From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordEkmageion names a medium in which an impression is received.
- In StobaeusThe report on Plato places it among descriptions of matter that include nurse and mother.
- In this edition“Impression-receiving medium” is more precise here than “mold,” which can suggest that the recipient supplies the shape itself.
- A place to beginThe medium receives forms alongside the metaphors of nursing and motherhood.
- English renderings
- impression-receiving medium; matrix
Meaning
Ekmageion names a medium in which an impression is received. Here receptivity, rather than a fixed shape imposed by the medium, is the decisive feature.
Use in the book
The report on Plato places it among descriptions of matter that include nurse and mother. Matter receives forms while lacking determinate shape in its own nature. The image helps explain how a succession of configurations can appear in a recipient without making that recipient one of the configurations.
Places to read
- I.11.3.2The medium receives forms alongside the metaphors of nursing and motherhood.
Translation in this edition
“Impression-receiving medium” is more precise here than “mold,” which can suggest that the recipient supplies the shape itself.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 131. The medium receives an impression; it is not an independent agent stamping forms upon other things.