Birth of the Symbol: Ancient Readers at the Limits of Their Texts

Abstract

Acknowledgments xi Introduction The Genealogy of the Symbolic 1 1 Symbols and Riddles: Allegorical Reading and the Boundaries of the Text 21 2 Beginnings to 300 b.c.e.: Meaning from the Void of Chance and the Silence of the Secret 77 3 From the Head of Zeus: The Birth of the Literary Symbol 111 4 Swallowed Children and Bound Gods: The Diffusion of the Literary Symbol 142 5 300 b.c.e.-200 c.e.: The Symbol as Ontological Signifier 162 6 Iamblichus and the Defense of Ritual: Talismanic Symbols 204 7 Moonstones and Men That Glow: Proclus and the Talismanic Signifier 227 Epilogue Symbol Traces: Post-Proclean Theories 254 Appendix Chrysippus's Reading and Authorial Intention: The Case of the Mural at Samos 279 Bibliography of Ancient Authors 283 Bibliography of Modern Authors 285 Index Locorum 297 General Index 311