The first of its kind, A Companion to Ancient Aesthetics presents a synoptic view of the arts, which crosses traditional boundaries and explores the aesthetic experience of the ancients across a range of media oral, aural, visual, and literary.

Illustrations viii Notes on Contributors ix Acknowledgments xiv Introduction 1Pierre Destrée and Penelope Murray Part I Art in Context 15 1 Greece 17Richard P. Martin 2 Figures of the Poet in Greek Epic and Lyric 31Deborah Steiner 3 The Hellenistic World 47Graham Zanker 4 Rome 68Thomas Habinek 5 Music and Dance in Greece and Rome 81Eleonora Rocconi 6 Greek Sculpture 94Rosemary Barrow 7 Painting and Private Art Collections in Rome 109Agnès Rouveret 8 Architecture and Society 128Catherine Saliou Part II Reflecting on Art 141 9 Literary Criticism and the Poet’s Autonomy 143Andrew Ford 10 Poetic Inspiration 158Penelope Murray 11 The Canons of Style 175Jeffrey Walker 12 Sense and Sensation in Music 188Armand D’Angour 13 Dance and Aesthetic Perception 204Anastasia]Erasmia Peponi 14 Greek Painting and the Challenge of Mimes̄ is 218Hariclia Brecoulaki 15 Ways of Looking at Greek Vases 237François Lissarrague 16 Displaying Sculpture in Rome 248Thea Ravasi 17 Perceiving Colors 262M. Michela Sassi 18 The Beauties of Architecture 274Edmund Thomas 19 Stylistic Landscapes 291Nancy Worman 20 Conceptualizing the (Visual) “Arts” 307Michael Squire Part III Aesthetic Issues 327 21 Mimesis 329Paul Woodruff 22 Fiction 341Stephen Halliwell 23 Imagination 354Anne Sheppard 24 Beauty 366David Konstan 25 Unity, Wholeness, and Proportion 381Malcolm Heath 26 The Sublime 393James I. Porter 27 Poikilia 406Adeline Grand]Clément 28 Wonder 422Christine Hunzinger 29 Tragic Emotions 438Christof Rapp 30 Laughter 455Ralph M. Rosen 31 Pleasure 472Pierre Destrée 32 Art and Morality 486Elizabeth Asmis 33 Art and Value 505Michael Silk Index of Subjects 518 Index of Ancient Texts Discussed 527

A COMPANION TO ANCIENT AESTHETICS EDITED BY PIERRE DESTRÉE AND PENELOPE MURRAY A companion to ancient aesthetics responds to, and reflects on, the arts in the ancient world. the history of western thinking about such matters goes back to the greeks, when the arts, in one form or another, were a central feature of public life, evaluated and discussed long before alexander baumgarten published his Aesthetica in 1750 and established aesthetics as a distinct philosophical discipline. greek speculations on the nature of artistic experience have profoundly shaped our culture, and this volume explores the many ways in which the arts were experienced and conceptualized in the ancient world. The contributors take a broad view in their discussions, moving away from analysis of the classical antecedents of eighteenth-century aesthetics to discuss ancient aesthetics as a subject in its own right. the first of its kind, the volume presents a synoptic view of the arts, which crosses traditional boundaries and explores the aesthetic experience of the ancients across a range of media – oral, aural, visual, and literary. the essays present an integrated perspective on the major themes of ancient aesthetics that challenges traditional demarcations and raises questions about the similarities and differences between ancient and modern ways of thinking about the place of art in society.