In presenting philological readings of spatial metaphors in ancient texts and
their reception based on theoretical approaches to metaphor, this is a
pioneering study which also bears testimony to the increasing interest in the
potential and cognitive functions of metaphor in literary studies. The
individual studies offer a representative synopsis of current theories on
spatial metaphors and encompass applications to literary texts from a number
of genres and languages ranging from wisdom texts and philosophical treatises
to tragedy and from Ancient Egyptian to Shakespearean English, thus spanning
almost 3000 years of human thought and language. Based on this framework of
theory and practice, this volume collects a series of papers originally
delivered at a conference entitled Raum-Metaphern in antiken Texten und deren
Rezeption, organized by research group (C-2) Space and Metaphor in Cognition,
Language and Texts of the Excellence Cluster 264 Topoi — The Formation and
Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilizations in Berlin in
June 2014
