Representations of libraries in classical Greece

Abstract

Chests and rolls appear on some vases from the classical period as well as on several attic reliefs. After having studied each case - all the more important as chests may symbolise interiority and the condition of women - and having also considered literary evidence, we were able to establish in some cases a link between chests and rolls as books. Thus genuine private libreraries from the classic period were represented. However we can't deduce because of the scarcity of representations that they were actually rare : in later periods when libraries became common, books appeared more often in a painted form.