order to protect their intellectual property?
Why is it that Plato (above) uses impressions made by a seal as a metaphor for our recollections of
sense perceptions and thoughts?
What is the significance of the fact that the Greeks felt it necessary to adopt a foreign word, tyrannos,
to refer to an institution, namely kingship, which was familiar to them from their own mythical
traditions?
Why is it that many Greek tyrants supported, and promoted the work of, the leading poets of the day?
In what ways do the human figures appear more “realistic” in red-figure than in black-figure
technique?Recommended for Further Reading
Andrewes, A. The Greek Tyrants (London 1956): a brief, lucid, and valuable study of the Greek tyrants
from the seventh through the fifth centuries and of the various factors that brought them to power.
Boardman, J. Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical, new expanded edition
(London and New York 2001): a sumptuously illustrated and authoritatively written account with
photographs of over a thousand seals by engravers whose skill is in some instances almost superhuman.
Boardman, J. The History of Greek Vases: Potters, Painters and Pictures (London 2001): a learned yet
lively history of Greek vases and how they were made, decorated, used, and sold.
Davidson, J. The Greeks and Greek Love: A Radical Reappraisal of Homosexuality in Ancient Greece
(London 2007): a controversial study that attempts to reassess all the available evidence for the
extraordinary importance of same-sex erotic relationships in ancient Greek society.
Lissarrague, F. The Aesthetics of the Greek Banquet: Images of Wine and Ritual, English translation
(Princeton 1990): a sophisticated study of the often sophisticated images painted on the vases and cups
used in the symposium.
Murray, O. (ed.) Sympotica: A Symposium on the Symposion (Oxford 1990): a learned collection of
articles that examine all aspects of the Greek symposium, including its later adoption by the Etruscans and
Romans.
Seaford, R. Money and the Early Greek Mind: Homer, Philosophy, Tragedy (Cambridge 2004): a
brilliant and original work that examines the way in which the invention of coinage affected every area of
Greek life, including even the development of philosophical thinking and the origins of drama.
Suggested Internet Resources
The Symposium in Ancient Greece (metmuseum.org/toah/hd/symp/hd_symp.htm, accessed March 29,
2016) is yet another of the fine illustrated “thematic essays” on the web-site of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art.
Gem Research (www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/gems, accessed March 29, 2016) provides an extensive and
beautifully illustrated introduction to the major styles and periods of Classical gem engraving.