Art and Myth in Ancient Greece
T. H. Carpenter
The Greek myths are so much part of our culture that we tend to forget how they entered it in the first place. Visual sources – vase paintings, engraved gems and sculpture in bronze and stone – often pre-date references to the myths in literature, or offer alternative, unfamiliar tellings. In some cases visual art provides our only evidence, as there is no surviving account in ancient Greek literature of such important stories as the Fall of Troy, or Theseus and the Minotaur. T. H. Carpenter’s book is the first comprehensive, scholarly yet succinct survey of myth as it appears in Greek art. Copiously illustrated, it is an essential reference work for everybody interested in the art, drama, poetry or religion of ancient Greece. With this handbook as a guide, readers will be able to identify scenes from myth across the full breadth of archaic and classical Greek art.
With 297 illustrations in colour
T. H. Carpenter is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Ohio University where he has taught since 1997. He was awarded a master’s degree in theology from Harvard and after earning his D.Phil. in classical archaeology at Oxford, he worked for four years as chief researcher at the Beazley Archive at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Professor Carpenter’s other books include Dionysian Imagery in Fifth-century Athens and Mythology, Greek and Roman.
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