Book 59

The Mask of Socrates

by Paul Zanker

Published December 1995
This work aims to provide a deeper perspective on the interaction of visual representation and classical culture from the fifth century BC to the fourth century AD. Drawing on a variety of sources, such as Graeco-Roman literature, historiography and philosophy, in addition to artistic renderings, the book forges a history of the visual representation of Greek and Roman intellectuals. It takes the reader from the earliest visual images of Socrates and Plato to the figures of Christ, the Apostles and contemporaneous pagan and civic dignitaries. The book's analysis of how the iconcography of influential thinkers and writers changed demonstrates the rise and fall of trends and the movement of schools of thought and belief, each successively embodying the most valued characteristics of the period and culture.