In this catalog of an exhibition at the cast gallery of ancient sculpture of the Free University of Berlin, for the first time ancient sculptures are presented together with the literary and epigraphic evidence from the 6^th century BC to the 11^th century AD, and both given equal emphasis. Based on a representative selection of 40 works and the relevant written sources, the exhibition discusses important problems of text and sculpture, and so contributes to a better understanding of ancient sculpture. Topics considered include a consideration of the basis on which statues have been identified, attributed to a sculptor and dated.
The catalog is the result of an interdisciplinary project intended to replace the obsolete standard work by Johannes Overbeck, Die antiken Schriftquellen zur Geschichte der bildenden Künste bei den Griechen (1868), and to update it to meet modern needs by including a translation, a philosophical-epigraphic and archaeological commentary, a list of literary references and illustrations. The “New Overbeck” will be published by de Gruyter in 2009 in four volumes.