Welcome to a guide for the photographs contained at the archives of the Deutsches archäologisches Institute in Rome. RomeDAI provides you with a clickable map related to the Classical Worlds of Greece and Rome, and, to a lesser extent, Egypt and Near Eastern Civilizations. The map also holds information about museums in various parts of the world which contain artifacts related to the sites. The guide will also provides a photo-by-photo database index of the contents of the microfiche publication of the DAI's photographic archive.
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Where to Find Good Copies of the Photos
The Deutsches archäologisches Institut was founded in 1829 as a joint German-Italian institute in the Palazzo Caffarelli. Its headquarters were transferred to Berlin in 1870, and regional offices or abteilungen were established in centers of specific interest to the discipline. The Biblioteca dell'Istituto Archeologico Germanico (library of the DAI) is now located at 79 Via Sardegna, in the Ludovisi district.
The pictorial archive of the Institute exists as a study resource of negatives and prints
which document archaeological sites throughout the Mediterranean area. It also houses
photographs of museum objects which originated in the Classical world. Many of the photos date
from the early days of photography. Cooperative agreements between the Institute, individuals,
collegial academies, and commercial studios, many of which began in the mid- to late-nineteenth
century, add to the holdings. Archivi Alinari (Firenze), Archives Photographiques (Paris),
Warburg Institute (London), Rheinisches Bildarchiv (Köln), and kindred institutes in Athens,
Berlin, Istanbul, Cairo, and Madrid, are but a few.
K.G. Saur (München) publishes a microfiche copy of the archive as the Index to Ancient Art and Architecture (Index der antiken Kunst und Architektur). The term "index" refers to the grouping of images into seventeen parts: Idealized Sculpture; Portrait Sculpture; Sarcophagi; Reliefs; Figurative Sculpture; Architectural Components; Inscriptions; Stucco; Painting; Mosaics; Topography; Vases, Terra Cotta; Bronze and Non-Precious Metal Objects; Small Art Objects, the VW-Stiftung Project, and the Italian Section.
The contents of some of the groups are self-explanatory, but others need a bit of glossing
for all but the expert. For example, Bronze and Non-Precious Metal Objects include statuettes,
mirrors (both large and hand-held), weapons, armor, vessels, and utensils; Small Art Objects
include objects made from glass, precious stones, bone, ivory, gold, silver, and wood. Even those
sections which seem to be clearly organized may require some explanation. Ideal sculpture
includes male gods, female gods, other mythological figures, non-mythological statues, herms,
idols, trophy monuments; fragments; ancient plaster copies, animals, fabulous animals,
counterfeits, and museum collections. Sarcophagi includes Greek, Etruscan, Republican,
Imperial, Jewish, Christian, and fragments.
The web guide for the microfiche presents an item-by-item index for the photos
represented on the microfiche. The starting point for the guide is a clickable map which links a
base data record to that particular site or city. In some cases (Rome and Athens, for example)
detailed maps of cities need to be investigated to discover the riches of the site. Each of the base
records contains basic geographical data (site name, region, country) and holds a thumbnail photo
of the site taken from the microfiche. If the microfiche contains photographs of a variety of
objects found at that site, each type of object (idealized sculpture, sarcophagus, etc., for example)
will be indicated by an icon ranged across the bottom of the base record.
Icons found on base records may include
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When you are ready to search the guide or photo-by-photo index of the microfiche click
on "To the Index". You will be taken to a FileMaker Pro 3.0 index which uses Tango to manage
the connection between you and the server. You will be presented with a query form to be filled
in to whatever degree of detail you choose. For example you may wish to known if Syracuse is
represented among the photographs at the DAI. There are a lot of records in the database related
to this site, and you may wish to further refine your search at this point or after discovering how
many records you have retrieved. By the way, don't worry about how you spell Syracuse. The
index recognizes Siracusa, Suracisae, Syracusae, Syracusa, Syracuse, or Syrakusai.
The index will tell you the name of an item; a description of the view of an item; the name of a monument; the name of a site; the name of a region; the name of a country; the name of a repository; the repository's designation (inventory number); the name of a creator to whom the object is attributed; term or terms related to the item's classification (provided from the Art and Architecture Thesaurus); term or terms related to the item's iconography (provided from Iconclass); the location of the photo on the microfiche; and a credit for the original photo's source, including a photo or negative number when possible.
Where to Find Good Copies of the Photos
Thumbnail presentations of images from the microfiche occasionally accompany a record
to convey an image of the archaeological site to the users of the index. Digital copies of the
photos recorded on the microfiche will never replace those at the Deutsches archäologisches
Institut (Rom). Recognizing this, one field of the database contains information related to the
availability of copies of the original. Inst. Neg. of course refers to the DAI. All correspondence
concerning such photos may be address to: Deutsches Arch. Institut Abteilung Rom, Via
Sardegna 79, I-00187 Roma, Italia. A list of
addresses is provided for those interested in photos
from other sources.
If you have suggestions or questions related to the data please contact David Austin
(daustin@uic.edu). If you have suggestions or questions related to the mechanics of the retrieval
system please contact James Hodson (jhodson@uic.edu).