Laughter in ancient Rome : on joking, tickling, and cracking up / Mary Beard.
"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?...
Saved in:
| Online Access: |
Full Text (via ProQuest) |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Berkeley :
University of California Press,
2014.
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| Series: | Sather classical lectures ;
v. 71. Joan Palevsky imprint in classical literature. |
| Subjects: |
| 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. 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?"-- |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (x, 319 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-300) and index. |
| ISBN: | 0520958209 9780520958203 9781306662550 1306662559 0520287584 9780520287587 |
| Language: | In English. |
| Source of Description, Etc. Note: | Print version record. |