Rediscovering Antiquity - Karl Weber and the Excavation of Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae

Rediscovering Antiquity: Karl Weber and the Excavation of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabiae examines the early history of the excavations at three important sites of classical antiquity that first came to light in 1738, through the life and work of Karl Jakob Weber, a Swiss military engineer who supervised these investigations from 1750 to 1764. While many of his contemporaries sought only the recovery of precious antiquities to the exclusion of the architectural remains, Weber sought to retrieve evidence of the ancient urban fabric and to relate his discoveries to their archaeological context, thereby establishing the first systematic approach for these excavations. He also proposed a revolutionary manner of publishing his findings, in which all of the works of art from an individual site would appear together with detailed plans, drawings, and commentary drawn from classical and modern sources.

List of contents

Part I. The Historical Background: 1. Weber, Alcubierre and the first years of the excavations; 2. The earliest plans of the Vesuvian monuments; Part II. Excavations and Methodology: 3. The discovery of the Villa dei Papiri; 4. Pompeii and the Praedia Iuliae Felicis; 5. The 'Temples' at Herculaneum; Part III. Documentation: 6. Weber's application to the Accademia Ercolanese; 7. Dearth and discord; 8. The theatre at Herculaneum; Epilogue: Weber's place in the history of archaeology in the Vesuvian landscape; Appendices.

Summary

This 1995 book examines the early history of the excavations at three important sites of classical antiquity through the life and work of Karl Jakob Weber. Weber sought to retrieve evidence of the ancient urban fabric and to relate his discoveries to their archaeological context, establishing the first systematic approach for the excavations.

Product details

• Authors: Christopher Charles Parslow, Parslow Christopher Charles
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 13.10.1998
• EAN: 9780521646642
• ISBN: 978-0-521-64664-2
• Dimensions: 178 mm x 254 mm x 22 mm
• Weight: 720 g
• Illustrations: Worked examples or Exercises
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Pre and early history; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); ART / History / Ancient & Classical, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology, History of Art, Ancient World, Archaeology by period / region, Classical style, History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE, Classical Greek & Roman archaeology