Browsing by Author "Baillargeon, Danielle"

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    Marriage or a Multiplicity of Meanings? The Dextrarum Iunctio on Roman and Early Christian Funerary Monuments
    (2013-08-09) Baillargeon, Danielle; Hughes, Lisa
    The intent of this study is to assess the validity of the monolithic association between the dextrarum iunctio motif and marriage. Drawing together a catalog of visual, textual and epigraphic evidence, this study will investigate the potential polysemous nature of the motif by utilizing a hybrid methodological framework that incorporates stylistic and compositional analysis with epigraphic evidence. This discussion will be informed by Place Studies, which focuses on the physical context of the motif and the monument. I suggest that the change in the type and the physical location of the monument provided the impetus for changes in the function of the dextrarum iunctio, making it an inherently multivalent motif. The dextrarum iunctio transformed from a motif that served a pragmatic function on Roman funerary reliefs, providing a means to depict relationships and integration into identity groups, to an allegorical motif that is combined with other ornamentation and complementary images on funerary altars and sarcophagi.