Ekphrasis, imagination and persuasion in ancient rhetorical theory and practice

This is a study of ekphrasis, the art of making listeners and readers 'see' in their imagination through words alone, as taught in ancient rhetorical schools and as used by Greek writers of the Imperial period (2nd-6th centuries CE). The author places the practice of ekphrasis within its cultural context, emphasising the importance of the visual imagination in ancient responses to rhetoric, poetry and historiography. By linking the theoretical writings on ekphrasis with ancient theories of imagination and emotion and language, she brings out the persuasive and emotive function of vivid languag.  Read more... Cover; Contents; List of Tables; Abbreviations; Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction; 1. The Contexts of Ekphrasis; 2. Learning Ekphrasis: The Progymnasmata; 3. The Subjects of Ekphrasis; 4. Enargeia: Making Absent Things Present; 5. Phantasia: Memory, Imagination and the Gallery of the Mind; 6. Ekphrasis and the Art of Persuasion; 7. The Poetics of Ekphrasis: Fiction, Illusion and Meta-ekphrasis; Conclusion; Appendix A: Translations; Appendix B: Subjects for Ekphrasis; Bibliography; Index