Abstract

The epimeleia tês psyches, that is, the formation and purification of the soul, is an important topic in Ancient Philosophy. As the soul is immaterial it can be difficult to understand what is meant by the idea of a formation of the soul. Many philosophers in Antiquity try to explain the meaning of the formation of the soul by using linguistic imagery, that is, similes, metaphors and myths. In this paper some of these images, in particular, the images of the painter and sculptor of the soul, are presented and analysed. The function of these linguistic forms in the logic of the text and the conceptual differences between the image of the painter and the image of the sculptor are discussed.