Abstract

Contrary to general traditional belief, the origins of collecting, as a systematic activity that refers to the satisfaction of symbolic rather than actual needs, was not an invention of the Renaissance. Collecting made its first appearance in European prehistory, was a subject of interest and debate for the ancient Greeks and Romans, and has been present continuously ever since. The Nature of Classical Collecting is the first thorough discussion of collecting in the ancient classical world. Based on extensive research of the literary sources available, and complemented, wherever necessary, from references to archaeological and epigraphic evidence, it is a thought-provoking attempt to consider a phenomenon which has been in the centre of the western mind set since its very early origins.