Film and Some Philosophy Concepts of the European Antiquity: dramatic culmination of sequential narrative and the visual arts of the European antiquity

Bojić, Zoja (2025) Film and Some Philosophy Concepts of the European Antiquity: dramatic culmination of sequential narrative and the visual arts of the European antiquity. In: Film i književnost 2.0 : zbornik radova. Beograd : Institut za književnost i umetnost, pp. 271-283. ISBN 978-86-7095-368-0

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Abstract

This paper examines representations of the dramatic culmination of sequential action in selected artworks from European antiquity. In doing so, it includes an analysis of the relevant passages by art historiographers of the European antiquity: Vitruvius (1st century BC), Pliny the Elder (1st century AD), Philostratus the Elder (2nd century), Philostratus the Younger (3rd century) and Callistratus (probably 4th century). Drawing on Aristotle’s definition of tragedy and dramatic action, the paper demonstrates that the dramatic culmination of sequential narrative, a quality that has remained central throughout the entire history of stage and film production, must be taken into consideration in an analysis of certain visual artworks of the European antiquity. A short comparative study of Aristotle’s definition of tragedy and the definitions of the visual arts provided by several art historiographers of the European antiquity raises an important question. According to an interpretation of Aristotle, the result (and thus the aim) of tragedy/drama is catharsis. What then, according to art historiographers of the European antiquity, is the result/ aim of a visual artwork?

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