Description

Book Synopsis
Polemon of Laodicea's Physiognomy explains how to detect someone's character from their appearance. The original 2nd-century text has been lost, but this collection of essays presents translations of the surviving Greek, Latin, and Arabic versions together with a series of masterly studies on the Physiognomy's origins, function, and legacy.

Trade Review
A huge effort...has gone into this beautifully produced, collaborative project on ancient Greek physiognomy and its reception in medieval Islamic society. * M F Burnyeat, Times Literary Supplement *
Their book is many steps forward in the research on physiognomy in Classical Antiquity and the European and Islamic Middle Ages. From a number of different disciplines they have brought together, in one impressive volume, a great number of primary sources about Polemons work on physiognomy. They have excellently edited and translated these sources and they have evaluated them in a number of most enlightening essays. * Jan Just Witkam, Bibliotheca Orientalis *

Table of Contents
I. ANTIQUITY; II. ISLAM; III. TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

SEEING THE FACE SEEING THE SOUL Polemons Physiognomy from Classical Antiquity to Medieval Islam

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    A Hardback by Antonella Ghersetti, George Boys-Stones, Jas Elsner

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      Book details

      Publisher Oxford University Press, USA
      Published 3 August 2007
      ISBN-13 9780199291533
      978-0199291533
      ISBN-10 0199291535
      Also in:
      ELT & Literary Studies Literary studies: ancient, classical Divination from physical attributes

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Polemon of Laodicea's Physiognomy explains how to detect someone's character from their appearance. The original 2nd-century text has been lost, but this collection of essays presents translations of the surviving Greek, Latin, and Arabic versions together with a series of masterly studies on the Physiognomy's origins, function, and legacy.

      Trade Review
      A huge effort...has gone into this beautifully produced, collaborative project on ancient Greek physiognomy and its reception in medieval Islamic society. * M F Burnyeat, Times Literary Supplement *
      Their book is many steps forward in the research on physiognomy in Classical Antiquity and the European and Islamic Middle Ages. From a number of different disciplines they have brought together, in one impressive volume, a great number of primary sources about Polemons work on physiognomy. They have excellently edited and translated these sources and they have evaluated them in a number of most enlightening essays. * Jan Just Witkam, Bibliotheca Orientalis *

      Table of Contents
      I. ANTIQUITY; II. ISLAM; III. TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

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