The Master of Signs

Alexander Hollmann

ISBN 10: 0674055888 / ISBN 13: 9780674055889

Published by Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies, US, 2011

About this Item

Readers of Herodotus's Histories are familiar with its reports of bizarre portents, riddling oracles, and striking dreams. But Herodotus draws our attention to other types of signs too, beginning with human speech itself as a coded system that can manipulate and be manipulated. Objects, gifts, artifacts, markings, even the human body, are all capable of being invested with meaning in the Histories and Herodotus shows that conventionally and culturally determined actions, gestures, and ritual all need decoding.This book represents an unprecedented examination of signs and their interpreters, as well as the terminology Herodotus uses to describe sign transmission, reception, and decoding. Through his control and involvement in this process he emerges as a veritable "master of signs.".

Seller Inventory # LU-9780674055889

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Master of Signs
• Publisher: Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies, US
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674055888
• ISBN 13: 9780674055889
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 15.24W x 1.6H x 22.86D centimeters 15.24 centimeters width by 1.6 centimeters height by 22.86 centimeters depth
• Weight: 476 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Readers of Herodotus’s Histories are familiar with its reports of bizarre portents, riddling oracles, and striking dreams. But Herodotus draws our attention to other types of signs too, beginning with human speech itself as a coded system that can manipulate and be manipulated. Objects, gifts, artifacts, markings, even the human body, are all capable of being invested with meaning in the Histories and Herodotus shows that conventionally and culturally determined actions, gestures, and ritual all need decoding.

This book represents an unprecedented examination of signs and their interpreters, as well as the terminology Herodotus uses to describe sign transmission, reception, and decoding. Through his control and involvement in this process he emerges as a veritable “master of signs.”

About the Author

Alexander Hollmann is Assistant Professor of the Classics at the University of Washington.