1.1 a) Metrological relief from Salamis, Greece, 4th century BCE, limestone, 113.5 × 79.3 × 16.2 cm; b) Diagram comparing Leonardo da Vinci’s adaptation of Vitruvian Man (left) with Salamis Man (right). Scale 1:20, overlaid with the principal proportional relationships in terms of a 6-foot arm span and height (H) (= Wilson Jones 2000, 83, fig. 8) 8
1.2 Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man (Le proporzioni del corpo umano secondo Vitruvio or L’Uomo Vitruviano), ca. 1490. Drawing accompanied by notes based on the work of the Roman architect, Vitruvius. Now in the Gabinetetto dei disegni e stampe of the Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice 9
1.3 The first Egyptian canon. Drawing by Tina Ross, after Iverson 1955, fig. 7 (foldout) 10
1.4 The second Egyptian canon. Drawing by Tina Ross, after Iversen 1955, fig. 4 (foldout) 11
1.5 Three of the many techniques used to establish a canon for Cycladic marble figurines: (a) the planning of the harp player in Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum, 85.AA.103; (b) the planning of the three-figure group in Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum, 77/59; (c) the “classical” four-part canon for folded-arm figurines, this one in Stockholm, Medelhavsmuseet, 62.10, attributed to the Fitzwilliam Master. Drawings by Tina Ross after Getz-Preziosi 1987, 42, fig. 21a; 46, fig. 24; 91, fig. 37a 13
1.6 a) Sketch of the kouros of Samos, a 6th-century BCE Archaic Greek statue now in the Archaeological Museum of Vathi in Samos. The length of a square of the grid corresponds to a Samian half cubit; b) Johann Gottfried Schadow (German, 1764–1850), drawing of the Venus Medici, 1834. Drawings by Tina Ross, (a) after Kyrieleis 1996, fig. 7; (b) after Schadow 1883, pl. 19 14
1.7 An Indian canon. Drawing by Tina Ross after Gopinatha Rao 1998 (1920), pl. 10 (= Borbein 2019, 27, fig. 3) 14
1.8 Aztec units of measure referenced primarily by elements of the human body, including hands, arms, feet, steps (indicated by legs), and even bones and the human heart, but also other symbols, like arrows or darts. Drawing by Tina Ross, after Clark 2010, 151, fig. 12.2 15
1.9 Inka khipu, Centro Mallqui, Leymebamba, Peru. Photo courtesy of Gary Urton 16
1.10 Marble statuette of Euripides (inscribed ΕΥΡΙΠΙΔΗΣ on the right flank of the base), now in the Louvre, 2nd century CE. found on the Esquiline Hill in Rome in 1704. Photo Sarah Morris and John Papadopoulos 20
1.11 The Apotheosis of Homer by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1827 24
1.12 The School of Athens by Raphael, painted between 1509 and 1511 25
3.1 Map of the Ancient Near East 87
4.1 Comparative evolution of the number of Demotic contracts with the number of literary papyrus 133
4.2 Cross of Lothair. Front side. 50 cm height, 38.5 cm width, 2.3 cm depth. Aachen Cathedral Treasury. About 1000 AD. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croix_de_Lothaire 136
4.3 Textual genres and degree of canonicity in Egyptian culture of the 1st millennium BCE: an oceanic metaphor 146