Basically there is no fixed meaning for the term „Nachahmung“ Imitation. In order to understand the nuances of the meaning of the term "mimesis" and its different interpretations, it is necessary to take into consideration the connotative extension of this concept. In this work the focus will be particularly on the fields of poetry, art and aesthetics in the 18th century on the theories of Winckelmann, Gottsched and Lenz. Such accentuation arises from the fact that fundamental circunstancies occured through the use of the term „Nachahmung“ in German culture by these theorists, namely the introduction of Greek aesthetics in art by Winckelmann, the acquisition of classical premises of the German poetry by Gottsched and Lenz´s anticipation and foundation of the German literary Realism.