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Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Beard, Mary, 1955-

Title Laughter in ancient Rome : on joking, tickling, and cracking up / Mary Beard.

Publication Info. Berkeley : University of California Press, 2014.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (x, 319 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates :) : illustrations.
text file
Series Sather classical lectures ; volume seventy-one
The Joan Palevsky imprint in classical literauture
Sather classical lectures ; v. 71.
Joan Palevsky imprint in classical literature.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-300) and index.
Contents Introducing Roman laughter : Dio's "giggle" and Gnatho's two laughs -- Questions of laughter, ancient and modern -- The history of laughter -- Roman laughter in Latin and Greek -- The orator -- From emperor to jester -- Between human and animal, especially monkeys and asses -- The laughter lover.
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?"-- Provided by publisher.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Laughter -- Rome -- History -- To 1500.
Latin wit and humor -- History and criticism.
Latin wit and humor.
Rome -- Social life and customs.
Rome (Empire)
Manners and customs.
Chronological Term To 1500
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History.
Other Form: Print version: Beard, Mary, 1955- Laughter in ancient Rome. 9780520277168 0520277163 (DLC) 2013040999
ISBN 0520958209 (electronic book)
9780520958203 (electronic book)
9780520277168 (hardback ; alkaline paper)
0520277163 (hardback ; alkaline paper)