Barbara Borg

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Barbara Borg

FSA
Born (1960-12-26) 26 December 1960 (age 62)
NationalityGerman
Academic background
Alma mater Heidelberg University, Göttingen University, Ruhr-University Bochum
Thesis Mumienporträts – Chronologie und kultureller Kontext

Barbara Elisabeth Borg FSA (born 26 December 1960) is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Scuola Normale Superiore [1] . She is known in particular for her work on Roman tombs, the language of classical art, and geoarchaeology.

Contents

Career

Borg studied Classical Archaeology, Philosophy and Geology at Ruhr-University Bochum from 1981 to 1985 and gained her PhD at Georg-August-University, Göttingen, in 1990 with the thesis Mumienporträts – Chronologie und kultureller Kontext. Borg gained her Habilitation and venia legendi for Classical Archaeology at Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg in 1999 with the thesis Der Logos des Mythos – Allegorien und Personifikationen in der frühen griechischen Kunst. [2]

From 1993 to 2004 Borg held various teaching and research positions in Germany including acting Head of Department and Director of the Collection of Antiquities at the Archaeological Institute of Ruprecht-Karls-University. In 2004 she moved to the University of Exeter as professor of Classical Archaeology. She was Head of Classics from 2010 to 2015 and from 2018 onwards. [3]

Honours

Borg has held a number of visiting fellowships, including the Hugh Last Fellowship at the British School at Rome (2013), [4] the Senior Onassis Fellowship at the Waterloo Institute for Hellenic Studies (2012), [5] and a Getty Scholarship at the Getty Research Institute (2011). [2] [6]

Borg has been a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute since 2006, [2] was elected to the Academy of Europe in 2012, [7] and was elected as Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2015. [8]

Borg received a Major Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust in 2014. [9]

Academic work

Borg's early work emphasised the cross-cultural links of Roman art, including the edited volume Paideia: The World of the Second Sophistic, [10] which places Roman sculpture in the wider context of intellectual and literary culture. Her interest in the history and reception of Roman sculptures is evident in her contribution to the first full publication of the remarkable collection of antiquities at Castle Howard with Professor Henner von Hesberg and the late Andreas Linfert, one of the oldest collections of antiquities in Great Britain and of statues from antiquity. [11]

Borg's recent work on Roman tombs and burial customs of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, resulting in two monographs in 2013 and 2018, has been widely recognised due to Borg's meticulous and thorough treatment of the material evidence. [12] [13] Her conclusion that 'the open-air display of sarcophagi was much more common than is attested by preserved or documented examples or that multiple burials were frequent in sarcophagi' (Katharine Meinecke) [14] has been supported by further work on imperial funerary monuments in the Suburbium of Rome. [15] Borg's Blackwell Companion to Roman Art [16] provides a substantial evaluation of methodological approaches to the different media and zones of Roman art, with a range of experts in the different sub-fields highlighting critical issues and approaches. [17]

Borg has commented that her work on funerary culture aims to bring together all available evidence and to demonstrate that customs were shared between Christians and non-Christians in the Roman world. [18]

Borg's most recent work is a micro-history of the first part of the Via Appia. [19]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fayum mummy portraits</span> Portraits attached to mummies in Roman Egypt

Mummy portraits or Fayum mummy portraits are a type of naturalistic painted portrait on wooden boards attached to upper class mummies from Roman Egypt. They belong to the tradition of panel painting, one of the most highly regarded forms of art in the Classical world. The Fayum portraits are the only large body of art from that tradition to have survived. They were formerly, and incorrectly, called Coptic portraits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catacombs of Rome</span> Ancient burial places in Rome, Italy

The Catacombs of Rome are ancient catacombs, underground burial places in and around Rome, of which there are at least forty, some rediscovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together, Jews and also adherents of a variety of pagan Roman religions were buried in catacombs, beginning in the 2nd century AD, occasioned by the ancient Roman ban on burials within a city, and also as a response to overcrowding and shortage of land. The most extensive and perhaps the best known is the Christian Catacomb of Callixtus located near the Park of the Caffarella, but there are other sites, both Christian and not, scattered around the city, some of which are now engulfed by modern urban sprawl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarcophagus</span> Stone coffin

A sarcophagus is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word sarcophagus comes from the Greek σάρξsarx meaning "flesh", and φαγεῖνphagein meaning "to eat"; hence sarcophagus means "flesh-eating", from the phrase lithos sarkophagos, "flesh-eating stone". The word also came to refer to a particular kind of limestone that was thought to rapidly facilitate the decomposition of the flesh of corpses contained within it due to the chemical properties of the limestone itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarquinia</span> Town in Lazio, Italy

Tarquinia, formerly Corneto, is an old city in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, Central Italy, known chiefly for its ancient Etruscan tombs in the widespread necropoleis, or cemeteries, for which it was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Egyptian funerary practices</span> Elaborate set of funerary practices

The ancient Egyptians had an elaborate set of funerary practices that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death. These rituals included mummifying the body, casting magic spells, and burials with specific grave goods thought to be needed in the afterlife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman funerary practices</span> Aspect of history

Roman funerary practices include the Ancient Romans' religious rituals concerning funerals, cremations, and burials. They were part of time-hallowed tradition, the unwritten code from which Romans derived their social norms. Elite funeral rites, especially processions and public eulogies, gave the family opportunity to publicly celebrate the life and deeds of the deceased, their ancestors, and the family's standing in the community. Sometimes the political elite gave costly public feasts, games and popular entertainments after family funerals, to honour the departed and to maintain their own public profile and reputation for generosity. The Roman gladiator games began as funeral gifts for the deceased in high status families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman sculpture</span> Sculpture of ancient Rome

The study of Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies". At one time, this imitation was taken by art historians as indicating a narrowness of the Roman artistic imagination, but, in the late 20th century, Roman art began to be reevaluated on its own terms: some impressions of the nature of Greek sculpture may in fact be based on Roman artistry.

<i>Sarcophagus of the Spouses</i> Sarcophagus in the National Etruscan Museum

The Sarcophagus of the Spouses is considered one of the masterpieces of Etruscan art. The Etruscans lived in Italy between two main rivers, the Arno and the Tiber, and were in contact with the Ancient Greeks through trade, mainly during the Orientalizing and Archaic Period. The Etruscans were well known for their terracotta sculptures and funerary art, largely sarcophagi and urns. This sarcophagus is a late sixth-century BCE Etruscan anthropoid sarcophagus that was found at the Banditaccia necropolis in Caere and is now located in the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etruscan art</span> Art movement

Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 10th and 1st centuries BC. From around 750 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct characteristics. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta, wall-painting and metalworking especially in bronze. Jewellery and engraved gems of high quality were produced.

The Tomb of Aline is an ancient Egyptian grave from the time of Tiberius or Hadrian, excavated at Hawara in 1892.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funerary art</span> Art associated with a repository for the remains of the dead

Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs, tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and communal memorials to the dead, such as war memorials, which may or may not contain remains, and a range of prehistoric megalithic constructs. Funerary art may serve many cultural functions. It can play a role in burial rites, serve as an article for use by the dead in the afterlife, and celebrate the life and accomplishments of the dead, whether as part of kinship-centred practices of ancestor veneration or as a publicly directed dynastic display. It can also function as a reminder of the mortality of humankind, as an expression of cultural values and roles, and help to propitiate the spirits of the dead, maintaining their benevolence and preventing their unwelcome intrusion into the lives of the living.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Nonius Macrinus</span> 2nd century Roman senator, general and proconsul

Marcus Nonius Macrinus was a Roman senator and general during the reigns of the Emperors Antoninus Pius, Lucius Verus, and Marcus Aurelius. Macrinus was suffect consul in the nundinium of April-June 154 as the colleague of [Prifernius ?] Paetus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Roman sarcophagi</span> Ancient Roman funerary practice

In the burial practices of ancient Rome and Roman funerary art, marble and limestone sarcophagi elaborately carved in relief were characteristic of elite inhumation burials from the 2nd to the 4th centuries AD. At least 10,000 Roman sarcophagi have survived, with fragments possibly representing as many as 20,000. Although mythological scenes have been quite widely studied, sarcophagus relief has been called the "richest single source of Roman iconography," and may also depict the deceased's occupation or life course, military scenes, and other subject matter. The same workshops produced sarcophagi with Jewish or Christian imagery. Early Christian sarcophagi produced from the late 3rd century onwards, represent the earliest form of large Christian sculpture, and are important for the study of Early Christian art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tombs of the Kings (Jerusalem)</span> 1st century burial site in Israel

The Tombs of the Kings are a rock-cut funerary complex in East Jerusalem believed to be the burial site of Queen Helene of Adiabene, hence: Helena's Monuments. The tombs are located 820 meters north of Jerusalem's Old City walls in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomb effigy</span> Statue on top of a tomb

A tomb effigy, usually a recumbent effigy or, in French, gisant, is a sculpted figure on a tomb monument depicting an effigy of the deceased. These compositions were developed in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, and continued in use through the Renaissance and early modern period; they are still sometimes used. They typically represent the deceased in a state of "eternal repose", lying with hands folded in prayer and awaiting resurrection. A husband and wife may be depicted lying side by side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman funerary art</span> Historical Roman art genre

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henner von Hesberg</span> German classical archaeologist

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Michael Squire FBA is a British art historian and classicist. He became Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology in the University of Cambridge in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomb of the Haterii</span> Roman funerary monument

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References

  1. "Barbara Elisabeth Borg | ScuolaNormaleSuperiore". www.sns.it. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Hoffmann, Ilire Hasani, Robert. "Academy of Europe: CV". www.ae-info.org. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  3. "Professor Barbara Borg | Classics and Ancient History | University of Exeter". humanities.exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  4. Borg, Barbara E. (2013). "Hugh Last Fellowships". Papers of the British School at Rome. 81: 388–389. doi:10.1017/S0068246213000275. ISSN   0068-2462. S2CID   179062207.
  5. "CANADIAN CLASSICAL BULLETIN – BULLETIN CANADIEN DES ÉTUDES ANCIENNES". cac-scec.ca. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  6. "Scholar Year 2010/2011 (Getty Research Institute)". www.getty.edu. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  7. Hoffmann, Ilire Hasani, Robert. "Academy of Europe: Borg Barbara Elisabeth". www.ae-info.org. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  8. "Fellows Directory – Society of Antiquaries". www.sal.org.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  9. "Major Research Fellowships 2014 | The Leverhulme Trust". www.leverhulme.ac.uk.
  10. "Paideia: The World of the Second Sophistic". De Gruyter. 2008.
  11. Bartman, Elizabeth (2008). "A remarkable collection of art in North Yorkshire". Journal of Roman Archaeology. 21: 542–548. doi:10.1017/S104775940000489X. S2CID   232346920 . Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  12. Crisis and Ambition: Tombs and Burial Customs in Third-Century AD Rome. Oxford Studies in Ancient Culture & Representation. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 15 November 2013. ISBN   9780199672738.
  13. Bockmann, Ralf (4 March 2017). "Crisis & Ambition. Tombs and Burial Customs in Third-Century CE Rome by Barbara Borg (review)". Journal of Early Christian Studies. 25 (1): 149–151. doi:10.1353/earl.2017.0005. ISSN   1086-3184. S2CID   51802672.
  14. "Crisis and Ambition: Tombs and Burial Customs in Third-Century CE Rome". American Journal of Archaeology. 17 December 2015.
  15. Thomas, Edmund (2012). ""Nero's Tomb" and the crisis of the third century: Roman sarcophagi as public and private monuments" (PDF). Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics. 61–62: 132–151. doi:10.1086/RESvn1ms23647825. S2CID   193586509.
  16. "A Companion to Roman Art". Wiley.com.
  17. Review by Alice Landskrom, BMCR 2017.01.09 http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2017/2017-01-09.html
  18. "Crisis & Ambition: Tombs and Burial Customs in Third-Century CE Rome by Barbara Borg | Classical Studies Graduate Program". classicalstudies.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  19. "Professor Barbara Borg | Classics and Ancient History | University of Exeter". humanities.exeter.ac.uk.