Antiquity in Print: Visualizing Greece in the Eighteenth Century

Daniel Orrells explores how the ancient world was visualized for Enlightenment readers, highlighting the emergence of antiquarian scholarship as a primary technology for envisioning ancient Greek culture. He argues that this period of cultural progression was crucial for the invention of classical studies, focusing on the experimentalism of antiquarian book production and its impact on the contentious nature of ancient texts.

Format: Hardback
Length: 368 pages
Publication date: 13 June 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Daniel Orrells delves into the ways in which the ancient world was visualized for Enlightenment readers, shedding light on the emergence of antiquarian scholarship as a primary means of envisioning ancient Greek culture during a time when travel to Greece was limited due to its status as part of the Ottoman Empire. By offering a fresh perspective on the rise of antiquarianism in the 18th century, Orrells highlights the significance of this period in the development of classical studies. The book focuses on the experimentalism of antiquarian book production, particularly in relation to the controversial nature of ancient texts. With the Quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns, intellectuals, antiquarians, and artists such as Giambattista Vico, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the Comte de Caylus, James Stuart, Julien-David Leroy, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and Pierre-François Hugues d'Hancarville became interested in how printed engravings of ancient art and archaeology could visually narrate historical events. These figures theorized the relationship between ancient text and material and visual culture, laying the foundation for fundamental questions in classical studies and neoclassical aesthetics.

Weight: 704g
Dimension: 241 x 163 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350407763