ABSTRACT
Apolausis (ἀπόλαυσις, pleasure, enjoyment) possesses a long history in philosophical and psychological writings on human experience. It occupies an intriguing place between physical stimulation, desire and satisfaction, on the one hand, and emotional response, on the other. Not surprisingly, the potential imbrication of apolausis with physical pleasure led some early church Fathers to distrust or reject it; such authors are often suspicious of apolausis as a portal leading to moral corruption. In other instances, however, apolausis was co-opted to connote spiritual enjoyment. This chapter focuses on apolausis outside of a Christian, sacred context, in situations where it assumed mundane significance as a form of physical pleasure. I explore early Byzantine personifications of Apolausis in mosaic and consider them in relation to late antique social practices of bathing and dining that transpired in the spaces where the mosaics were viewed. Employing the writings of the fourth-century CE commentator Nemesios of Emesa and the ca. first-century CE allegory The Tabula of Cebes, I argue that these images of Apolausis functioned didactically, modelling for the viewer how to engage physical pleasure responsibly. Exploring the intersection of apolausis with artistic reception, I demonstrate the potential of art to instruct the viewer in proper comportment and self-control – that is to say in the cultivation and display of paideia.
