Divine Escorts

Nereids in Archaic and Classical Greek Art

Judith Barringer


A thoughtful scrutiny of the elusive yet seductive Nereids.

Judith Barringer's copiously illustrated volume examines the Nereids, mythical demigoddesses of the sea, who occupied an important role in Greek literature, art, and religion. The author identifies the iconographical characteristics of the Nereids in art of the Archaic and Classical periods, and investigates the religious and cultic functions of the women.

Divine Escorts employs methodologies from anthropology,

semiotics, religious studies, and history, and offers a new interpretation of these unusual figures. The author examines their portrayal by artists---chiefly Greek or South Italian---who used a wide variety of media. This detailed consideration reveals that the Nereids escort individuals during critical life transitions, an extension of the Nereids' original purpose.

By integrating the study of mythical narrative with iconology, Divine Escorts offers a fresh approach that will attract those interested in art history, archaeology, comparative religion, and classical studies.

Judith Barringer is Assistant Professor of Art, Middlebury College, and has recently held the Richardson and Goldsmith Fellowship at the Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University.

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6 x 9, ca 350 pages, ca 160 halftones

ISBN 0-472-10418-7

cloth 49.50E (tentative)

October