Ambiguity in the sense of two or more possible meanings is considered to be a distinctive
feature of modern art and literature. It characterizes the open artwork (Eco) and is generated
by disruptive tactics (Wellershoff) and strategies to engender uncertainty. While ambiguity is
seen as a paradigm of modernity (Bode) there is skepticism regarding its use in the pre-modern
era. Older studies were dominated by the conviction that there was a lack of ambiguity in
pre-modernity because according to the rules of the old rhetoric ambiguity was seen as an
avoidable error (vitium) and a violation of the dictate of clarity (perspicuitas). The aim of
the volume is to re-examine the putative absence of ambiguity in the pre-modern era. Is it not
possible to find clear examples of deliberately employed (intended) ambiguity in antiquity? Are
the oracles and riddles the Palinode of Stesichoros and Socrates (Phaedrus) the dissoi logoi
of rhetoric the ambiguities of the tragedies all exceptions or do they not indicate a distinct
interest in the artistic use of ambiguity? The presentations of the conference which will
include scholars from various philologies will combine a recourse to theoretical concepts of
intended ambiguity with exemplary analyses from the field of pre-modern art and literature.
