Book
,
Print
in
English
The art of libation in classical Athens
Milette Gaifman.
- New Haven [Connecticut] : Yale University Press, [2018]
- Copyright Notice: ©2018
- ix, 184 pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm
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Eisenhower B Level
- Subjects
- Genre
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- History.
- Summary
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- This volume presents an innovative look at the imagery of libations, the most commonly depicted ritual in ancient Greece, and how it engaged viewers in religious performance. In a libation, liquid, water, wine, milk, oil, or honey, was poured from a vessel such as a jug or a bowl onto the ground, an altar, or another surface. Libations were made on occasions like banquets, sacrifices, oath-taking, departures to war, and visitations to tombs, and their iconography provides essential insight into religious and social life in 5th-century BC Athens. Scenes depicting the ritual often involved beholders directly - a statue's gaze might establish the onlooker as a fellow participant, or painted vases could draw parallels between human practices and acts of gods or heroes. Illustrated with a broad range of examples, including the Caryatids at the Acropolis, the Parthenon Frieze, Attic red-figure pottery, and funerary sculpture, this important book demonstrates the power of Greek art to transcend the boundaries between visual representation and everyday experience.
- Contents
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- Introduction : Paths of response
- Around the altar
- Among us
- Lamentations
- Gods' libations
- Conclusion.
- Other information
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- Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-179) and index.
- ISBN
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- 9780300192278
- 0300192274
- Identifying numbers
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- LCCN: 2017941820
- OCLC: 1002129868
- OCLC: 1002129868