Description

Superbly acute and unashamedly Telegraph
Rich and Literary Supplement
An engaging New Yorker
The phenomenal Ms. Beard has written another cracking book, one of her 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 feara 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 writingfrom essays on rhetoric to a surviving Roman joke bookMary 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 humor 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?

Author: Mary Beard
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 03/05/2024
Series: Sather Classical Lectures
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.9lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780520401495
Language: English