Synaesthesia and the Ancient Senses

Like us, the ancient Greeks and Romans came to know and understand the world through their senses. Yet sensory experience has rarely been considered in the study of antiquity and, when the senses are examined, sight is regularly privileged. 'Synaesthesia and the Ancient Senses' presents a radical reappraisal of antiquity's textures, flavours, and aromas, sounds and sights. It offers both a fresh look at society in the ancient world and an opportunity to deepen the reading of classical literature. The book will appeal to readers in classical society and literature, philosophy and cultural history. All Greek and Latin is translated and technical matters are explained for the non-specialist. The introduction sets the ancient senses within the history of aesthetics and the subsequent essays explores the senses throughout the classical period and on to the modern reception of classical literature.

Shane Butler is Professor of Latin at the University of Bristol. He is the author of The Matter of the Page: Essays in Search of Ancient and Medieval Authors (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011) and The Hand of Cicero (Routledge, 2002), and editor of Angelo Poliziano: Letters, Volume 1 (Harvard University Press, 2006). Alex Purves is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of Space and Time in Ancient Greek Narrative (Cambridge University Press, 2010).