Framing epiphany in art and text -- Material epiphany : encountering the divine in cult images -- Epiphany and authority in Hellenistic Greece -- The poetics of epiphany in Hellenistic epigram -- Virtual visions : piety and paideia in Second Sophistic literature -- Dream visions and cult images in the Second Sophistic literature -- The apologetics of representation in Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana -- Dying to see : epiphanic sarcophagi from imperial Rome.
Summary:
"This is the first history of epiphany as both a phenomenon and a cultural discourse within the Graeco-Roman world. It explores divine manifestations and their representations not only in art but also in literary, historical and epigraphic accounts, and sets the cultural analysis of this unfamiliar conceptual phenomenon within a historical framework that explores its development from the archaic period to the Roman Empire. In particular, a surprisingly large number of the surviving images from antiquity are not only religious but epiphanically charged. Verity Platt argues that the enduring potential for divine incursions into mortal experience provides a reliable cognitive structure which supports both ancient religion and mythology. At the same time, Graeco-Roman culture exhibits a sophisticated awareness of the difficulties and ambiguities in apprehending deity and representing the divine presence, and of the potential for the manmade sign to lead the worshipper back to an unmediated epiphanic encounter"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.