Poikilia

Abstract

Poikilia (“variegation”) is a protean notion, used by the Greeks to describe the visual effect produced by the assemblage of different colors and materials on an object, but also to express the ideas of variety and complexity. Its significance thus covers many fields: craftsmanship, music, poetry, rhetoric, medicine, ethics, or politics. This chapter deals with this multifariousness of poikilia and focuses mostly on literary and artistic production from the Archaic period. It aims to show that the two clusters of meaning (colorful adornment/intricacy) are deeply entwined in Greek thought. The study reveals in particular that variegated artifacts have a seductive power that appeals to the eyes but also to other senses, thus establishing that poikilia is a key notion for understanding one specific feature of ancient aesthetics: the fondness for polysensory experience, generating pleasure.

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