«Quid sit emblema?»: evolution of the emblem semantics from antiquity to Andrea Alciat

The article analyses the development of the emblem phenomenon in all its worth, from antiquity up to its rebirth in the Renaissance as the Emblematum liber of A. Alciat. The article traces and emphasizes both particular continuity of the term by renaissance humanists and the ancient sense of an emblem, which was being taken into consideration by Alciat, together with new meanings that it acquired in XVIth century.