THERE WAS A TIME when scenes painted on Greek pottery were understood to be closely linked to the varied literary sources that preceded or were contemporary with them, and the presumed connections between the two were investigated assiduously. The vase-painters were generally considered to be subsidiary to, and dependent on, the writers of the literary works. But the relationships between stories told through the medium of words and those presented in visual images are now seen to be more complex and to need more sophisticated treatment (see March below, pp. 119–39). Although the images are still useful in helping us to understand the varied levels of mythical narratives (including those met in literary works) and aspects of everyday life such as symposia, religious ritual and funerary practice, more attention is being paid to the reasons behind the choice of subjects, to the ways in which the images consciously or unconsciously comment on contemporary life and society, and to the less obvious meanings which lie hidden beneath the surface.

The year 1993 saw the publication of Veronique Dasen's excellent Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt and Greece, in which she collected together all the literary and visual evidence that concerned her subject. In her chapter on ‘Dwarfs in Myth’ in the Greek half of the book she was mainly concerned with ‘the exotic pygmies’, and in interpreting the material she had collected, she cleverly wove together the testimonia from different periods. What I want to do is to concentrate on what Greek writers wrote (and sometimes recited) and what Greek craftsmen presented of the mythical battle between the pygmies and the cranes (the Geranomachia) in the archaic and classical periods, and to consider how this related to shared knowledge and understanding of the story. So we must begin with Homer.

After the detailed ‘Catalogue of Ships’ in Iliad ii Homer introduces a striking double simile2 to describe the first clash that is about to take place in the poem between the Trojans and the Achaeans (iii.1–9):

Through the generosity of the Leventis Foundation the Department of Classics at Edinburgh University was able in the session 1998–9 to initiate a biennial Visiting Research Professorship in Greek. The first holder was Professor Brian A. Sparkes.

Under the terms of the endowment it was laid down that a conference was to be arranged during the residence of each Visiting Professor. The subject chosen for the first conference was ‘Word and Image in Ancient Greece’ and this was held in Old College, the University of Edinburgh, on 5 and 6 March 1999 (see pp. 247–8). The present volume comprises the reworked papers delivered at the conference in the order and under the headings into which the four sessions of the conference were divided. We are grateful to the speakers for the speed with which they were willing to translate their spoken words into written texts.

Thanks are owed to the many helpers (lecturers, postgraduates and undergraduates) who assisted on the two days of the conference. For the present publication the Department of Classics and the editors are grateful once more to the Leventis Foundation for their generous subvention. We also owe a particular debt of gratitude to the commissioning editor, John Davey, to James Dale of Edinburgh University Press, to our efficient copy-editor, Fiona Sewell, and to Barbara Hird, indexer, as also to our anonymous adviser.

As usual, it has proved impossible to be consistent with the spelling of Greek proper names throughout the various chapters. However, we have striven for consistency within each individual contribution.

Acknowledgement for individual help and for the provision of illustrations is given in the list of illustrations (pp. ix–xi) and in the separate chapters. We also wish to record our thanks to Andy Vowles, of the Cartographic Unit at the University of Southampton, for his expert advice on the prints.

WRITTEN TEXTS ON PAPYRI or other media, which for us constitute a fundamental body of evidence in recreating ancient Greek history and culture, were of far less importance in the lives of the ordinary citizens of the Greek states, and writing would have been encountered more frequently on objects such as statues and statue-bases, funerary stêlai, public notice-boards and pottery shapes. In ancient Greek society communication was largely oral and visual. The epic poets and rhapsodes sang and recited the legends that served the Greeks as their historical past; lyric and elegiac poets sang, to the accompaniment of the lyre and the pipes, both solo songs of love and death and public celebrations of success in war and games; choirs chanted religious hymns and celebratory measures; in tragedies and comedies actors spoke and choruses sang to audiences of thousands; orators declaimed their speeches in the political arena and in the law courts; and philosophers debated the meaning of life at aristocratic drinking parties. What was of equal importance to the spoken word for the general public was the visual imagery they saw all around them. Religious processions, parades and theatrical performances were regular features at various times of the year, and they involved the majority of citizens, either as participants or as spectators. On civic display there were monuments (free-standing statues, relief carvings, architectural decoration, painted walls) erected in market places, sanctuaries, cemeteries and theatres, and in private contexts people handled metal and ceramic vases that were decorated with scenes of myth, fantasy and everyday life.

In recent years there has been a growth of scholarly interest in the power and centrality of the spoken word in Greek society and in the equally powerful effect of visual display and performance. This volume, arising from the First Leventis Conference, addresses itself to various aspects of the relationship between words and images, in both specific and general terms. The scholars who were invited to participate were deliberately chosen to represent a wide spectrum of disciplines: philosophy, aesthetics, literature, archaeology, art, etc., and were given a free rein to choose their topic under the general heading of ‘Word and Image’.