This chapter focuses on the increasingly ambivalent attitudes towards wonder which arose in Athens in the late fifth and early fourth century BCE. The chapter begins by examining Aristotle’s thoughts about the connections between wonder, language and rhetoric. The perceived power of rhetoric and language to create effects of wonder which destabilise previously clearly drawn boundaries and cultural oppositions is then explored further through examinations of the place of marvels and the marvellous in Aristophanes’ Birds and Thucydides’ History. The association between wonder, Athens and Athenian imperial power in this period is also explored.

This chapter focuses on the increasingly ambivalent attitudes towards wonder which arose in Athens in the late fifth and early fourth century BCE. The chapter begins by examining Aristotle’s thoughts about the connections between wonder, language and rhetoric. The perceived power of rhetoric and language to create effects of wonder which destabilise previously clearly drawn boundaries and cultural oppositions is then explored further through examinations of the place of marvels and the marvellous in Aristophanes’ Birds and Thucydides’ History. The association between wonder, Athens and Athenian imperial power in this period is also explored.

looks at why and how emoji encourage creative expression and documents the many playful ways in which they’re used. It asks why people translate works of literature into them and how swearing in emoji is more to do with language play than actual verbal abuse. It considers these questions within the context of the way that social media is itself encouraging a boom in creativity and user-made content and how emoji culture is very much part of this - and particularly its relation to meme culture. The chapter also looks at how emoji both reflect different aspects of modern culture in their design and are being incorporated within modern culture itself.