Sight and the Ancient Senses

1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-1-84465-865-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 336 Seiten, Format (B × H): 253 mm x 182 mm, Gewicht: 864 g

Reihe: Senses in Antiquity

It is to Greek critical thinking about seeing that we owe our conceptual framework for theorizing the senses, and it is also to such thinking that we owe the lasting legacy of Greco-Roman imagery. Sight and the Ancient Senses is the first thorough introduction to the conceptualization of sight in the history, visual culture, literature and philosophy of classical antiquity. Examining how the Greeks and Romans interpreted what they saw, the collection also considers sight in relation to the other senses.

This volume brings together a number of interdisciplinary perspectives to deliver a broad and balanced coverage of this subject. Contributors explore the cultural, social and intellectual backdrops that gave rise to ancient theories of seeing, from Archaic Greece through to the advent of Christianity in late antiquity. This series of specially commissioned thematic chapters demonstrate how theories about sight informed Graeco-Roman philosophy, science, poetry rhetoric and art. The collection also reaches beyond its Graeco-Roman visual framework, showcasing how ancient ideas have influenced the longue durée of western sensory thinking. Richly illustrated throughout, including a section of color plates, Sight and the Ancient Senses is a wide-ranging introduction to ancient theories of seeing which will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of classical antiquity.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Squire, Michael

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures

Acknowledgements
List of Contributors

Introductory reflections: Making sense of ancient sight

MICHAEL SQUIRE

1. Sight and the Presocratics: Approaches to visual perception in early Greek philosophy

KELLI RUDOLPH

2. Sight and the philosophy of vision in Classical Greece: Democritus, Plato and Aristotle
ANDREA NIGHTINGALE

3. Sight and the perspectives of mathematics: The limits of ancient optics

REVIEL NETZ & MICHAEL SQUIRE

4. Sight and reflexivity: Theorizing vision in Greek vase-painting

JONAS GRETHLEIN

5. Sight and painting: Optical theory and pictorial poetics in Classical Greek art

JEREMY TANNER

6. Sight and light: Reified gazes and looking artefacts in the Greek cultural imagination

RUTH BIELFELDT

7. Sight and death: Seeing the dead through ancient eyes

SUSANNE TURNER

8. Sight and the gods: On the desire to see naked nymphs
VERITY PLATT

9. Sight and memory: The visual art of Roman mnemonics
JAS ELSNER & MICHAEL SQUIRE

10. Sight and insight: Theorizing vision, emotion and imagination in ancient rhetoric

RUTH WEBB

11. Sight and Christianity: Early Christian attitudes to seeing

JANE HEATH

12. Sight and blindness: The mask of Thamyris

LYNDSAY COO

13. Sight in retrospective: The afterlife of ancient optics

A. MARK SMITH

Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Michael Squire is Lecturer in Classical Greek Art at King’s College London. He has a special research interest in the relationship between visual and verbal representation in antiquity, and is currently working on ideas of vision in the Elder Philostratus’ Imagines.