Fragment of a lekythos (oil vessel) depicting Nike flying and holding a chelys lyre,

ca. 480–470 BCE

In the ancient Mediterranean, divine bodies could be shown using many representational strategies: the gods could be painted on vases or fashioned from bronze, marble, or wood; they might be rendered so small that they could sit in one’s hand, or so large that they towered over worshippers; and many gods could be depicted in multiple shapes and forms or with different iconographic attributes. These choices dramatically affected how a god’s image was perceived and, as a consequence, how the god’s presence could be experienced by their worshippers. Surviving ancient literary accounts describe how particularly striking images of the gods could elicit powerful responses in their viewers, provoking epiphanies, or sacred visions of the divine.