Laughter in ancient Rome : on joking, tickling, and cracking up

Resource Information

The work Laughter in ancient Rome : on joking, tickling, and cracking up represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Randwick City Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Laughter in ancient Rome : on joking, tickling, and cracking up

Title remainder

on joking, tickling, and cracking up

Statement of responsibility

Mary Beard

Creator

• Beard, Mary, 1955-

Author

• Beard, Mary, 1955-

Subject

• Latin wit and humor -- History and criticism
• Laughter -- Rome -- History -- To 1500
• Rome -- Social life and customs

Language

eng

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?"--

Member of

• Sather classical lectures

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

937

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

Sather classical lectures

Series volume

71