Word And Image In Ancient Greece (Edinburgh Leventis Studies)

In ancient Greek society communication was largely oral and visual. The epic poets sang and recited the legends that served the Greeks as their historical past; lyric and elegiac poets sang songs of love and death and celebrated military and sporting success to the accompaniment of the lyre and pipes; the art of rhetoric was a vital ingredient in speeches in the assembly and the law courts; in tragedies and comedies actors spoke to audiences of thousands. Of equal importance to the Greeks were the images with which they were always surrounded - civic and religious monuments, statuary, architectural decoration, and the scenes of myth, fantasy and everyday life with which their vases and vessels were painted and decorated.This volume of new work by leading scholars explores the ways in which these two central aspects of Greek culture interact, and throws new light on their many and related functions. The subjects include the creation of the Greek myths during the early centuries of the first millenniu