Intertextuality is a well-known tool in literary criticism and has been widely applied to ancient literature, with, perhaps surprisingly, classical scholarship being at the frontline in developing new theoretical approaches. By contrast, the seemingly parallel notion of intervisuality has only recently begun to appear in classical studies. In fact, intervisuality still lacks a clear definition and scope. Unlike intertextuality, which is consistently used with reference to the interrelationship between texts, the term 'intervisuality' is used not only to trace the interrelationship between images in the visual domain, but also to explore the complex interplay between the visual and the verbal. It is precisely this hybridity that interests us. Intervisuality has proved extremely productive in fields such as art history and visual culture studies. By bringing together a diverse team of scholars, this project aims to bring intervisuality into sharper focus and turn it into a powerful tool to explore the research field traditionally referred to as 'Greek literature'.

Plato s Four Muses" reconstructs Plato s authorial self-portrait through a fresh reading of the Phaedrus," with an Introduction and Conclusion that contextualize the construction more broadly. The Phaedrus," it is argued, is Plato s most self-referential dialogue, and Plato s reference to four Muses in Phaedrus" 259c d is read as a hint at the ingredients of philosophical discourse, which turns out to be a form of provocatively old-fashioned mousike."

Andrea Capra maintains that Socrates s conversion to demotic as opposed to metaphorical music in the Phaedo" closely parallels the Phaedrus" and is apologetic in character, since Socrates was held responsible for dismissing traditional mousike." This parallelism reveals three surprising features that define Plato s works: first, a measure of anti-intellectualism (Plato counters the rationalistic excesses of other forms of discourse, thus distinguishing it from both prose and poetry); second, a new beginning for philosophy (Plato conceptualizes the birth of Socratic dialogue in, and against, the Pythagorean tradition, with an emphasis on the new role of writing); and finally, a self-consciously ambivalent attitude with respect to the social function of the dialogues, which are conceived both as a kind of resistance literature and as a preliminary move toward the new poetry of the Kallipolis."