The Dory

[Peter Raftos]

Paulus Scipio's working hypothesis makes sense as the evolution of military technology and tactics rarely stands still. Kineas also make valid points on dating images but in particular the vast amount of imagery which lies beyond our ken. I have visited each of those museums and the Louvre and the KHM in Vienna and I know I still haven't seen a fraction of what is out let alone those in Australia. Dr Tim Dawson identified this in his studies on Byzantine military iconography as the "coffee table book syndrome". From our earliest exposure to Greek iconography in art , for whatever reason, we tend to get repeats of the same images almost ad infinitum to the detriment of the thousands of images that are actually out there. We can make assessments only on those images we see until something comes along and challenges us. I think that's what makes forums like RAT indispensible. Here we are getting fed a global diet of images that some of us had never seen and can form opinions upon them which scholars who (also suffer just as we do from "coffee table book syndrome") may have never had access to. Despite our frustrations when we come to apparant dead ends I think we all deserve a collective pat on the back for our collective chipping away and sharing our finds with one another.