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“When the Stars are Glittering with Gold up in the Sky...”. Jewellery Metaphors in Descriptions of the Sky Phenomena in Roman Literature

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Piętka R.

Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium Graecae et Latinae

2017

vol. 27

issue 3

275-291

The paper traces the use of metaphors and comparisons concerning jewellery in the descriptions of the sky in Roman literature, most of all in poetry. As it is shown in the paper, many of those poetic devices served as a means highlighting the vividness and perfection of the natural sky phenomena. Analysis of jewellery imagery helps also to demonstrate the occurrence of some changes in descriptive conventions and aesthetic attitudes in Roman literature.

„Kiedy gwiazdy się na niebie złocą…” Metaforyka jubilerska w rzymskich opisach nieba

100%

Piętka R.

Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium Graecae et Latinae

2015

vol. 25

issue 2

35-51

Metaphors and comparisons are typical features of the ancient texts describing celestial bodies, and they can be treated as a part of a broader cultural practice of seeking analogies between earth and sky phenomena, inspired by the microcosm/macrocosm theory. To explain such a practice we can refer to the modern theory of imagination as well, according to which appreciation of nature is based, among others, on the so-called “projective imagination”, transferring mentally the images from the terrestrial reality to the sky. One of the obvious instances of such an analogical thinking is “katasterismos”, mythic narration about the item placed in the heavens as a star or constellation. It appears that among the objects on the sky described as a result of “catasterism” we can find some specimens of jeweller’s craftsmanship (e.g. Ariadne’s Crown as Corona Borealis). This is, however, a specific situation; astronomical descriptions usually emphasize the brightness and perfection of the sky phenomena using above-mentioned poetic devices associated with jewellery. Most popular among them is the metaphoric epithet of “gold”, linked commonly with stars and the sun, but besides this, in the works of Roman authors can be detected more original imagery (e.g. the cosmos as a necklace). It is argued in the paper that this kind of astronomical descriptions can be interpreted against the backdrop of the history of the “visual metaphors of value”, as they were defined by Ernst Gombrich.

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2 Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium Graecae et Latinae

2 Piętka R.

1 2017

1 2015

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“When the Stars are Glittering with Gold up in the Sky...”. Jewellery Metaphors in Descriptions of the Sky Phenomena in Roman Literature

„Kiedy gwiazdy się na niebie złocą…” Metaforyka jubilerska w rzymskich opisach nieba