Sensory Disorientation During Crisis
Foucault's "Heterotopia" and the Plague in Ancient Athens
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9378457 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Diane Harris Cline (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 115 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 325-359 |
| Publication date | 2022-06-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Classical World (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0009-8418 • E-ISSN: 1558-9234 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/clw.2022.0014 |
| OpenAlex | W4300009956 |
| Language | EN |
This article explores the sensory experience of being in Athens during the plague (430–426 bce). By approaching the ancient epidemic from a perspective of sensory archaeology, we discover that the intensity of suffering caused by the two-pronged calamity of overcrowding inside the city walls plus the plague was likely exacerbated by unexpected sensory stimuli in once-familiar places (Foucault's "heterotopia"), thereby causing a profound sense of disorientation for the inhabitants. The calamity transposed Athenian pleasure gardens, monument-lined streets, and sanctuaries from places of delight into a heterotopia of decay and death
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Heterotopia (medicine · Overcrowding · Plague (disease · Pleasure · Political science · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical and Architectural Studies · History · Law · Medicine · Neuroscience · Psychology
| Highly cited | No |
|---|