Book contents
- The Ancient Aesthetics of Deception
- The Ancient Aesthetics of Deception
- Copyright page
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 Gorgias and the Justice of Tragic Apatē
- Chapter 2 The Circulation and Significance of Apatē in the Classical Era
- Chapter 3 The Dramatic Entanglement of Aesthetic Illusion with Deceit in Sophocles’ Electra
- Chapter 4 Immersion and Corruption in Plato’s Republic
- Chapter 5 The Void of Hellenistic Criticism
- Chapter 6 The Appeal and Challenge of Apatē in Imperial Criticism: Plutarch’s De audiendis poetis
- Chapter 7 Lucian and the Spell of Philosophy
- Chapter 8 How to Read Ekphrasis: The Tabula Cebetis
- Chapter 9 Christian Polemics against Idolatry: Clement of Alexandria’s Protrepticus
- Chapter 10 The Aesthetics of Deception Reconfigured in Heliodorus’ Ethiopica
- Chapter 11 From Deepfake to Psychotherapy: The Aesthetics of Deception Today
- Bibliography
- Index Locorum
- General Index
Chapter 10 - The Aesthetics of Deception Reconfigured in Heliodorus’ Ethiopica
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 August 2021
- The Ancient Aesthetics of Deception
- The Ancient Aesthetics of Deception
- Copyright page
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 Gorgias and the Justice of Tragic Apatē
- Chapter 2 The Circulation and Significance of Apatē in the Classical Era
- Chapter 3 The Dramatic Entanglement of Aesthetic Illusion with Deceit in Sophocles’ Electra
- Chapter 4 Immersion and Corruption in Plato’s Republic
- Chapter 5 The Void of Hellenistic Criticism
- Chapter 6 The Appeal and Challenge of Apatē in Imperial Criticism: Plutarch’s De audiendis poetis
- Chapter 7 Lucian and the Spell of Philosophy
- Chapter 8 How to Read Ekphrasis: The Tabula Cebetis
- Chapter 9 Christian Polemics against Idolatry: Clement of Alexandria’s Protrepticus
- Chapter 10 The Aesthetics of Deception Reconfigured in Heliodorus’ Ethiopica
- Chapter 11 From Deepfake to Psychotherapy: The Aesthetics of Deception Today
- Bibliography
- Index Locorum
- General Index
Summary
Heliodorus’ Ethiopica, discussed in Chapter 10, still awaits its discovery by scholars of ancient aesthetics. The latest of the five fully preserved ancient Greek piercingly reflects on the aesthetics of deception. After a close reading of a passage from book 3 that sharply juxtaposes deceit and aesthetic illusion and simultaneously intimates their similarity, I will explore their blending together in the Athenian novella. The aesthetics of deception also pertains to the Ethiopica themselves, which are designed to enthral the reader and simultaneously threaten to dupe her. A Platonic intertext that evokes the condemnation of poetry in the Republic highlights this danger. At the same time, Heliodorus recasts the aesthetics of deception differently from Plato and suggests an allegorical reading of his novel that envisages aesthetic illusion ultimately as a means of overcoming deception.
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- The Ancient Aesthetics of DeceptionThe Ethics of Enchantment from Gorgias to Heliodorus, pp. 232 - 256Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021