Share
Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking up (Sather Classical Lectures) (in English)
Mary Beard
(Author)
·
University of California Press
· Hardcover
Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking up (Sather Classical Lectures) (in English) - Beard, Mary
$ 20.97
$ 29.95
You save: $ 8.99
Choose the list to add your product or create one New List
✓ Product added successfully to the Wishlist.
Go to My WishlistsIt will be shipped from our warehouse between
Thursday, May 16 and
Friday, May 17.
You will receive it anywhere in United States between 1 and 3 business days after shipment.
Synopsis "Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking up (Sather Classical Lectures) (in English)"
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 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?
