[audiobook] Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan by Zhongjie Lin in Arts-Photography

Description

This pioneering study examines a pivotal period in the history of Europe and the Near East. Spanning the ancient and medieval worlds; it investigates the shared ideal of sacred kingship that emerged in the late Roman and Persian empires. This shared ideal; while often generating conflict during the four centuries of the empires coexistence (224-642); also drove exchange; especially the means and methods Roman and Persian sovereigns used to project their notions of universal rule: elaborate systems of ritual and their cultures visual; architectural; and urban environments. Matthew Canepa explores the artistic; ritual; and ideological interactions between Rome and the Iranian world under the Sasanian dynasty; the last great Persian dynasty before Islam. He analyzes how these two hostile systems of sacred universal sovereignty not only coexisted; but fostered cross-cultural exchange and communication despite their undying rivalry. Bridging the traditional divide between classical and Iranian history; this book brings to life the dazzling courts of two global powers that deeply affected the cultures of medieval Europe; Byzantium; Islam; South Asia; and China.