Divine Images and Human Imaginations in Ancient Greece and Rome

Bibliographic Data

ID9289593
AuthorsJoannis Mylonopoulos (corresponding author)
Year2010
Publication date2010-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueDivine Images and Human Imaginations in Ancient Greece and Rome (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/9789047441656
OpenAlexW622126306
ISBN9789047441656
LanguageEN
Citations received54
References cited18

The polytheistic religious systems of ancient Greece and Rome reveal an imaginative attitude towards the construction of the divine. One of the most important instruments in this process was certainly the visualisation. Images of the gods transformed the divine world into a visually experienceable entity, comprehensible even without a theoretical or theological superstructure. For the illiterates, images were together with oral traditions and rituals the only possibility to approach the idea of the divine; for the intellectuals, images of the gods could be allegorically transcended symbols to reflect upon. Based on the art historical and textual evidence, this volume offers a fresh view on the historical, literary, and artistic significance of divine images as powerful visual media of religious and intellectual communication

Aesthetics · Art · Literature · Visual arts · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical and Architectural Studies · History

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