| Description |
xi, 283 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Series |
Wisconsin studies in classics
|
|
Wisconsin studies in classics.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 262-271) and indexes. |
| Contents |
Public spectacles as broken routine -- Games and liminoid ritual -- Gladiatorial combat -- Extravagant expenditure, conspicuous consumption -- Sociology of public violence -- Social anomaly and public violence -- Political violence and suicide -- Poltitical game rules -- The tactics of political suicide -- Political anomaly and suicide. |
| Summary |
Our taste for blood sport stops short at the bruising clash of football players or the gloved blows of boxers, and the suicide of a politician is no more than a personal tragedy. What, then, are we to make of the ancient Romans, for whom the meaning of sport and politics often depended on death? In this provocative, deeply thoughtful book, Paul Plass shows how the deadly violence of arena sport and political suicide served a social purpose in ancient Rome. His work offers a reminder of the complex uses to which institutionalized violence can be put. |
| Provenance |
Gift of Dr. James H. Poivan, Professor of History, Emeritus. |
| Subject |
Games -- Rome -- History.
|
|
Rome -- Politics and government.
|
|
Rome (Empire) |
|
Politics and government. |
|
Suicide -- Rome.
|
|
Violence in sports -- Rome.
|
| Indexed Term |
Combat sports |
|
Roman Empire |
| Other Form: |
Online version: Plass, Paul, 1933- Game of death in ancient Rome. Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press, c1995 (OCoLC)630869316 |
| ISBN |
0299145700 |
|
9780299145705 |
|
0299145743 |
|
9780299145743 |
|
