Abstract
The introduction to the volume Spatial Metaphors: Ancient Texts and Transformations encompasses two sections: the first part, entitled “Preliminary Remarks on the Theory of Spatial Metaphors”, is aimed at providing a theoretical framework for the study of spatial metaphors by suggesting a classification according to specificity and extent. The approach underlying the typology is indebted to Lakoff and Johnson’s theory of conceptual metaphors (CMT). The second section offers short summaries of the individual contributions collected in this volume (not all of which draw on CMT) with particular regard to how the metaphors studied relate to the proposed framework. What becomes apparent is that even though formal classification of spatial metaphors is possible, philological study and interpretation of metaphors must always consider their respective contexts and work from the texts rather than from abstract theoretical conceptions of metaphor.