Ecphrasis and Iconoclasm

Chapter 19 examines how Palladas in his epigrams turned ecphrasis into a medium for contemplating the tension between the Greek literary and cultural heritage and the sociopolitical and religious environment of his own turbulent times; in the hands of Palladas, ecphrastic modes are adapted to describe the dire realities of an age when statues of Greek gods were defaced, demolished, recast, or reconfigured by Christians. While ecphrases traditionally evoke the stable and essential features of the images they describe and interpret, Palladas’ ecphrastic epigrams pointedly focus on their enforced transformation and altered circumstances. His ecphrases thus become melancholy reflections on change.