Su scatole e armadi. Dialogo intorno al cosmo e ai suoi segni a partire dal II sec. d.C.

The aim of this paper is to critically read and reconstruct the semantic history of symbol and simulacrum starting from some late ancient texts not particularly known and focused on the necessity of signifying the whole of cosmos. I would like to point out the most concrete models, such as boxes and closets, which inspired theories concerning how a symbol or a simulacrum – rather, a particular simulacrum such as agalma is – semiotically works. In my view, both the material models (boxes and closets) and the ideal object (cosmos) of these signs let one draw a semiotic history grounded on a perspective of continuity from the ancient notion of symbol until Renaissance representation of the cosmos.