Discussion: Dancing Rounds Soft Footedly: The Museum as a Place to Enthuse?
Around 700 BC, Hesiod saw maidens dancing soft footedly about a spring on Mount Helicon. Later, a shrine was erected there dedicated to the muses. Other holy structures of this kind can be found on Samos, in Delphi (ill.1), and in Alexandria, where in 295 BC Ptolomy I had a "museion" built in the palace precinct. This extensive complex also contained a huge library and spaces where intellectuals and scientists could live and work. For the first time, emphasis was placed on the aesthetic pleasure of art rather than on its ethical function.
