New Book on Babylonian Figurines. Figurines in Hellenistic Babylonia: Miniaturization and Cultural Hybridity
Stephanie Langin-Hooper, Figurines in Hellenistic Babylonia: Miniaturization and Cultural Hybridity, Cambridge University Press, 2020, 350p.
Index terms
Keywords :
Mesopotamian figurines, Babylonian figurines, miniaturization, hybridity. Cross-cultural influencesFull text
1In this volume, Stephanie M. Langin-Hooper investigates the impact of Greek art on the miniature figure sculptures produced in Babylonia after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Figurines in Hellenistic Babylonia were used as agents of social change, by visually expressing and negotiating cultural differences. The scaled-down quality of figurines encouraged both visual and tactile engagement, enabling them to effectively work as non-threatening instruments of cultural blending. Reconstructing the embodied experience of miniaturization in detailed case studies, Langin-Hooper illuminates the dynamic process of combining Greek and Babylonian sculpture forms, social customs, and viewing habits into new, hybrid works of art. Her innovative focus on figurines as instruments of both personal encounter and global cultural shifts has important implications for the study of tiny objects in art history, anthropology, classics, and other disciplines.
2This book provides a comprehensive exploration of miniaturization theory and adds new advances to the study of tiny objects. Cross-cultural interaction and cultural hybridity are explored in dialogue with another theory/methodology (miniaturization) in order to show how these concepts can be used together to better understand ancient objects. In addition, the book presents many case study examples of how to interpret figurines based on their materiality and affective properties.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter One - A Question of Intimacy: Miniaturization and Figurines
Chapter Two - Fascination with the Tiny: Interacting with Figurines
Chapter Three - Three’s a Crowd: Spectatorship of Figurines
Chapter Four - Images of the Self: Identifying with Figurines
Chapter Five - The Global and the Local: Making Cultural and Social Choices with Figurines
Conclusion: Life in Miniature
Notes
Bibliography
Index
References
Electronic reference
Stephanie Langin-Hooper, « New Book on Babylonian Figurines. Figurines in Hellenistic Babylonia: Miniaturization and Cultural Hybridity », Les Carnets de l’ACoSt [Online], 21 | 2020, Online since 15 December 2020, connection on 07 July 2022. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/acost/2937 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/acost.2937
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