Visualising Maritime Cityscapes: The Representation of Harbours in the Graeco-Roman World

Dr Federico Ugolini – Visiting Research Fellow

‘Visualising maritime cityscapes’ explains how and why Greek and Romans represented so frequently the sea and the marine infrastructures within their artworks. This paper argues that the available textual and iconographic evidence supports the argument that these representations have a symbolic, rather than literal, meaning and message. It is also noted that the traditional view, that all these media represent the reality of the contemporary cityscapes, is shown to be often unrealistic.