Overview

In this study Dr Smith investigates the use of political personifications in the visual arts of Athens in the Classical period (480-323 BCE). Whether on objects that served primarily private roles (e.g. decorated vases) or public roles (e.g. cult statues and document stelai), these personifications represented aspects of the state of Athens—its people, government, and events—as well as the virtues (e.g. Nemesis, Peitho or Persuasion, and Eirene or Peace) that underpinned it. Athenians used the same figural language to represent other places and their peoples. This is the only study that uses personifications as a lens through which to view the intellectual and political climate of Athens in the Classical period.

Full Product Details

Author:   Amy C. Smith
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   19
Dimensions:   Width: 21.00cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 29.70cm
Weight:   0.994kg
ISBN:  

9789004194175

ISBN 10:   9004194177
Pages:   234
Publication Date:   22 June 2011
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Bibliography & Abbreviations List of Illustrations Chapter One Introduction: Viewing personifications in Classical Athens The relevance of literature in the study of personifications Civic and political Overview of previous scholarship Synopsis Chapter Two Names or comments? The Birth of Political Personification in Greece Prosopopoeia, allegoria, and hyponoia Personifications in myth and cult Greek personifications before the Classical period Parallels in Classical Athenian literature Political personifications in old comedy Symbolic figures in the visual arts of early Classical Athens The use of labels with personifications Chapter Three Humanising Greek places and spaces: Local Personifications and Athenian Imperialism The family of Okeanos The daughters of Asopos Eleusis and more eponymous heroines Nymphs, Nereids, and maenads Chapter Four Goddess before personification? Right and Retribution Nemesis Themis From epic to Athens Chapter Five The independence of epithets: Kharites, virtues, & other nymphs in the 'Gardens of Aphrodite' Civic virtues in the Classical Athenian polis Hygieia and a healthy city Peitho in the polis Civic Harmony Other personifications in the realm of Aphrodite Civic expressions in public processions Chapter Six Aristocracy or democracy? Eukleia and Eunomia between the gods Eukleia Eunomia A joint cult of Eukleia and Eunomia at Athens? Chapter Seven Visual personifications in literature and art: Aristophanes' Eirene and her attendants Eirene Opora and Theoria The benefits of Peace Chapter Eight Ephemeral personifications: Civic festivals and other peacetime pleasures Basileia and Soteria Pompe and Athenian festivals Panhellenic festivals87 Fin-de-siecle ephemera Chapter Nine Masculine people in feminine places: The Body Politic at home and abroad Athens and Attika Tribes and neighbourhoods Aspects of the Athenian Demos Personifications of cities regions outside Attika Local personifications in the public eye Chapter Ten The mother of wealth: Eirene revisited Kephisodotos' statue of Eirene and Ploutos Wealth and Fortune Ploutos at Eleusis Chapter Eleven From oikos to polis: Democracy and more civic virtues in fourth century Athens Tykhe Philia Homonoia and Arete Demokratia Chapter Twelve Conclusion Catalogue Document reliefs Monumental paintings Miscellaneous reliefs Statuary Vase paintings Indices Political terms Artists Other personal names Topographical index Monumenta Testimonia General index Figures

Reviews

The volume has high production values, with crisply laid out text and glossy plates with over 90 black-and-white images. Illustration of some less familiar pieces, such as the Makaria Painter's name-vase in Reading's Ure Museum, is especially welcome. (...) Altogether, though, this is a useful contribution to the growing literature on Greek personification, particularly for its treatment of material not covered by Shapiro 1993, and for the attention it draws to the potential political connotations of these figures. Emma Stafford, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2016.04.32.

Author Information

Amy C. Smith, PhD (1997) in Classical Archaeology, Yale University, is Senior Lecturer in Classics and Curator of the Ure Museum, University of Reading. She has published widely on Graeco-Roman art in the spheres of politics, myth, and religion.

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