In the last years of the seventeenth century, the famous astronomer and antiquary of the Vatican, Francesco Bianchini, published La istoria universale provata conmonumenti e figurata con simboli (Universal history as documented by monuments and illustrated by symbols). In this book, for the first time in the history of archaeology, Bianchini (1747: 10) assumed:

He was, in fact, the first who had reflected on the role of symbols not only as figures of the past, but as a cognitive medium leading to the development of an archaeological theory.

This paper is a reflection on symbolism in Greek society (following the direction proposed by C. Renfrew), an attempt to investigate the way in which symbols were used. I shall be concerned with Greco-Roman society, from the seventh century BC to the third century AD, assuming that during these ten centuries a central body of theory and experience was elaborated about making and using images. I shall consider all symbolic artefacts used in either a cultic or cultural context for the very purpose of representation. This definition can already be read in Plato's work: eidola - is what is common to the various objects that we call by the name of images.