Changing Bodies, Changing Meanings

This beautifully illustrated book is the first to place at its centre the emotional and experiential aspect of the body in antiquity.This collection of papers gathers together expertise in archaeology, classical literature, patristics and the cultural reception of antiquity to present a fully-rounded picture of the cultural status of the human body in the ancient world. The essays, unified by the theme of the changing body, address the diversity and complexity of attitudes, practices...
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This beautifully illustrated book is the first to place at its centre the emotional and experiential aspect of the body in antiquity.This collection of papers gathers together expertise in archaeology, classical literature, patristics and the cultural reception of antiquity to present a fully-rounded picture of the cultural status of the human body in the ancient world. The essays, unified by the theme of the changing body, address the diversity and complexity of attitudes, practices and contexts to explore the plurality of the ancient body. They examine how the different ways in which the body altered could be a means of conveying ideologies and of experiencing the self. A wide variety of times and places within antiquity are discussed, including classical Greece, Augustan Rome, New Kingdom Egypt and the world of late antiquity.This book is the first to place at its centre the emotional and experiential aspect of the body in antiquity. The interdisciplinary interests of the contributors, the application of current theoretical perspectives and the utilisation of many sources never before translated into a modern language, make this work a unique contribution to a growing field of enquiry.