Propylaeum

This study focuses on images of river gods in the Roman Imperial period, especially in terms of their iconographic features, pictorial representation, aesthetic-semantic conception, and integration into broader narratives. It provides insight into the questions of identification, spaces of action and roles of river gods in different pictorial media, primarily through an analysis of narratives. In this way it fills the desideratum of a holistic, contextual view of river god representations.

In the case studies, particular attention is paid to the different ways of incorporating river gods into narrative scenes. The multitude of observed uses of these nature and place deities in pictorial contexts also reflects the wide array of associations connected to them.