Laughter in Ancient Rome

On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up

Bibliographic Data

ID18975469
AuthorsMary Beard (corresponding author)
Year2019
Pages338
Publication date2019-12-31
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueLaughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up (Sather Classical Lectures Book 71) (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of California Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1525/9780520958203
OpenAlexW4251616757
Open LibraryOL26798167M
ISBN9780520958203
LanguageEN
Citations received21

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

Art · Laughter · Literature · History · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies · History and criticism · Latin wit and humor · Rome · Social life and customs · Wit and humor · Wit and humor, history and criticism

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