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Graphic caricature and the ethos of ordinary people at Pompeii

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Pedro Paulo Abreu Funari

Abstract

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The graphic symbolism of Pompeian caricatures is approached through a semiotically defined, oppositional framework, in which possible adjectives and connotations attached to various physical features are listed. These in turn are grouped either as those associated with power and authority or as those associated with their absence.

Although scholars have often ignored popular culture or characterised it as coarse and vulgar, the caricatures are found to have a sophisticated semiotic system that stood in opposition to erudite upper class painting and served to criticise people in power. Nevertheless, caricatures of slavery as an institution reveals that ordinary people's ethos was affected by social contradictions and thus social bonds were unconsciously reinforced.

Der graphische Symbolismus pompeischer Karikaturen wird beleuchtet anhand eines semiotisch definierten Gerüsts, in welchem mögliche Adjektive und Konnotationen aufgelistet sind, die verschiedenen physischen Grundzügen zugeordnet wurden. Diese sind abwechselnd zusammengestellt, entweder als solche, die im Zusammenhang stehen mit Macht und Autorität, oder als solche, die mit deren Abwesenheit im Zusammenhang stehen.

Obwohl Gelehrte häufig Volkskunst ignoriert oder als derb und vulgär charakterisiert haben, wird den Karikaturen ein anspruchsvolles semiotisches System unterstellt, das in Opposition zur Malerei der gebildeten Oberschicht stand und dazu diente, Leute im Besitz der Macht zu kritisieren. Nichtsdestoweniger offenbaren Karikaturen von Sklaverei als Institution, daß sich soziale Gegensätze auf das Ethos gewöhnlicher Leute ausgewirkt haben und soziale Fesseln daher unbewußt verstärkt wurden.

Le symbolisme graphique des caricatures de Pompéi est abordé à travers une structure de définitions sémiotiques et d'oppositions dans laquelle d'éventuels adjectifs et connotations en relation avec les différents caractéristiques physiques sont énumérés. Celles-ci à leur tour sont regroupées en étant associées soit au pouvoir et à l'autorité soit à leur absence.

Bien que les érudits aient souvent ignoré la culture populaire ou l'aient caractériée comme grossière et vulgaire, on a trouvé dans les caricatures un système sémiotique sophistiqué qui s'opposait aux peintures d'érudits de la classe supérieure et qui servait à critiquer les personnes au pouvoir. Cependant, les caricatures évoquant l'institution de l'esclavage révelènt que l'ethique des gens ordinaires était influencé par les contradictions sociales et par conséquent des liens sociaux étaient inconsciemment renforcés.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of European Archaeology , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1993 , pp. 133 - 150
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 

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