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Laughter in Ancient Rome
On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up
Series: Sather Classical Lectures
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Brief Description
"Superbly acute and unashamedly complex."—The Telegraph "Rich and provocative."—Times Literary Supplement "An engaging exploration."—The New Yorker "The phenomenal Ms. Beard has written another cracking book, one of her best."—The Independent What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty...
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Description
"Superbly acute and unashamedly complex."—The Telegraph
"Rich and provocative."—Times Literary Supplement
"An engaging exploration."—The New Yorker
"The phenomenal Ms. Beard has written another cracking book, one of her best."—The Independent
What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear—a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter? What role did it play in the world of the law courts, the imperial palace, or the spectacles of the arena?
Laughter in Ancient Rome explores one of the most intriguing, but also trickiest, of historical subjects. Drawing on a wide range of Roman writing—from essays on rhetoric to a surviving Roman joke book—Mary Beard tracks down the giggles, smirks, and guffaws of the ancient Romans themselves. From ancient "monkey business" to the role of a chuckle in a culture of tyranny, she explores Roman humour from the hilarious, to the momentous, to the surprising.
But she also reflects on even bigger historical questions. What kind of history of laughter can we possibly tell? Can we ever really "get" the Romans' jokes?
Series: Sather Classical Lectures
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Laughter in Ancient Rome
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Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780520401495
Publisher: University of California Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 05 March 2024
Country: United States
Imprint: University of California Press
Audience: Tertiary education
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 25.0mm
Width: 140.0mm
Height: 216.0mm
Weight: 408g
Pages: 336
About the Author
Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at Cambridge University. Her many books include The Roman Triumph and The Fires of Vesuvius.
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