Sculpture, weaving, and the body in Plato

Zacharoula Petraki

Published by De Gruyter 2023

Sculpture, weaving, and the body in Plato

Zacharoula Petraki

Volume 17 in the series MythosEikonPoiesis

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111178219

Overview
Contents

About this book

Plato’s Timaeus is unique in Greek Antiquity for presenting the creation of the world as the work of a divine demiurge. The maker bestows order on sensible things and imitates the world of the intellect by using the Forms as models. While the creation-myth of the Timaeus seems unparalleled, this book argues that it is not the first of Plato’s dialogues to use artistic language to articulate the relationship of the objects of the material world to the world of the intellect.

The book adopts an interpretative angle that is sensitive to the visual and art-historical developments of Classical Athens to argue that sculpture, revolutionized by the advent of the lost-wax technique for the production of bronze statues, lies at the heart of Plato’s conception of the relation of the human soul and body to the Forms. It shows that, despite the severe criticism of mimēsis in the Republic, Plato’s use of artistic language rests on a positive model of mimēsis.

Plato was in fact engaged in a constructive dialogue with material culture and he found in the technical processes and the cultural semantics of sculpture and of the art of weaving a valuable way to conceptualise and communicate complex ideas about humans’ relation to the Forms.

Author / Editor information

Zacharoula Petraki, University of Crete, Rethymnon, Greece.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Chapter One Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter Two The Phaedo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
Chapter Three The Symposium Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
Chapter Four The Republic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
Chapter Five The Politicus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
Chapter Six The Laws Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
Epilogue: Resemblance Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	292
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
Index Locorum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
Index Rerum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	349

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars and students in the fields of Classics, history of philosophy, philosophy of language, Art History.
Pages
- Front matter: 14
- Main content: 351
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 4
- Coloured Illustrations: 3
Keywords: Greek sculpture; ancient philosophy; aesthetics; metaphysics; mimesis

eBook

Published: August 21, 2023
ISBN: 9783111178219

Hardcover

Published: August 21, 2023
ISBN: 9783111178196