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The Art of Libation in Classical Athens

By (author) Milette Gaifman
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Yale University Press, United States
Published: 27th Feb 2018
Dimensions: w 216mm h 279mm d 2mm
Weight: 1179g
ISBN-10: 0300192274
ISBN-13: 9780300192278
Barcode No: 9780300192278
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Synopsis
This handsome 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. Beautifully 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.

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"A feast for the eyes and the intellect...A remarkable achievement of learned scholarship; it moves with ease between history, philosophy, literature and daily life practices as the author offers a guided tour of how to read and interpret ancient pottery."-G.S. Bowe, Classical Review

"In this intelligent and rigorous study, Milette Gaifman has taken on one of the most challenging topics in ancient Greek religion and iconography. This is an exemplary book."-Verity Platt, Cornell University

"Milette Gaifman's book is extremely well planned, written, and organized around specific images and works of art. Frankly, it is both cutting-edge and exemplary."-Jas Elsner, Corpus Christi College Oxford