Title Aniconism in Greek antiquity / Milette Gaifman

Published Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2012

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Description 1 online resource (xviii, 357 pages) : illustrations Series Oxford studies in ancient culture and representation Oxford studies in ancient culture and representation. Contents What is Greek aniconism? -- Pausanias' aniconica -- Greek views of aniconism : the "primitive" within -- Rough rocks -- Standing stelai -- The aniconic depicted : stelai on classical vases -- Apollo's pointed column and the Dioskouroi's parallel beams Summary This book explores a phenomenon known as aniconism — the absence of figural images of gods in Greek practiced religion and the adoption of aniconic monuments, namely objects such as pillars and poles, to designate the presence of the divine. Shifting our attention from the well-known territories of Greek anthropomorphism and naturalism, it casts new light on the realm of non-figural objects in Greek religious art. Drawing upon a variety of material and textual evidence dating from the rise of the Greek polis in the eighth century bc to the rise of Christianity in the first centuries ad, this book shows that aniconism was more significant than has often been assumed. Coexisting with the fully figural forms for representing the divine throughout Greek antiquity, aniconic monuments marked an undefined yet fixedly located divine presence. Cults centred on rocks were encountered at crossroads and on the edges of the Greek city. Despite aniconism's liminality, non-figural markers of divine presence became a subject of interest in their own right during a time when mimesis occupied the centre of Greek visual culture. The ancient Greeks saw the worship of stones and poles without images as characteristic of the beginning of their own civilization. Similarly, in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the existence of aniconism was seen as physical evidence for the continuity of ancient Greek traditions from time immemorial Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-345) and index Subject Idols and images -- Greece. 11.15 Greek religion. Idols and images Religion Bildlosigkeit Gottesdarstellung Religion Godenbeelden. Griekse oudheid. Religion. Philosophy & Religion. European Religions - pre-Christian. Idols and images -- Greece. SUBJECT Greece -- Religion. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85057127 Subject Greece Griechenland Altertum Griekenland. Greece -- Religion. Form Electronic book LC no. 2012930977 ISBN 9780191741623 0191741620

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