Ancient Greek Idyll Fragments, Translation, and Outline Illustrations: Sympoesie and Symphilosophie in the Athenaeum (1798–1800)

The Athenaeum , the only production of the early Romantics as a group , is often only seen as a publishing platform rather than a work of art in its own right. Yet the contributors’ unique emphasis on the unity of spirit reveals that a collective work takes shape on the basis of a coherent aesthetic principle— Sympoesie or Symphilosophie . The way in which its contributions interrelate to one another demonstrates how the journal materializes its own ideals of sociability and collectivity through the careful curation and cultivation of a “romantisch” community. The juxtaposition of how ancient Greek idyll fragments, translation, and John Flaxman’s outline illustrations are treated in the journal exemplifies this process of aesthetic approximation as a social practice as part of the journal’s production. By refusing to be read in isolation, the individual parts of the Athenaeum coalesce, allowing for a holistic approach to the journal and the possibility of seeing it as the epitome of early Romantic aesthetic principles and practice.