Encomium and Portrait, Comparison between the Arts and Self-Reflexivity in Lucian’s Eikones

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse Lucian of Samosata’s dialogue Eikones, considering it from the perspective of its inscription in the tradition of encomium and one of its topoi, the comparison between the power of visual arts and of words to create commemorative images, a comparison which in turn frequently contains self-reflexive considerations about the poem’s or discourse’s qualities. Taking into account the particular context in which Lucian is located, that is, the “Second Sophistic” under Roman rule during the second century A. D., and some of the particular features exhibited by his production, we propose that the creation of an “encomiastic portrait” in this dialogue emphasizes the self-reflexive dimension implied in the tradition of encomium. Through this emphasis, on the one hand the dialogue establishes continuity with the classical tradition of encomium and the comparison of the arts’ topos, inscribing its author in the Greek classical paideia. On the other hand, it simultaneously defines a poetic stance which departs from the mimetic conception of arts characteristic of the classical period, and still dominant at Lucian’s time, and proposes literary creation as a discoursive construction, whose main referents are intertextual and intercultural