Choice Reviews Online · 2012 · 517 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesClassicsLiteratureAncient ArtAncient ReligionGreek LiteratureAncient GreeceAncient RomeClassical AntiquityGreek ArtLate AntiquityPoeticsAncient EpigraphyAthenian ProsopographyDeities In ArtGraeco-roman ReligionHellenistic EpigramHellenistic EpigraphyHellenistic LiteratureRoman Sarcophagi
Epiphanic sarcophagi from Imperial Rome illustrate how funerary art depicted divine encounters. The authors examine material and literary representations of epiphany in Hellenistic and Second Sophistic contexts, analyzing cult images, epigrams, and literary visions. The paper is organized into three parts: an introduction, a discussion of epiphany in art and literature, and an analysis of representation apologetics.
Introduction Part I: 1. Framing epiphany in art and text 2. Material epiphany: encountering the divine in cult images 3. Epiphany and authority in Hellenistic Greece 4. The poetics of epiphany in Hellenistic epigram Part II: 5. Virtual visions: piety and paideia in Second Sophistic literature 6. Dream visions and cult images in Second Sophistic literature 7. The apologetics of representation in Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana Part III: 8. Dying to see: epiphanic sarcophagi from Imperial Rome.