The Moral Mirror of Roman Art

by Rabun Taylor

• ISBN13: 9780521866125
• ISBN10: 052186612X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-12
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This interdisciplinary study explores the meanings of mirrors and reflections in Roman art and society. When used as metaphors in Roman visual and literary discourses, mirrors had a strongly moral force, reflecting not random reality but rather a carefully filtered imagery with a didactic message. Focusing on examples found in mythical narrative, religious devotion, social interaction, and gender relations, Rabun Taylor demonstrates that reflections served as powerful symbols of personal change. Thus, in both art and literature, a reflection may be present during moments of a protagonist's inner or outer transformation.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Queynte Mirours	p. 1
Mirrors as Metaphor in Antiquity	p. 6
Reflections in Real Life	p. 9
The Literature	p. 14
The Roman Viewer	p. 17
The Teaching Mirror	p. 19
The Mirror and Masculinity	p. 19
Minerva, Marsyas, and Gendered Standards of Performance	p. 26
Active Passivity: The Performative Mirror of Woman	p. 32
The Mirror of Venus	p. 39
The Dove and the Partridge	p. 47
Mirrors Mortal and Morbid: Narcissus and Hermaphroditus	p. 56
Narcissus in Roman Literature	p. 56
Narcissus in Roman Art	p. 56
Pathological Reflexivity 1: The Allure of the Feminine Reflection	p. 71
Pathological Reflexivity 2: Hermaphroditus	p. 77
Involving the Viewer: Reflections on Actaeon	p. 86
Conclusion	p. 88
The Mirror of Dionysus	p. 90
Amphibious Dionysus	p. 94
The Orphic Zagreus	p. 95
Mechanisms of Transformation 1: An Apulian Trend	p. 99
Mechanisms of Transformation 2: Other Italian Evidence	p. 108
Lamination: Pre-Roman Precedents	p. 121
The Mirror and the Mask	p. 126
Conclusion	p. 134
The Mirroring Shield of Achilles	p. 137
The Shield of Lamachos	p. 139
The Alexander Mosaic	p. 140
Achilles on Skyros	p. 143
Thetis	p. 152
Boscoreale	p. 158
"Look Behind You": The Relamination of the Shield-Mirror	p. 165
Conclusion	p. 167
The Mirroring Shield of Perseus	p. 169
Freud	p. 172
Perseus, Andromeda, and the Mirror	p. 173
The Reflexive Evil Eye: Was Medusa a Victim of Her Own Gaze?	p. 182
Two Kinds of Invisibility	p. 188
The Mask on the Shield	p. 193
Conclusion	p. 197
Appendix: Medusa And The Evil Eye	p. 203
Notes	p. 207
Bibliography	p. 241
Index	p. 259
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