Ancient sculpture and viewer

This study examines the preserved evidence of the interaction between the viewer and works of art in Greek texts from V. century BC through the I. century AD. It demonstrates the participant character of the Greek viewer in different ways than the models that have been suggested. This viewing mode can be described as engaged, social and vocal. Sculpture has been used as a medium for discourse and social participation even in the absance of an identifying inscription. The viewer relied equally on knowledge, local informants and inscriptions to identify the meaning of sculptures. In the absence of these sources the viewer engaged in speculation and created altered meanings. Maintaining awareness that the work of art was lifeless the viewer engaged in a play, dissolving the boundries between himself and the object and allowed himself to be a witness to the events or individuals depicted. The study of ancient viewing emphasizes the role of the viewer in creating meanings to art works through an active course. It suggests an alternative model for the viewing process that remained constant over time, independent of the level of sophistication and continued to exist even without written identifications. Sculpture, for the ancient viewer, functioned as a trigger of collective memory, a didactic tool and as a means of reinforcing and transmitting cultural identity.Key Words:Art, Sculpture, Greek, Viewer, Local Informants, Antiquity.