| spelling |
oapen-20.500.12657-232152024-03-22T19:23:40Z Visualizing the invisible with the human body Cale Johnson, J. Stavru, Alessandro Physiognomy Description Ekphrasis thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBB Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science 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. 2020-01-30 09:09:29 2020-04-01T09:07:58Z 2020-04-01T09:07:58Z 2020 book 1006939 2194-976X 9783110642681;9783110618266 http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/23215 eng Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Cultures application/pdf n/a 1006939.pdf http://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9783110642698 De Gruyter 10.1515/9783110642698 10.1515/9783110642698 2b386f62-fc18-4108-bcf1-ade3ed4cf2f3 9783110642681;9783110618266 10 501 Berlin/Boston open access
|
| description |
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.
|
