Books > History > World history > BCE to 500 CE
|
Buy Now
Visualizing the invisible with the human body - Physiognomy and ekphrasis in the ancient world (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R3,975
Discovery Miles 39 750
|
|
Visualizing the invisible with the human body - Physiognomy and ekphrasis in the ancient world (Hardcover)
Series: Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Cultures
Expected to ship within 12 - 19 working days
|
Physiognomy and ekphrasis are two of the most important modes of
description in antiquity and represent the necessary precursors of
scientific description. The primary way of divining the
characteristics and fate of an individual, whether inborn or
acquired, was to observe the patient's external characteristics and
behaviour. This volume focuses initially on two types of
descriptive literature in Mesopotamia: physiognomic omens and what
we might call ekphrastic description. These modalities are traced
through ancient India, Ugaritic and the Hebrew Bible, before
arriving at the physiognomic features of famous historical figures
such as Themistocles, Socrates or Augustus in the Graeco-Roman
world, where physiognomic discussions become intertwined with
typological analyses of human characters. The Arabic compendial
culture absorbed and remade these different physiognomic and
ekphrastic traditions, incorporating both Mesopotamian links
between physiognomy and medicine and the interest in
characterological 'types' that had emerged in the Hellenistic
period. This volume offer the first wide-ranging picture of these
modalities of description in antiquity.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
You might also like..
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.