Iconography

The widespread tendency to regard document reliefs as indistinguishable from votive reliefs is primarily the result of the attention paid to the formal characteristics of the reliefs at the expense of their content. Most document reliefs were set up in sanctuaries, indicating that they had a votive function, and the reliefs themselves, especially those on decrees concerning cults, resemble votive reliefs in a number of respects, yet document reliefs nevertheless constitute a separate and distinctive class of relief. The documents dictate the iconography of the reliefs accompanying them, and the full meaning of the reliefs can be appreciated only in light of their inscriptions. Although the extent to which the specific content of the documents finds its way into the reliefs is limited by the symbolic and allegorical nature of the reliefs, document reliefs nevertheless have a consistent degree of political content and historical reference that is seldom found in Greek art.

Ancient history · Art · Art history · Epistemology · Iconography · Meaning (existential) · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Philosophy