Cahiers Mondes Anciens (Apr 2016)

Montrer, démontrer : Phryné et le dévoilement de la vérité

  • Élise Lehoux,
  • Nicolas Siron

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4000/mondesanciens.1697
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

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According to a sentence in the Lives of the Ten Orators, Hyperides would have bared Phryne’s body during her trial in order to make the judges acquit her. This unveiling shows the relation between exhibition and persuasion : making something visible is a way to win acceptance for it. However, Hyperides is compelled to do it because his arguments failed. The visual exposition and the discursive demonstration proceed from different dynamics, which can both complement or oppose each other. Thus, this set of papers want to examine the different stakes that emerge from the complex links between showing and proving, while observing the practices of visibility in Antiquity : how are knowledge, event, status and news are displayed, constructed, legitimized and validated ? The multiplicity of the provided cases allows us to consider the various ways it was displayed, whether on the iconography of vases, in sculptures, numismatics, or texts from the manuscript tradition.