Visualizing the Shield of Achilles

Approaching Its Landscapes via Cognitive Paths

Dados Bibliográficos

ID9666151
AutoresElizabeth Minchin (0000-0001-9943-3612, Australian National University, autor correspondente)
Ano2020
Volume70
Fascículo2
Páginas473-484
Data de publicação2020-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Classical Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0009-8388 • E-ISSN: 1471-6844
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0009838820000671
OpenAlexW3112129228
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas13

My investigation into the cognitive aspects of landscape description takes as its focus the landscapes that the poet evokes on the Shield of Achilles ( Il. 18.478–608). Drawing on studies in cognitive psychology I note the extent to which an audience might derive a ‘spatial mental model’ from the topographical or ‘locative’ indicators that the Homeric poet offers. Then I consider the ‘non-locative’ information that the poet conveys about the landscapes of the Shield. In this connection I develop Barbara Tversky's notion of landscape representation as a ‘cognitive collage’. What makes the scenes on the Shield vivid, however, is human presence. Finally, therefore, I draw on enactivist theories of cognition, recently introduced into Classics, which offer a valuable supplementary approach to ‘reading’ and enjoying landscape descriptions in Homer

Aesthetics · Art · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Focus (optics · Linguistics · Locative case · Reading (process · Representation (politics · Sociology · Aesthetic Perception and Analysis · Categorization, perception, and language · Computer Science · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Philosophy · Psychology