VOL. 49, BOOK 1, PART B, 2011, pp. 48 – 64 Full text (Bg)
Author: Жоржета Чолакова
Affiliation: Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv
Abstract
This paper aims at examining the antique concept of lake manifested in some of the most emblematic texts of ancient Greek and early Roman literature. The limited presence of the lake in the idea of nature is explained by the static character of its surface. Its identification with shallow sea or swamp doesn’t correspond to the antique cult of beauty as unity of dynamics of harmonic life- and love-affirming forms. The infernal symbolic image of the lake in the myths where it appears as a border to the afterlife excludes it from the context of the Earth’s nature and conceptualizes it as a demonic transcendental space.
Key words: nature, landscape, lake, Iliad, Virgil, Pausanias, Lady of the lake, infernal symbolism
