The volume argues that the parenthesis, a rhetorical figure of speech and thought, can offer fresh insights into classical reception studies. By using the analogy of the parenthesis, we may conceptualize the received past as inserted into the present while remaining somehow apart from the present. Hence Graeco-Roman antiquity is considered as being simultaneously ‘in’ and ‘to the side of’ the receptive work. Along these lines, the volume reviews parenthesis as a heuristic tool in ancient and modern cultures, by applying it to various artistic media such as literature, theatre, art and cinema and to disciplines such as scholarship and translation. The 22 chapters of the volume are written by scholars specializing in classics, aesthetics, comparative literature and cultural studies, thus highlighting the ‘parentheses of reception’ as a fascinating topic that may attract readers from different disciplines and academic fields.