Dissertation by Alice Sharpless
The Value of Luxury: Precious Metal Tableware in the Roman World
This dissertation assesses the significance of luxury dining ware within Roman society by analyzi... more This dissertation assesses the significance of luxury dining ware within Roman society by analyzing the economic and socio-cultural value of these objects. Specifically, I focus on silver and gold tableware from the Roman Republic through the third century CE. Precious metal vessels are particularly well-suited to a study of socio-economical value because they are somewhere between an art object and a commodity. Because these objects are made from silver and gold, they have material value, but they are also valuable for their functionality within the dining context, particularly for hosting guests at the convivium. Their utility is, therefore, expressly social in nature. In the Roman world, silver and gold vessels were also highly decorative and as such served as display pieces and objects of attention. Their ability to communicate was not limited only to their material or their functionality; they were neither mere utilitarian commodities, nor simple stores of wealth. Scholars often note that precious metal vessels were status symbols and stores of wealth, but they rarely analyze the way that these objects functioned within those roles.
I seek to address this issue by considering the different forms of attention and the processes of valuation which were applied to luxury products in the Roman period. I will ask how social and cultural contexts affected the value of precious metal tableware and how the monetary value of these items determined the social contexts in which they were used. Additionally, this dissertation includes a study of the epigraphic habits on surviving silver and gold tableware in order to better understand how these vessels were used and exchanged. The inscriptions give a sense of the kinds of attention that was given to these objects and the way in which owners or makers might use them to communicate. I will approach these questions through an analysis of four primary types of value: economic, cultural, social, and aesthetic value. Value can be an economic measure achieved by quantifying the significance of an object and expressing this as price. But value can also be applied through cognitive processes via the attention paid to objects and the attitudes of people towards them.
By looking at the significance of tableware as a luxury product, utility object, and display piece, I take account of the different ways in which these vessels could be used to communicate within social contexts. I will show that the value of precious metal tableware, in both an economic and cultural sense, provided its owners with opportunities to convey particular messages aimed at navigating the fraught networks of status that existed in Roman society. Gold and silver dining ware could be a store of wealth, but not one which produced financial returns like other assets. Rather, the benefits of storing wealth as luxury dining products were social in nature. The use of precious metal dining ware at communal dinners, or for display, could project an image of wealth, taste, and, most of all, generosity. The return on assets of silver and gold dining ware was social rather than financial capital. Luxury commodities like silver and gold plate were enmeshed in the social interactions and behaviors of elite Romans and so become agents in defining the social personas of their owners.
I seek to address this issue by considering the different forms of attention and the processes of valuation which were applied to luxury products in the Roman period. I will ask how social and cultural contexts affected the value of precious metal tableware and how the monetary value of these items determined the social contexts in which they were used. Additionally, this dissertation includes a study of the epigraphic habits on surviving silver and gold tableware in order to better understand how these vessels were used and exchanged. The inscriptions give a sense of the kinds of attention that was given to these objects and the way in which owners or makers might use them to communicate. I will approach these questions through an analysis of four primary types of value: economic, cultural, social, and aesthetic value. Value can be an economic measure achieved by quantifying the significance of an object and expressing this as price. But value can also be applied through cognitive processes via the attention paid to objects and the attitudes of people towards them.
By looking at the significance of tableware as a luxury product, utility object, and display piece, I take account of the different ways in which these vessels could be used to communicate within social contexts. I will show that the value of precious metal tableware, in both an economic and cultural sense, provided its owners with opportunities to convey particular messages aimed at navigating the fraught networks of status that existed in Roman society. Gold and silver dining ware could be a store of wealth, but not one which produced financial returns like other assets. Rather, the benefits of storing wealth as luxury dining products were social in nature. The use of precious metal dining ware at communal dinners, or for display, could project an image of wealth, taste, and, most of all, generosity. The return on assets of silver and gold dining ware was social rather than financial capital. Luxury commodities like silver and gold plate were enmeshed in the social interactions and behaviors of elite Romans and so become agents in defining the social personas of their owners.
Conference Presentations by Alice Sharpless
The Imperial Coins of the George N. Olcott Collection
Parallel Heritages: Humanities in Action: The Columbia and Sorbonne Collections of Antiquities, 2019
Animals and Animalism in Greek Representations of the Gigantomachy
My paper looks at violence and the role of animal attributes in Greek images of the gigantomachy... more My paper looks at violence and the role of animal attributes in Greek images of the gigantomachy. Images of the gigantomachy were incredibly popular in Greek art, first appearing in the mid 6th century BCE. This paper covers the subject from its earliest instantiations down through the frieze of the Hellenistic Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamon. The question I will address is how do the portrayals of violence in the gigantomachy change over time, and what role do animals, and animalistic physiognomy, play in this development? It has been argued, by Richard Whitaker (2005) especially, that images of the gigantomachy become more violent over time, with early images showing the gods and giants on equal terms, while later images emphasize the destruction and humiliation of the giants. I, however, will show that the early images are sometimes incredibly violent, but that acts of direct violence are not committed by the gods themselves, but rather by their animal attributes. I argue that animals stand in for the gods, committing brutal acts of violence that it would be undignified for the gods to inflict, in part due to their direct familial relationship with the giants. Over time, however, this changes. While animal attributes remain a major feature of representations of the gigantomachy, on the Great Altar the gods are shown injuring the giants directly, and being injured in return, an aspect
previously unknown in any representation of the battle. What has changed is that the giants over time have become part animal themselves: anguiped, winged, and lion-headed, to name just a few examples. The giants are no longer depicted as humans, but are animalistic, even in their style of fighting, using their teeth and claws to attack rather than the weapons they once had. The frieze of the Great Altar emphasizes the gods conquering a race of monsters. Showing the giants as monstrous downplays the familial relationship between the two sides and the gods can, therefore, be shown in direct violent engagements with the giants.
previously unknown in any representation of the battle. What has changed is that the giants over time have become part animal themselves: anguiped, winged, and lion-headed, to name just a few examples. The giants are no longer depicted as humans, but are animalistic, even in their style of fighting, using their teeth and claws to attack rather than the weapons they once had. The frieze of the Great Altar emphasizes the gods conquering a race of monsters. Showing the giants as monstrous downplays the familial relationship between the two sides and the gods can, therefore, be shown in direct violent engagements with the giants.
Breakfast of Champions: Food and Divinity in the Homeric Hymns
“Domina or Serva Amoris? Sulpicia as Mistress and Cerinthus as Poet
The so-called ‘Garland of Sulpicia’ is a group of 5 elegies which appear as part of book III of t... more The so-called ‘Garland of Sulpicia’ is a group of 5 elegies which appear as part of book III of the Corpus Tibullianum (3.8-12). These poems appear just before a group of 6 poems (3.13-18) generally accepted as being by a female poet, Sulpicia. She is the only female Roman poet of the classical era whose work has survived. Two of the ‘garland’ poems present a female voice and appear following a third person elegy about a woman named Sulpicia. Although these poems present a female first person voice and appear in close proximity to other poems by, and about, Sulpicia, they have not been considered to be ‘genuine’ works of Sulpicia’s (an exception is Parker 1994) and, with the other 3 garland poems, have therefore been neglected. Much of the work surrounding Sulpicia has focused on recreating her historical figure, a highly problematic and not necessarily revealing enterprise. Because of this interest in the “real” Sulpicia, the literary interest of the ‘garland’ poems has been missed. Judith Hallett has recognized the appeal of the ‘garland’ but has addressed mainly their question of authorship, attributing all 11 poems to Sulpicia herself (Hallett 2002). Beyond this, very little work has been done on the poetic characteristics of the elegies contained in the ‘garland’, and the unique literary opportunities allowed by their female perspective. In this paper I hope to remedy this with a close look at one of these poems and its interaction with, and innovative appropriation of, elegiac traditions.
In this paper I offer a close reading of poem 3.9 of the Corpus Tibullianum. In the poem, a female narrator addresses her lover, Cerinthus, who is abroad hunting. She asks a boar to spare his life and Amor to keep him from harm. The female narrator is not named, but Cerinthus is named elsewhere as the lover of Sulpicia. Sulpicia is, therefore, our narrator and, regardless of her historical authenticity, for the purposes of the poem she is our poet. She is concerned with her lover’s safety but also, as I will show, with his fidelity. Throughout the poem Sulpicia evokes elegiac tropes to establish her relationship to her lover. The result is a complex play between the typical role of the poet as servus amoris, the slave of love, and his indifferent, and often unfaithful, mistress or domina. As the female, Sulpicia should be the domina, the elegiac poet’s object of affection who is often presented as exercising control over her lover. Indeed Sulpicia attempts to cast herself in this role. By tracing the references to the goddesses Venus and Diana, both common models for the elegiac mistress, I show how Sulpicia both likens herself to the elegiac mistress and simultaneously undercuts this role. For example, Sulpicia tries to adopt the characteristics of Diana by asking that she be allowed to hunt with her lover, but she offers to carry his nets (ipsa ego per montes retia torta feram, [Tib.] 3.9.11-12). Carrying the hunting nets was a difficult job and usually the role of a slave or, in Tibullus 1.4 of a servus amoris (Tib. 1.4.49-50). In portraying herself as mistress, she attempts to cast Cerinthus in the role of poet (i.e., servus amoris), subject to his domina’s indifference and inconstancy. In reality, however, Sulpicia is the poet and it is she who is abandoned and pining for her love. Her attempts to paint herself as indifferent domina fail miserably and even in her effort to portray herself as the elegiac mistress, Sulpicia undercuts her role with her concern for her lover’s fidelity and her own passionate love. In this way, the poem becomes a play between the elegiac expectations of Sulpicia’s gender and her actual role as narrator and poet.
Select Bibliography:
Hallett, Judith P. “Sulpicia and Her ‘Fama’: An Intertextual Approach to Recovering Her Latin Literary Image.” The Classical World 100, no. 1 (October 1, 2006): 37-42.
———. “The Eleven Elegies of the Augustan Poet Sulpicia.” In Women Writing Latin: From Roman Antiquity to Early Modern Europe, edited by Laurie J. Churchill, Phyllis Brown, and Jane E. Jeffrey, 1:45-65. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Hubbard, Thomas K. “The Invention of Sulpicia.” The Classical Journal 100, no. 2 (2004): 177-194.
Keith, Alison. “Critical Trends in Interpreting Sulpicia.” The Classical World 100, no. 1 (2006): 3-10.
Maltby, Robert, ed. Tibullus: Elegies, Text, Introduction and Commentary. Cambridge: Francis Cairns, 2002.
Parker, Holt. “Sulpicia, the Auctor de Sulpicia, and the Authorship of 3.9 and 3.11 of the Corpus Tibullianum.” Helios 21 (1994): 39-62.
Roessel, David. “The Significance of the Name Cerinthus in the Poems of Sulpicia.” Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-) 120 (1990): 243-250.
Skoie, Mathilde. Reading Sulpicia: Commentaries, 1475-1990. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
In this paper I offer a close reading of poem 3.9 of the Corpus Tibullianum. In the poem, a female narrator addresses her lover, Cerinthus, who is abroad hunting. She asks a boar to spare his life and Amor to keep him from harm. The female narrator is not named, but Cerinthus is named elsewhere as the lover of Sulpicia. Sulpicia is, therefore, our narrator and, regardless of her historical authenticity, for the purposes of the poem she is our poet. She is concerned with her lover’s safety but also, as I will show, with his fidelity. Throughout the poem Sulpicia evokes elegiac tropes to establish her relationship to her lover. The result is a complex play between the typical role of the poet as servus amoris, the slave of love, and his indifferent, and often unfaithful, mistress or domina. As the female, Sulpicia should be the domina, the elegiac poet’s object of affection who is often presented as exercising control over her lover. Indeed Sulpicia attempts to cast herself in this role. By tracing the references to the goddesses Venus and Diana, both common models for the elegiac mistress, I show how Sulpicia both likens herself to the elegiac mistress and simultaneously undercuts this role. For example, Sulpicia tries to adopt the characteristics of Diana by asking that she be allowed to hunt with her lover, but she offers to carry his nets (ipsa ego per montes retia torta feram, [Tib.] 3.9.11-12). Carrying the hunting nets was a difficult job and usually the role of a slave or, in Tibullus 1.4 of a servus amoris (Tib. 1.4.49-50). In portraying herself as mistress, she attempts to cast Cerinthus in the role of poet (i.e., servus amoris), subject to his domina’s indifference and inconstancy. In reality, however, Sulpicia is the poet and it is she who is abandoned and pining for her love. Her attempts to paint herself as indifferent domina fail miserably and even in her effort to portray herself as the elegiac mistress, Sulpicia undercuts her role with her concern for her lover’s fidelity and her own passionate love. In this way, the poem becomes a play between the elegiac expectations of Sulpicia’s gender and her actual role as narrator and poet.
Select Bibliography:
Hallett, Judith P. “Sulpicia and Her ‘Fama’: An Intertextual Approach to Recovering Her Latin Literary Image.” The Classical World 100, no. 1 (October 1, 2006): 37-42.
———. “The Eleven Elegies of the Augustan Poet Sulpicia.” In Women Writing Latin: From Roman Antiquity to Early Modern Europe, edited by Laurie J. Churchill, Phyllis Brown, and Jane E. Jeffrey, 1:45-65. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Hubbard, Thomas K. “The Invention of Sulpicia.” The Classical Journal 100, no. 2 (2004): 177-194.
Keith, Alison. “Critical Trends in Interpreting Sulpicia.” The Classical World 100, no. 1 (2006): 3-10.
Maltby, Robert, ed. Tibullus: Elegies, Text, Introduction and Commentary. Cambridge: Francis Cairns, 2002.
Parker, Holt. “Sulpicia, the Auctor de Sulpicia, and the Authorship of 3.9 and 3.11 of the Corpus Tibullianum.” Helios 21 (1994): 39-62.
Roessel, David. “The Significance of the Name Cerinthus in the Poems of Sulpicia.” Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-) 120 (1990): 243-250.
Skoie, Mathilde. Reading Sulpicia: Commentaries, 1475-1990. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Papers by Alice Sharpless
FOLD&R. Fasti Online Documents & Research, Italy(602), 2025
Fra il 2014 e il 2023 l’Advanced Program of Ancient History and Art (APAHA Tibur) della Columbia ... more Fra il 2014 e il 2023 l’Advanced Program of Ancient History and Art (APAHA Tibur) della Columbia University ha condotto nove campagne di scavo nell’area del “Macchiozzo” a Villa Adriana. Gli scavi hanno portato alla luce tre grandi edifici residenziali di epoca adrianea, insieme a numerosi dati sulla lunga vita del complesso. La relazione finale viene pubblicata in tre parti.
La Parte III presenta gli oggetti mobili: ceramiche, monete, elementi architettonici, frammenti scultorei, piccoli oggetti e iscrizioni, insieme con una discussione sul significato generale del sito. I numerosi frammenti ceramici sono databili prevalentemente nel III e IV secolo d.C., mentre quelli che si possono datare nel II secolo sono molto meno numerosi; vi è inoltre un gruppo piccolo ma significativo di ceramiche medievali (IX–XII secolo). Allo stesso modo, la maggior parte delle monete si data nel III e soprattutto
nel IV secolo d.C. Sono stati rinvenuti anche diversi gettoni in bronzo e piombo, molti dei quali a tema alessandrino. In diversi casi elementi architettonici in marmo probabilmente di epoca adrianea, rimossi dalla loro collocazione originaria, sono stati riutilizzati in un nuovo contesto. Tra gli oggetti decorativi in marmo ci sono recipienti monumentali, tondi con immagini dionisiache e statue di animali, tutti frammentari. Sono attestati anche resti di piccoli elementi di arredo e frammenti di oggetti iscritti, tra cui uno stampo da dolci in ceramica a forma di leone e un tubo in piombo.
La Parte III presenta gli oggetti mobili: ceramiche, monete, elementi architettonici, frammenti scultorei, piccoli oggetti e iscrizioni, insieme con una discussione sul significato generale del sito. I numerosi frammenti ceramici sono databili prevalentemente nel III e IV secolo d.C., mentre quelli che si possono datare nel II secolo sono molto meno numerosi; vi è inoltre un gruppo piccolo ma significativo di ceramiche medievali (IX–XII secolo). Allo stesso modo, la maggior parte delle monete si data nel III e soprattutto
nel IV secolo d.C. Sono stati rinvenuti anche diversi gettoni in bronzo e piombo, molti dei quali a tema alessandrino. In diversi casi elementi architettonici in marmo probabilmente di epoca adrianea, rimossi dalla loro collocazione originaria, sono stati riutilizzati in un nuovo contesto. Tra gli oggetti decorativi in marmo ci sono recipienti monumentali, tondi con immagini dionisiache e statue di animali, tutti frammentari. Sono attestati anche resti di piccoli elementi di arredo e frammenti di oggetti iscritti, tra cui uno stampo da dolci in ceramica a forma di leone e un tubo in piombo.
Proceedings of the XVI International Numismatic Congress, 11–16.09.2022, Warsaw, Vol. II: Roman Numismatics, 2025
This paper presents some preliminary findings from the second phase of the Roman Republican Die P... more This paper presents some preliminary findings from the second phase of the Roman Republican Die Project (RRDP) by looking at the use of control marks in Roman Republican coinage. It presents data from seventeen Republican coin types which use sequential numerical control marks where each control mark appears on only one die. For these issues, the highest observed control numeral gives us a good indicator of the original number of dies, and so allows us to test the accuracy of Esty’s geometric model for estimating dies. It then looks at the purpose of die marks within the Roman mint by considering the case of six dies that were recut to use for two subtypes of RRC 335/3. The re-cutting of these dies suggests that die marks were used to track and control production size of particular issues within the Roman mint.
Please note this article is published with Brepols Publishers as a Gold Open Access article under a Creative Commons CC 4.0: BY-NC license. The article is also freely available on the website of Brepols Publishers https://www.brepolsonline.net/action/showBook?doi=10.1484/M.WSA-EB.5.144041 under this same license.
Please note this article is published with Brepols Publishers as a Gold Open Access article under a Creative Commons CC 4.0: BY-NC license. The article is also freely available on the website of Brepols Publishers https://www.brepolsonline.net/action/showBook?doi=10.1484/M.WSA-EB.5.144041 under this same license.
FOLD&R. Fasti Online Documents & Research, 2025
From 2014 to 2023, Columbia University’s Advanced Program of Ancient History and Art (APAHA Tibur... more From 2014 to 2023, Columbia University’s Advanced Program of Ancient History and Art (APAHA Tibur) conducted nine
field seasons in the area of the “Macchiozzo” at Hadrian’s Villa.
The excavations brought to light three large residential buildings
of the Hadrianic period, along with copious data on the long-term
life of the complex. The report is being published in three
installments. Part III presents movable objects: ceramics, coins,
architectural elements, sculptural fragments, small finds, and
inscriptions, along with a discussion of the site’s general
significance2. The abundant pottery sherds predominantly date to
the third and fourth centuries CE, whereas those that can be dated
to the second century are far fewer; moreover, there is a small but
highly significant portion of medieval ceramics (ninth–twelfth
centuries). Similarly, most of the coins date to the third and
especially the fourth centuries CE. Several bronze and lead tokens,
many of which are Alexandrian in theme, have been retrieved as
well. In several cases, architectural elements in marble, likely
Hadrianic, have been moved from their original location and
reused in a new context.
field seasons in the area of the “Macchiozzo” at Hadrian’s Villa.
The excavations brought to light three large residential buildings
of the Hadrianic period, along with copious data on the long-term
life of the complex. The report is being published in three
installments. Part III presents movable objects: ceramics, coins,
architectural elements, sculptural fragments, small finds, and
inscriptions, along with a discussion of the site’s general
significance2. The abundant pottery sherds predominantly date to
the third and fourth centuries CE, whereas those that can be dated
to the second century are far fewer; moreover, there is a small but
highly significant portion of medieval ceramics (ninth–twelfth
centuries). Similarly, most of the coins date to the third and
especially the fourth centuries CE. Several bronze and lead tokens,
many of which are Alexandrian in theme, have been retrieved as
well. In several cases, architectural elements in marble, likely
Hadrianic, have been moved from their original location and
reused in a new context.
Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, 2022
This paper considers the purpose of dotted (pointillé) weight inscriptions
on Roman precious met... more This paper considers the purpose of dotted (pointillé) weight inscriptions
on Roman precious metal vessels. Weight inscriptions are often treated as simple indications of the value of a particular piece even though they reflect only a minimum value in reality. Labor, skill, and decoration all added to the price of a silver cup beyond the mere value of the material. Additionally, little attention has been paid to variation in epigraphic technique for weights— whether it is written carefully in dotted lettering or is a scrawled graffito. These techniques require different amounts of time and skill to produce and the choice of one over the other suggests different intentions behind the inscription. Using three case studies, this paper argues that pointillé weight inscriptions were used by metal workshops as modes of accountability on commissions to confirm that the contracted weight of silver was delivered to the buyer.
on Roman precious metal vessels. Weight inscriptions are often treated as simple indications of the value of a particular piece even though they reflect only a minimum value in reality. Labor, skill, and decoration all added to the price of a silver cup beyond the mere value of the material. Additionally, little attention has been paid to variation in epigraphic technique for weights— whether it is written carefully in dotted lettering or is a scrawled graffito. These techniques require different amounts of time and skill to produce and the choice of one over the other suggests different intentions behind the inscription. Using three case studies, this paper argues that pointillé weight inscriptions were used by metal workshops as modes of accountability on commissions to confirm that the contracted weight of silver was delivered to the buyer.