The Smells and Senses of Antiquity in the Modern Imagination

Description

This volume tackles the role of smell, under-explored in relation to the other senses, in the modern rejection, reappraisal and idealisation of antiquity. Among the senses olfaction in particular has often been overlooked in classical reception studies due to its evanescent nature, which makes this sense difficult to apprehend in its past instantiations. And yet, the smells associated with a given figure or social group convey a rich imagery which in turn connotes specific values: perfumes, scents and foul odours both reflect and mould the ways in which a society thinks or acts. Smells also help to distinguish between male and female, citizens and strangers, and play an important role during rituals. The Smells and Senses of Antiquity in the Modern Imagination focuses on the representation of ancient smells - both enticing and repugnant - in the visual and performative arts from the late 18th century up to the 21st century. The individual contributions explore painting, sculpture, literature and film, but also theatrical performance, museum exhibitions, advertising, television series, historical reenactment and graphic novels, which have all played a part in reshaping modern audiences' perceptions and experiences of the antique. Cover Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS COLOUR PLATES CONTRIBUTORS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION THE FRAGRANT AND THE FOUL: WHAT DID ANTIQUITY SMELL LIKE? Smelling the past: Fragrant memories Antiquity and the present: An ongoing dialogue Smell and the historians: The sensory turn Visualizing smell New approaches to antique smells Notes Bibliography PART I WHAT SMELL IS THE SACRED? THE SENSORIALITY OF ANTIQUE RITUALS CHAPTER 1 ‘UNGUENT FROM A CARVEN JAR’: ODOUR AND PERFUME IN ARTHUR MACHEN’S THE HILL OF DREAMS (1907) Notes Bibliography CHAPTER 2 INCENSE AND PERFUME FOR ISIS: THE SENSORY RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ISIAC RITUAL IN POMPEII IN VISUAL ART1 The scents of Isiac ritual in Antiquity The sensory reconstruction of Isiac ritual in Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Last Days of Pompeii Tripods and smoke: Suggesting the scents of Isiac cult by iconographic means A plurality of olfactive experiences? Isis rituals and their scents Polytheistic smells versus monotheistic sobriety Notes Bibliography PART II GENDERED SMELLS AND BODIES CHAPTER 3 FROM GORGONS TO GOOP: SCENT THERAPY AND THE SMELL OF TRANSFORMATION IN ANTIQUITY AND THE HOLISTIC HEALTH MOVEMENT Methodology and framework Scent therapy in ancient medicine Medusa, the fumigator of Libya Perfumes and aromatic pharmaka in ancient magic Scylla’s perfumed transformation Aromatherapy in the holistic health movement Nicola Hunter’s Harpy bride Conclusion Notes Bibliography CHAPTER 4 THE SMELL OF MARBLE: THE WARMTH AND SENSUALITY OF TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY CLASSICAL BODIES1 Introduction White as marble? The metamorphoses of classical skin The receiver: The effervescence of the senses and the appeal of the classical The power of imagination and the smell of marble Conclusions Notes Bibliography PART III SENSING OTHERNESS FROM CANVAS TO SCREEN CHAPTER 5 SENSING THE PAST: SENSORY STIMULI IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY DEPICTIONS OF ROMAN BATHS Introduction Methods Sensing the baths A fragmented past Conclusion Acknowledgements Notes Bibliography CHAPTER 6 EVOKING EMPATHY: SMELL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY RECEPTION OF ANTIQUITY* Introduction Smell and empathy The moving image and the use of the smell-empathy connection Case study: The TV-series Rome (2005–7) Analysis and conclusions Notes Bibliography PART IV RECREATING THE FRAGRANCE(S) OF THE PAST CHAPTER 7 ARCHIVING THE INTANGIBLE: PRESERVING SMELLS, HISTORIC PERFUMES AND OTHER WAYS OF APPROACHING THE SCENTED PAST Archives of the scented past Approaches to olfactory archives The creation of an ‘olfactory image’ Scent archives as autobiography Interpreting the past for the contemporary nose Parfum Royal Bringing back historic scents: Authenticity and interpretation Acknowledgements Notes Bibliography CHAPTER 8 THE ‘PERSISTENCE’ OF AN ANCIENT PERFUME: THE ROSE OF PAESTUM The rose of Paestum in Antiquity: From the planting of the flower to the birth of a literary topos The survival until modern times of the textual and visual imagination Recent attempts to revive the Paestum rose Notes Bibliography CHAPTER 9 THE FRAGRANCE OF ANCIENT KYPHI: AN EXPERIMENTAL WORKSHOP* 1. You have chosen to work on kyphi1: What is special about this perfume? What role did it play in Antiquity? 2. Which sources have you worked on? 3. We know that ancient texts which detail ‘pharmacological’ preparations, like those which describe kitchen recipes, do not always provide proportions. How much experimentation was required to reconstruct kyphi? 4. What can we say about the ‘reliability’ of the results? Did all samples of kyphi smell the same way? Were there local variants, or did recipes develop significant differences over time? 5. Have you looked at evocations of kyphi in films and popular culture? 6. What are the main differences between kyphi and modern or contemporary perfumes? 7. Can these ancient smells still ‘speak’ to modern noses and act on today’s bodies and spirits? Notes Bibliography PART V RE-ENACTING THE FRAGRANCE(S) OF THE PAST CHAPTER 10 ‘BALSAMA ET CROCUM PER GRADUS THEATRI FLUERE IUSSIT’ (HA HADR. 19.5): THE CONTEMPORARY RECEPTION OF SMELLS AND SENSES IN THE ROMAN THEATRE* Not only saffron: The various odours in Roman theatres and the creation of an elusive but inescapable smellscape (literary and archaeological sources) Museography, re-enactment, contemporary reception of ‘theatrical’ smells: The case of the Multimedia and Sensory Museum of the Milan Roman Theatre Recreating performances in the smellscape of the Museum of the Milan Roman Theatre and new perspectives afforded by digital methods Concluding remarks Notes Bibliography CHAPTER 11 INCENSE ON THE GRASS: A STRONGLY PERFUMED LIBATION BEARERS (1999)1 Foreword Theatre and other medias: An overview of the past Modern experiments: Pina Bausch, Marina Abramovicˇ and Trojan Women Corporal and unpleasant smells Libation Bearers (1999): A musical and perfumed performance Notes Bibliography CHAPTER 12 ‘UNTARNISHED EXPERIENCES?’ RE-ENACTORS AND THEIR APPRAISAL OF SMELL AS GATEWAY INTO THE ANCIENT WORLD Notes Bibliography ENVOI ‘SCRATCH AND SNIFF’: RECOVERING AND REDISCOVERING ROMAN AROMAS Notes Bibliography INDEX Plates