From Ancient Geographers to the Journey of the Argonauts: Ierne Island (Ireland), a Landscape Island between two Worlds

Abstract

Questioning the aesthetic and social genesis of the Irish landscape is also about tracing the historical circumstances of the birth of the first Irish landscape. However thrilling, the subject is also a fine example of a false problem. Indeed, rereading a geographical and literary corpus is a constant concern for any scholar, given that the indications are few: what was the status of Ireland in the ancient world? How was it perceived and represented and what were the peculiarities of that landscape? As all those questions have so far gone unanswered, we propose to take a fresh look at the question of landscape in antiquity by showing that the foundations of landscape painting and literature had been laid long before the Renaissance (André, 2012a). The Hellenistic and late epic offer one of the most achieved involvements with natural scenery, to such an extent that it becomes a clearly identified object with a well defined aesthetic functioning pattern. Thus, it constitutes a landscape in its own right, complying with theoretical plastic and aesthetic definitions.