Images of Myth in Classical Antiquity

Structure, Image, Ornament - Architectural Sculpture in the Greek World: Proceedings of an International Conference held at the American School of Classical Studies, 27-28 November 2004

When we try to make sense of pictures, what do we gain when we use a particular method - and what might we be missing or even losing? Empirical experimentation on three types of mythological imagery - a Classical Greek pot, a frieze from Hellenistic Pergamon and a second-century CE Roman sarcophagus - enables Katharina Lorenz to demonstrate how theoretical approaches to images (specifically, iconology, semiotics, and image studies) impact the meanings we elicit from Greek and Roman art. A guide to Classical images of myth, and also a critical history of Classical archaeology's attempts to give meaning to pictures, this book establishes a dialogue with the wider field of art history and proposes a new framework for the study of ancient visual culture. It will be essential reading not just for students of classical art history and archaeology, but for anyone interested in the possibilities - and the history - of studying visual culture.

This book:
- Proposes a new framework for the study of (ancient) visual culture based on engagement with Greek and Roman mythological imagery, appealing to those seeking to better their understanding of Greek and Roman cultural history.

- Relates historiography and method development in Classical archaeology and ancient art history to the art history of more modern periods, and will therefore be of interest to readers interested in the Classical world and those concerned with more recent historical periods.

- Tracks intellectual developments in different contexts and carves out their similarities and differences, speaking to readers from different intellectual backgrounds and familiarising them with broader developments in western European art history.

Ancient Mythological Images and their Interpretation: An Introduction to Iconology, Semiotics and Image Studies in Classical Art History

A study of the well-known Dexileos stele, set above a cenotaph or heroon built for a young horseman killed in the Corinthian War in 394/3 B.C.E., leads to an examination of the meaning and function of nudity in archaic and classical Greek art. Dexileos' clothing and his fallen enemy's nakedness defy traditional expectations and so undermine the notion of "heroic nudity," a familiar but flawed explanation for the naked state of ideal males in Greek art. Rather than dispense with the concept of heroic nudity completely, we should recognize that it is just one among a number of different nudities in Greek art with a number of different roles, some of them contradictory. These include a nudity of differentiation, a nudity of youth, "democratic nudity," a nudity of status or class, and a nudity of vulnerability and defeat (pathetic nudity). As in the art of other ancient cultures, nudity is a costume whose significance is determined by context and subject rather than by abstract principle.

The problem with dexileos : Heroic and other nudities in greek art

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Images of Myth in Classical Antiquity

Citations

Structure, Image, Ornament - Architectural Sculpture in the Greek World: Proceedings of an International Conference held at the American School of Classical Studies, 27-28 November 2004

Ancient Mythological Images and their Interpretation: An Introduction to Iconology, Semiotics and Image Studies in Classical Art History

The problem with dexileos : Heroic and other nudities in greek art

Hybrid monsters in the classical world the nature and function of hybrid monsters in greek mythology, literature and art