Union Académique Internationale

Project nº28, adopted in 1973

The body of myths and legends handed down to us by the Ancients which we call classical mythology is a vital element of our heritage. The purpose of the Foundation for the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) is the exhaustive study of its imagery. The first goal of this foundation – of an international character though operating under Swiss law – is the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. This work will be then be completed by the Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA), focusing on the domains of worship and ritual.

Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae

An illustrated lexicon of ancient myths

The imagery of ancient myths has constituted a major expression of Greco-Roman civilization, handed down to posterity while retaining its longevity, as its countless vestiges prove. The LIMC offers a practical approach to our current knowledge of the iconography of Greek, Etruscan and Roman mythology, as well as that of surrounding Mediterranean cultures. This will be made available to both researchers and anyone interested in Antiquity as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for artists, poets, playwrights and filmmakers.

The LIMC covers in alphabetical order all the figures featured in Greek, Etruscan and Roman mythology, most often with an individual article, each having an identical structure.

The work comprises eight volumes of text and plates (8,400 pages of text and 32,000 black and white photographs as compared to 5,800 plates), two volumes of indices (1,026 pages) and the Supplementum 2009 released by the publishing house Artemis (Zürich, Munich, Düsseldorf) between 1981 and 2009. The Supplementum 2009 is composed of additions to published articles if these additions enrich or modify our understanding (new version or variant of a known myth; older or more recent documents than those thus far known or originating in a different geographical area; representation of a character on a thus far undocumented support). It will also contain new articles for characters unknown until now or unattested by figurative documents. Any document that is new but purely repetitive, on the other hand, is excluded from the supplement. An index completes the volume, made possible thanks to the great financial support of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation.

By means of their rapid and regular publication, the Lexicon’s volumes have become an important starting point for research. In these last years, the LIMC has helped to inspire a certain number of doctoral dissertations and individual studies. A work like the LIMC is not only used to broaden our knowledge, but also asks new questions. In addition, the LIMC proves to be an important basis for the study of surviving vestiges of Antiquity in Western culture.

Among the riches of the LIMC is that it brings together the different regional expressions of a unified classical culture, while its traces are scattered from India to the Iberian peninsula and all around the Mediterranean basin. This is why the Foundation for the LIMC has also organized a certain number of conferences on tangential themes. The papers given during these meetings have resulted in separate publications.