The art of libation in classical Athens /
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 a...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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New Haven, Connecticut :
Yale University Press,
[2018]
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| Summary: | 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. |
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| Physical Description: | ix, 184 pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [171]-179) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780300192278 0300192274 |