Not the Classical Ideal: Athens and the Construction of the Other in Greek Art

Description

Ancient Greece is characterized by a vision of reality in which a pre-eminent human type is defined in opposition to non-ideal 'others'. The social structure of democratic Athens privileged male citizens, while marginalizing women, resident aliens, and slaves. Across a broad spectrum of classical Greek imagery, this anthology provides an investigation of this 'otherness'. Their methodologies ranging from traditional to avant-garde, an international cast of authors develops a nuanced picture of 'otherness', the visual criteria that denote it, and its social and political functions in regard to gender, class, and ethnicity. Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgments Contributors Introduction Part I Visual Constructions: The Other versus the Classical Ideal 1. An Other View: An Essay in Political History 2. The Stable Hands of Dionysos: Satyrs and Donkeys as Symbols of Social Marginalization in Attic Vase Painting 3. Behaving Like an Other: Telltale Gestures in Athenian Vase Painting 4. Man-killers and their Victims: Inversions of the Heroic Ideal in Classical Art 5. Aesop, Between Man and Beast: Ancient Portraits and Illustrations Part II Internal Others: Reflections of Greek Society 6. Wearing an Other Hat: Workmen in Town and Country 7. The Good, the Base, and the Ugly: The Drunken Orgy in Attic Vase Painting and the Athenian Self 8. Others Within the Other: An Intimate Look at Hetairai and Maenads 9. Some ‘Other’ Members of the Athenian Household: Maids and Their Mistresses in Fifth-century Athenian Art 10. Confronting the Other: Childbirth, Aging, and Death on an Attic Tombstone at Harvard 11. The Comic Body in Greek Art and Drama Part III External Others: The Portrayal of Foreigners 12. Modest Athletes and Liberated Women: Etruscans on Attic Black-figure Vases 13. The Nearly Other: The Attic Vision of Phrygians and Lydians 14. The Allure and Repulsion of Thracians in the Art of Classical Athens 15. The Image of the Other and the Foreign Hero 16. The Myth of Bousiris: Ethnicity and Art 17. Justice, Kingship, and Imperialism: Rhetoric and Reality in Fifth-century B.C. Representations Following the Persian Wars Maps Abbreviations Bibliography Index