Homer and the Artists: Text and Picture in Early Greek Art

by Anthony Snodgrass

Overview

This is a study of the works of art from early Greece that have long been presented as "illustrations to Homer," but that are argued here to be nothing of the kind. Early Greek artists showed no preference for Homeric subjects and, when their interests did coincide with Homer's, treated his account as, at best, one of the possible variants. Close descriptive analysis of texts and pictures and of the artists' aims, together with statistical evidence, provide the basis for the argument.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521629812
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/22/1998
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 8.31(h) x 0.51(d)

Table of Contents

1. The prestige of Homer; 2. Learning to read in the dark; 3. The Geometric artist reassessed; 4. Beyond the Geometric; 5. The inscribed image; 6. The burden of proof; 7. The question of composition in art and in literature; Epilogue.

Editorial Reviews

"...Homerists, as well as fine art historians, will want to take notice of this book. Philologists and undergraduates, as well as specialists, will find the work accessible, since the text is lucid..." Jonathan Burgess, Religious Studies Review

"...readers of Homer and the Artists...will find much of interest." Classical World

"The issue of a paperback edition alongside the expensive bound volume should help secure the wider readership among classicists and art historians and their students that the book deserves." AJA

From the Publisher