Wo(man) with the Serpent Hair: An Assessment of the Validity of Globalization and Glocalization Framework in the Study of Roman Britain through Romano-British Sculpture of the Gorgon

Abstract

Versluys (2014, 2015) proposed a way of looking at the visual material culture of the Roman Mediterranean through the lens of globalization. Can this approach to globalization apply to the visual material culture of Great Britain in the Roman period if we make an effort to view the ‘Roman’ and ‘Celtic’ not a separate ‘cultural containers’ (Versluys, 2014: 149) but as one container, continuously creating a new visual culture? I will explore this question by considering Romano-British sculptures depicting the Gorgon and asking: How does the visual language differ from Classical examples? Is the subject matter used in a new way or context than, or the same as, in Roman examples and if so, how?