice which in turn has had important implications for palaeography, literary creation, and virtually every aspect related to writing. Manuscript cultures addressed the quest for rewritability through using permanently recyclable materials such as clay and wax tablets, special technologies such as erasable coatings, and ingenious strategies for reusing papyrus, parchment, paper, wood, and more. This volume systematically explores the fascinating intersection between the potential ephemerality of the written word and the reusability of its supports. It combines a theoretical framework on ‘rewritability’ with case studies on materials, related technologies and their interplay with competing techniques, spanning from ancient Mesopotamia to present-day Nigeria, from Egypt to Japan, from Greece and Rome to the Arab world. In doing so, the volume illuminates a crucial aspect of cultural history relevant to anyone studying the written word.  

 
eBook ISBN: 9783111682983
Hardcover ISBN: 9783111682730
Audience(s) for this book
Scholars of literary, Islamic, classical, medieval, manuscript studies, Egyptology, history, codicology
Creative Commons
BY-NC-ND 4.0
Safety & product resources
  • Manufacturer information:
    Walter de Gruyter GmbH
    Genthiner Straße 13
    10785 Berlin

Open Access

I

Open Access

V

Michele Cammarosano
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1

Marilena Maniaci
Open Access

63
Clay and Wax


Carmen Gütschow
Open Access

75

Jon Taylor
Open Access

115

Cécile Michel
Open Access

161

Jamie Novotny
Open Access

191

Anna Willi
Open Access

217

Serena Ammirati
Open Access

255

Georgios Boudalis
Open Access

263

Thomas Wozniak
Open Access

309
Papyrus, Parchment, Paper, and Wood


Elena L. Hertel
Open Access

335

Paola Buzi
Open Access

357

Sara Fani
Open Access

373

Claudia Colini, Giuseppe Marotta, Sowmeya Sathiyamani, Valentina Yañez Langner, Annie Muller, Katerina Grigoriadou and Chen Yu
Open Access

411

Andrea Brigaglia and Dahir Lawan Mu’az
Open Access

439

Antonio Manieri
Open Access

475

Open Access

503

 

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Der erinnerte Joseph: Eine wandernde Figur und ihre Geschichte in der Hebräischen Bibel, im antiken Judentum und im frühen Christentum

Magnus Rabel 
Cover of 'undefined' 
Sponsored by: Schweizerische Nationalfonds (SNF)
Joseph is one of the most versatile and powerful figures in Genesis. Magnus Rabel shows for the first time comprehensively how Joseph and his story were repeatedly reinterpreted and transformed in ancient Jewish and early Christian sources. The spectrum of Joseph's images ranges from wise counselor to ideal statesman to tyrant, instrument of God or typological forerunner of Christ. Narratologically precise and differentiated in terms of reception history, the study shows that Joseph is less a fixed figure than a constantly re-accentuated projection surface of cultural and theological discourses. The Joseph narrative proves to be the focal point of fundamental human questions about foreignness, wisdom, power and reconciliation. Joseph thus becomes a mirror of remembered identity formation and at the same time a model of future-oriented identity assurance.
Table of contents:

1 Hinführung, Forschungsüberblick, Methodik
1.1 Quellenlage
1.2 Forschungsüberblick
1.3 Methodisches
1.4 Vorgehen und Zielsetzung
2 Die Josephsgeschichte als Ausgangspunkt
2.1 Die diachrone Rückfrage
2.2 Die Textgrundlage
2.3 Eine endgestaltlich-thematische Lektüre der Josephsgeschichte
2.4 Joseph als Figur
3 Joseph in der übrigen Hebräischen Bibel
3.1 Explizite Aufnahmen
3.2 Thematische Aufnahmen in Ester und Daniel
3.3 Fazit
4 Joseph in der Septuaginta
4.1 Die Septuaginta als älteste Kommentierung der hebräischen Schriften
4.2 Eine abgemilderte Kindheit (Gen 37,2-11)
4.3 Der Gesegnete, Schöne, Ethische und Verantwortungsvolle (39,1-23)
4.4 Keine Kritik an Macht und Mischehe (Gen 41,37-57)
4.5 Weitere Betonungen Josephs (Gen 46,5.29; 47,14; 49,22-26)
4.6 Ein gottesfürchtiges Bekenntnis (Gen 50,15-21)
4.7 Fazit
5 Joseph in antik-jüdischen Weisheitstraditionen
5.1 Sir 49,15
5.2 Sap 10,13-14
5.3 Fazit
6 Joseph in den Fragmenten des Alexander Polyhistor
6.1 Artapanus (Praep. ev. 9.23.1-4)
6.2 Demetrius (Praep. ev. 9.21.1-18)
6.3 Philo, der Epiker (Praep. ev. 9.24.1)
6.4 Fazit
7 Joseph in den Makkabäerbüchern
7.1 1. Makkabäerbuch
7.2 4. Makkabäerbuch
7.3 Fazit
8 Joseph in den Testamenten der zwölf Patriarchen
8.1 Joseph als makelloses Vorbild in elf Testamenten
8.2 Joseph als geduldig liebender Mann im fiktiven Selbstzeugnis T. Jos.
8.3 Fazit: Joseph als ethischer Kristallisationspunkt der TestXII
9 Joseph im Jubiläenbuch
9.1 Josephs Geburt (Jub 28,24)
9.2 Die fehlende negative Kindheitsheiterzählung (Jub 34.39)
9.3 Joseph als Tröster und Opfer (Jub 34)
9.4 Joseph als Segensträger und schuldloser Rechtschaffener (Jub 39)
9.5 Joseph als idealer Staatsmann, das ideale Eschaton und die fehlenden Träume
9.6 Josephs versöhnliches Handeln mit den Brüdern (Jub 42-45)
9.7 Josephs noch stärkere Idealisierung
9.8 Fazit: Idealisierung, Versöhnung und Innenleben
10 Joseph in der zweiten Tiervision des 1. Henochbuches
11 Joseph im Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum
11.1 Positiver Joseph und positive Josephsgeschichte in nuce (8,9-14)
11.2 Josephserwähnungen als positive Vergleichspunkte (12,1; 43,5)
11.3 Fazit
12 Joseph in Joseph und Aseneth
12.1 Exposition, Ringschluss, Ägyptisierung, Vorwegnahme (1,1-5)
12.2 Bei Pentephres (3,1-10,1)
12.3 Aseneths Hinwendung zum Gott Josephs als sekundäre Hinwendung zu Joseph (9,1-17,10)
12.4 Joseph als Bräutigam (18,1-21,9)
12.5 Joseph als sanftmütiger, mitleidiger und gottesfürchtiger Mann Aseneths und Augapfel Gottes (22,1-29,9)
12.6 Fazit
13 Joseph bei Flavius Josephus
13.1 Bibelparaphrase in den Antiquitates Biblicae
13.2 Entschärfte Exposition der Josephsgeschichte und Verkauf (2,7-38)
13.3 Paideia und tugendhafter Widerstand bei Pentephres (2,39-60)
13.4 Unschuldige Gefangenschaft und logische Traumdeutung (61-73)
13.5 Josephs verständig-verständlicher Aufstieg (74-92)
13.6 Josephs planvoller Umgang mit seinen Brüdern (93-159)
13.7 Josephs unspektakuläre Vergebung (160-188)
13.8 Kluge Agrarpolitik mit Zurückgabe des Landes (189-193)
13.9 Jakobs und Josephs versöhnter Tod (194-199)
13.10 Joseph außerhalb der Josephsgeschichte bei Josephus
13.11 Joseph als personifizierte Tugend und seine Kardinaltugenden
13.12 Fazit
14 Joseph bei Philo von Alexandrien
14.1 Joseph als idealer Staatsmann in de Iosepho
14.2 Joseph als Despot in de Somniis 2
14.3 Fazit: Philos Joseph als Idealherrscher und Tyrann
15 Joseph im Neuen Testament
15.1 Der Mann Marias als kreative Josephsfigur bei Matthäus
15.2 Josephsspuren bei Lukas?
15.3 Der verstoßene Joseph als Zeuge christologischer Typologie (Act 7,9-16)
15.4 Joseph als Zeuge hoffnungsvollen Glaubens (Hebr 11,21-22)
15.5 Fazit
16 Ergebnissicherung, Schlussreflexion und Ausblick
16.1 Ergebnissicherung
16.2 Hermeneutische Reflexion I: Joseph als volatile Figur
16.3 Hermeneutische Reflexion II: Josephs- und Ägyptenschweigen
16.4 Hermeneutische Reflexion III: Joseph als inadäquate Figur
16.5 Desiderate: Transfigurale, multiperspektivische und interkulturelle Rezeption
16.6 Exemplarischer Ausblick: Josephsrezeption im antiken Christentum

 

 

 

Der johanneische Pneuma-Paraklet und das sokratische Daimonion: Zur religionsgeschichtlichen Verortung der johanneischen Pneumatologie

Michael R. Jost
Cover of 'undefined' 
2025. 308 pages.
DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-164654-6 
The Holy Spirit plays a central role in the Gospel of John. Michael R. Jost first describes the Johannine conception of the Holy Spirit and then compares it with ancient Jewish and Hellenistic conceptions of spirit(s). For the first time, he considers in detail the so-called Daimonion of Socrates, revealing new insights into both the religious-historical context of the Johannine pneuma-paraclete and Johannine pneumatology.
Table of contents:

Teil I: Geistvorstellungen im Evangelium nach Johannes und darüber hinaus - zur Fragestellung, Forschungsgeschichte und Methodik
1. Die religionsgeschichtliche Verortung des johanneischen Pneuma-Parakleten: Forschungsgeschichtliche Schlaglichter
2. Die religionsgeschichtlichen Fragestellungen und ihre Grenzen
3. Methodik
4. Aufbau der Untersuchung
5. Ziel der Untersuchung
Teil II: Die Konzeption des Geistes im Evangelium nach Johannes
1. Einleitende Perspektiven auf das Evangelium nach Johannes
2. Exegetische Analyse
3. Theologisch-konzeptionelle Ergebnisse
Teil III: Geistkonzeptionen im antiken Kleinasien und in der Levante
1. Ruach in alttestamentlichen und qumranischen Schriften
2. Daimonion in platonischen und mitteplatonischen Schriften
3. Pneuma und Daimonion in hellenistisch-frühjüdischen Schriften
4. Schlussfolgerung
Teil IV: Ein historisch-theologischer Konzeptionsvergleich
1. Verhältnis der johanneischen Geistkonzeption zu den Konzeptionen in den antiken Vergleichstexten
2. Die Besonderheit der johanneischen Geistkonzeption
3. Der johanneische Pneuma-Paraklet und sein Zeugnis für den inkarnierten Logos

 

 

 

Ancient Glass in the J. Paul Getty Museum

by Anastassios Antonaras
contributions by Nicole Budrovich and Monica Ganio
Cover unavailable 

J. Paul Getty Trust, The, 2024

ISBNs

Paper: 978-1-60606-919-6

eISBN: 978-1-60606-920-2 (ePub)

eISBN: 978-1-60606-921-9 (PDF) 


Illustrated with stunning new photography, this catalogue details the J. Paul Getty Museum’s phenomenal holdings of ancient glass, spanning three millennia.

The J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection of ancient glass—astonishingly delicate, richly hued, and fancifully shaped—is among the most celebrated in the United States. Ranging from the Bronze Age to the medieval period (1500 BCE–1000 CE), the 584 objects included in this publication originated from a wide geographical area, including the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and central Europe.

This catalogue, written by acclaimed scholar Anastassios Antonaras, begins with a fascinating essay on the history of glassmaking—a highly technical art form that is still practiced similarly today—and continues with detailed and informative entries on the works. Each entry is accompanied by vivid photography. The book also includes a history of the collection, glossary of glassmaking terms, technical study, and full bibliography.

The free online edition of this open-access publication is available at getty.edu/publications/ancient-glass/ and includes 360-degree views and zoomable high-resolution photography. Also available are free PDF and EPUB downloads of the book, and JPG downloads of the main catalogue images.

 

 

All in the Family: Childhood and Fictive Kinship in Roman Society

by Gaia Gianni
Cover unavailable 

University of Michigan Press, 2025

ISBNs

Cloth: 978-0-472-13361-1

eISBN: 978-0-472-90516-4 (OA) 

Gaia Gianni’s All in the Family explores how children shaped the development of pseudo-familial bonds, or fictive kinship, in Roman society during the early imperial period. Previous scholarship on the Roman family has primarily emphasized the patriarchal and nuclear structure of the Roman family, with children often represented as passive actors in a vacuum. Believing this to be an oversimplification of how the Roman family functioned, Gianni in her  study focuses on the ways in which Roman families raised children and formed long-term relationships with individuals outside of the nuclear family, such as friends, neighbors, nurses, and caretakers, who gradually became full-fledged members of the family unit. Through a wide variety of literary works, legal documents, and funerary epitaphs for children set up by their families and caregivers, Gianni borrows from modern sociological and anthropological theories to argue that children acted as catalysts or connecting nodes in the creation of fictive kinship with individuals who were not part of the biologically determined family. In addition to illuminating the roles and experiences of these figures, All in the Family reveals how this social network was integrated into the family both in practice and in ideology, presenting a more complex view of the Roman family than the traditional nuclear structure. 

 

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Kriegsherr und Reisekaiser? Eine vergleichende Studie zur Baupolitik der Kaiser Traian und Hadrian

by Tina Wellhausen
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Die vorliegende Arbeit ist eine vergleichende Analyse der Herrschafts- und Baupolitik der Kaiser Traian und Hadrian. Da beide Herrscher einerseits für unterschiedliche politische und strategische Konzepte (z. B. Expansions- gegen Grenzsicherungspolitik) einstanden, andererseits jedoch durch die Elemente des „humanitären Kaisertums“ und als Repräsentanten der Epoche der sogenannten Adoptivkaiser miteinander verbunden waren, wird hier kritisch untersucht, in welchen Bereichen der Regentschaften von Traian und Hadrian politische Kontinuität und in welchen Unterschiede zu konstatieren sind. Im Zentrum der Analyse steht vor allem die Baupolitik und damit einhergehend die kritische Untersuchung maßgeblicher Repräsentations- und Prestigebauten der beiden Kaiser in Rom. Der Leitfragestellung nach Intention und Selbstdarstellung durch monumentale Bauten wird exemplarisch nachgegangen anhand der bedeutsamsten stadtrömischen Projekte beider Kaiser: Forum Traiani mit Traianssäule, Mercati Traiani, Hadriansmausoleum, Tempel der Venus und der Roma, Pantheon sowie anderer Nutz- und Prestigebauten. 

Publication Type: Thesis

Publication Category: Universitätsdrucke

Language: German

ISBN: 978-3-86395-351-5 (Print)

URN: urn:nbn:de:gbv:7-isbn-978-3-86395-351-5-3

Schrift als Autorität: Eine systematisch-theologische Studie zur Verständigung des Ökumenischen Arbeitskreises evangelischer und katholischer Theologen über die Geltung der Heiligen Schrift

Cover Image 

 

 

Village Life at Prehistoric Monjukli Depe, Turkmenistan: Microarchaeological, Archaeobiological, and Artifact Studies

Edited by Susan Pollock, Reinhard Bernbeck & Ilia Heit 

Archaeological research on early villages has repeatedly shown that despite their small size these settlements were anything but simple. Excavations at the Late Neolithic and early Aeneolithic village of Monjukli Depe in the Kopet Dag foothills of Turkmenistan contribute to a picture of this complexity. General uniformities in house plans and material culture conceal underlying variability in material and social practices. Small-scale analyses of the preparation and use of space in buildings, courtyards, and outdoor areas yield insights into how and where village residents pursued their daily activities. Studies focused on interactions among villagers, animals, and plants demonstrate the multiple relationships between them in this settlement. Animals were sometimes penned in buildings or courtyards, and their dung served as a source of fuel. Macrobotanical and phytolith analyses offer indications of the main crops grown as well as the plant parts that people and animals brought, intentionally or not, into the village. They underscore long-term continuities as well as changes in the relationships among plants, animals, and people between the Neolithic and Aeneolithic occupations. A series of studies examine the stone, bone, and copper tools made and used by the villagers. Items of bodily adornment, including beads and copper pins, add a distinctly personal layer of life.

Together, the assembled evidence offers a rich source of information on production activities but also on practices and materials that are otherwise largely invisible to the naked eye, from the adornment of the body, to the working of leather, fibers, and fabrics, to the harvesting of grain, to food preparation. Indirect connections to worlds beyond the village and the region are revealed via raw materials and objects from distant sources, including cherts and chalcedony, marine shells, lapis lazuli, and copper.

The resulting picture extends and refines our knowledge about this ancient village, making visible the dynamics of quotidian village life beyond larger-scale similarities.

Paperback ISBN: 9789464263701 | Hardback ISBN: 9789464263718 | Imprint: Sidestone Press | Format: 210x280mm | 322 pp. | Language: English | 59 illus. (bw) | 109 illus. (fc) | Keywords: microarchaeology; quotidian practices; Aeneolithic; Neolithic; human-animal relations; plants and people; phytoliths; spherulites; food preparation; bodily ornamentation; lithics; copper objects; bone tools; beads | download cover | DOI: 10.59641/e5h1b2c3d4 | CC-license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

List of Figures
List of Tables

1. Introduction: Everyday Life in Neolithic and Aeneolithic Monjukli Depe
Susan Pollock, Reinhard Bernbeck, and Ilia Heit

Part I. Microarchaeology

2. The Spatial Dimension of Daily Practices: Microdebris Analysis at Monjukli Depe
Nolwen Rol, Reinhard Bernbeck, and Peter Sturm

3. Invisible to the Eye – Comparative Multi-elemental Analyses of Archaeological Samples from Monjukli Depe
Michael Rummel, Julia Schönicke, and Ilia Heit

4. All the Small Things: Microstratigraphic Investigations of Earthen Deposits at the Site of Monjukli Depe
Susanna Cereda

Part II. Paleobiological remains

5. Burn It: Preliminary Study of the Archaeobotanical Remains Associated with Fire Installations at Monjukli Depe
Madelynn von Baeyer

6. Phytoliths from Neolithic and Aeneolithic Monjukli Depe
Philippa Ryan

7. Animal Dung and Plant Remains in the Middle of the Village
Birgül Öğüt

Part III. Objects

8. From Cores to Tools: The Chipped Stone Assemblage from Monjukli Depe
Susan Pollock

9. A Functional Study of Lithic Tools from Monjukli Depe
Melody Pope

10. Making the Most of Animals: The Worked Animal Bone Assemblage from Monjukli Depe
Jana Eger

11. On Pins and Awls: A Chaîne Opératoire Approach to Early Copper Use in Monjukli Depe
Lisa Wolff-Heger

12. The Tiny and the Tiniest ‒ Beads at Monjukli Depe
Ezel Güneş

 

 

 

Rituale: Schlüssel zur Welt hinter der Keilschrift

by Annette Zgoll
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Göttinger Beiträge zum Alten Orient; 6

The most enigmatic term of Mesopotamian culture can be found wherever gods, kings, temples or the state are involved: the Sumerian word ME. Basic research and hylistic methods decipher the meaning of ME and other important Sumerian and Akkadian words. This makes it possible to (1) uncover the earliest sacred texts, namely Sumerian ritual songs, which were long considered lost, (2) to identify previously unknown myths and (3) decipher central Mesopotamian sources anew. These discoveries open up access to a previously unknown world behind the cuneiform script - a world characterized through and through by rituals that were not made by humans, but sung, written, fought for and protected by gods. People could only gain access to rituals after a ritual deification. In addition to ancient concepts of rituals and deification, the book develops a universally applicable categorization of rituals and ritual functions. Translated with DeepL.com (free version) 



Published by
Göttingen University Press, January 2025
DOI 10.17875/gup2025-2858
URN
urn:nbn:de:gbv:7-isbn-978-3-86395-671-4-0
ISBNs
978-3-86-395671-4

 

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Open Access Monograph Series: Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum

 [First posted in AWOL 25 April 2010. Updated (new URLs) 28 October 2025]

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum
*

About

Welcome to CVA Online, the open access digital element of the CVA project. It is hosted by the Classical Art Research Centre on behalf of the Union Académique Internationale (UAI).

The Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum ('Corpus of Ancient Vases') is the oldest research project of the UAI. It consists of a series of high-quality catalogues of mostly ancient Greek painted pottery in collections around the world. The first fascicule appeared in 1922 and since then more than 400 have appeared, illustrating more than 100,000 vases in 24 countries.

The three-year CVA Online project originated in 2000, when Oxford University's Beazley Archive (later the Classical Art Research Centre) was invited to undertake the digitization of out-of-print fascicules. Some further digitization occurred up to 2016 and we continue to add resources when opportunities arise. The digitized catalogues can be viewed and browsed through this site. Their images and selected content are also integrated within CARC's Beazley Archive Pottery Database.

The Original Project

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum is the oldest research project of the Union Académique Internationale. The first meeting to organise the project was held in Paris in 1919. Edmond Pottier (1855 -1934) initiated it and produced the first fascicule for the Louvre in 1922. Pottier's role in developing CVA is the subject of 'corpus of ancient vases' in Revue Archéologique 2004.

Pottier had become a curator in the Louvre in 1884, two years before all of its ancient pottery was incorporated into the Department of Oriental Antiquities. When the Louvre purchased several thousand ancient vases from the Campana Collection it became the largest collection of ancient pottery in the world. Many types were represented, for example Proto-Elamitic pottery which Pottier had been the first to publish in 1912.


Pottier's vision of the types of pottery in CVA was broad - all ancient pottery from Europe, the Mediterranean, the Near East and the Middle East. Pottier's vision of publishing every example of so many different types of ancient pottery was ambitious and not easily realized. In 1956 it was suggested that Greek and related wares only should be published; these now dominate CVA. By 2004 more than 300 fascicules had been published by more than 120 collections.

CVA Online

In 2000 the International Committee of CVA asked the Beazley Archive to prepare a feasibility study for the digitization of out of print fascicules, approximately 250 for the web. Later that year the Union Académique Internationale formally invited the Beazley Archive to undertake the project.

In 2001 The Getty Grant Program awarded £75,000 for a three-year project to be carried out in Oxford.

The CVA project, to digitize these fascicules began fully in 2002 and ended in September 2004. Residual grant funding and further generous support from the Bavarian Academy later allowed further additions up to 2016. Although we do not aim systematically to add digital versions of all fascicules, we take the opportunities to update and augment CVA Online when resources permit it.

SUPPORTED BY

  • Union Académique
  • Getty Grant Program
  • British Academy
  • University of Oxford
  • Bavarian Academy
  • Austrian Academy
  • Institut de France; Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres
  • Swiss Academy
  • Unione Accademica Nazionale (Rome)