Portico and Papyrus: An Ancient Architecture of Culture
Weiss, Emma
Weiss, Emma
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Abstract
When an extremely rare cache of books was found during mid-1800s excavations at the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, scholars flocked to the site. The sensationalist rhetoric with which the discovery was met speaks to a long-held fascination with the concept of the library in the post-Enlightenment West. Yet the cavernous and stilled qualities of modern libraries directly contrast those of many ancient book collections. This physical reality is embodied particularly at the Villa of the Papyri, for there, books were not confined to one narrow room but placed deliberately throughout the entire complex. The importance of papyri findspots has been neglected within centuries of scholarship on the Villa, yet understanding the way in which the books were integrated into the broader space of the Villa is vital for properly contextualizing the lived experience of its inhabitants. However, this thesis is not an exclusive study of the Villa, nor a general study of ancient libraries. Instead, it constitutes a contextual investigation of early Imperial Roman elite literary culture, which proposes that the basic concept of the ancient Roman library itself was expressed in its architectural features and physical artefacts. Defining the elements encompassed by this concept is made possible by jointly considering primary archaeological and written records of Roman elite literary spaces, which ultimately reveal the nuanced social values and behaviors cultivated and enacted within them. As the only site in which the material remains of an ancient Roman book collection survive, the Villa of the Papyri forms a central case study for placing the nuanced manifestations of these values and behaviors within a physical context.
Description
Master of Arts in Art History -- John Cabot University, Spring 2026.
Date
2026
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Keywords
Villa of the Papyri, Manuscripts (Papyri), Rome (Empire), Libraries
Citation
Weiss, Emma. "Portico and Papyrus: An Ancient Architecture of Culture". Master's Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2026.