Gesture, Stance, and Movement

The meaning of action in figurative imagery is conveyed through bodily posture, placing the depicted figures – humans, gods, or hybrids – in relation within coherent visual narratives. Especially for societies with few deciphered texts, the analysis of gesture, posture, movement, and facial expression is crucial for understanding ancient ‘webs of significance’. With 29 papers from a conference held in Heidelberg in 2021, this volume examines ‘body language’ in Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece and proposes new ways of interpreting non-verbal communication in Aegean Bronze Age iconography.