Imitation was called mimesis in Greek and imitatio
in Latin: it is the same term in different languages.
The term exists since antiquity; the concept however,
has changed. Today imitation means more or less the
same as copying; in Greece its earliest meaning was
quite different.
The word “mimesis” is post-Homeric: it does not
occur in either Homer or Hesiod. Its etymology, as
linguists maintain, is obscure. Most probably it origi-
nated with the rituals and mysteries of the Dionysian
cult; in its first (quite different from the present) mean-
ing the mimesis-imitation stood for the acts of cult
performed by the priest—dancing, music, and singing.
This is confirmed by Plato as well as by Strabo. The
word which later came to denote the reproducing of
reality in sculpture and theater arts had been, at that
time, applied to dance, mimicry, and music exclusively.
In Delian hymns, as well as in Pindar, this term was
applied to music. Imitation did not signify reproducing
external reality but expressing the inner one. It had
no application then in visual arts.
In the fifth century B.C. the term “imitation” moved
from the terminology of cult into philosophy and
started to mean reproducing the external world. The
meaning changed so much that Socrates had some
qualms about calling the art of painting “mimesis” and
used words close to it such as “ek-mimesis” and “apo-
mimesis.” But Democritus and Plato had no such
scruples and used the word “mimesis” to denote imita-
tion of nature. To each of them, however, it was a
different kind of imitation.
For Democritus mimesis was an imitation of the way
nature functions. He wrote that in art we imitate
nature: in weaving we imitate the spider, in building
the swallow, in singing the swan or nightingale
(Plutarch, De Sollert. anim. 20, 974A). This concept
was applicable chiefly to industrial arts.
Another concept of imitation, which acquired
greater popularity, was also formed in the fifth century
in Athens but by a different group of philosophers: it
was first introduced by Socrates and further developed
by Plato and Aristotle. To them “imitation” meant the
copying of the appearances of things.
This concept of imitation originated as a result of
reflection upon painting and sculpture. For example,
Socrates asked himself in what way do these arts differ
from the others. His answer was: in this, that they
repeat and imitate things which we see (Xenophon's
Comm. III, 10, 1). So he conceived a new concept of
imitation; he also did something more: he formulated
the theory of imitation, the contention that imitation
is the basic function of the arts (such as painting and
sculpture). It was an important event in the history
of thinking on art. The fact that Plato and Aristotle
accepted this theory was equally important: thanks to
them it became for centuries to come the leading
theory of the arts. Each of them, however, assigned
a different meaning to the theory and, consequently,
two variants of the theory, or rather two theories
originated under the same name.
