Rebecca Georgiades

Frightened Figures: exploring the iconography of fear in Athenian vase-paintings between 600-300 BCE

Although emotions, particularly fear, have biological foundations, they are by no means universal and are significantly shaped by the surrounding cultural and social contexts where they are expressed. This paper explores the concept of fear in antiquity by examining representations of violent interactions between humans in Athenian vase-paintings from the 7^th – 4^th centuries BC. By focusing on specific case studies, including the sack of Troy and Herakles’ encounters with Bousiris and Eurystheus, I will discuss how fear was visually defined through gesture, posture, and facial expression in images of violence. The final part of this paper will demonstrate how representations of fear communicated and reinforced important ideas about culture, gender and status which were circulated among the producers and consumers of these images. As such, it highlights how emotion can function as a type of knowledge that is shared, modelled, and redefined among society

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26 November, 4:00-5:00pm

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Louise Pryke and Emma Barlow
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Image: Jacques-Louis David, Léonidas aux Thermopyles 1814 (Louvre). On the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae