Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beard, Mary, 1955-

Contributor:

GIC Course Text Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Classics.

Local Subjects:

Classics.

Summary:

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. From ancient "monkey business" to the role of a chuckle in a culture of tyranny, Mary Beard explores Roman humor from the hilarious, to the momentous, to the surprising. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introducing Roman Laughter: Dio's "Giggle" and Gnatho's Two Laughs 1

Part 1

2 Questions of Laughter, Ancient and Modern 23

3 The History of Laughter 49

4 Roman Laughter in Latin and Greek 70

Part 2

5 The Orator 99

6 From Emperor to Jester 128

7 Between Human and Animal-Especially Monkeys and Asses 156

8 The Laughter Lover 185.

ISBN:

9780520287587