Pain Narratives in Greco-Roman Writings

Jacqueline Clarke, Ph.D. (1999), University of Adelaide, is Senior Lecturer in Classics at that university. She has published a monograph and many articles on Roman poetry, including ‘Female Pain in Prudentius’ Peristephanon’ Classical Quarterly 71 (2021) 386-401.Daniel King, D.Phil. (2011), Oxford University, is Senior Leventis Lecturer in the Impact of Greek Culture at Exeter University. He has published widely on the body in antiquity, including Pain Experience in Imperial Greek Literature (OUP, 2018).Han Baltussen, Ph.D. (1993), Utrecht University, is W.W. Hughes Professor of Classics at the University of Adelaide (South Australia). He has published many articles, translations and books on the ancient philosophical traditions, including The Peripatetics. Aristotle’s Heirs (Routledge, 2016).Contributors are: Han Baltussen, Daniel King, Sarah Lawrence, Jean-Christophe Courtil, Georgia Petridou, Orly Lewis, Wei Cheng, Jacqueline Clarke, Fiona McMeekin, Gillian Clark, Jonathan Zecher.

"this is an unusually compelling essay collection, well edited and conceived, with a range of contributors in different career stages and research areas. All chapters are either good or excellent, and the volume as a whole illuminates striking parallels between ancient and modern efforts to communicate suffering. [...] Pain Narratives in Greco-Roman Writings offers a compelling survey of physical and mental suffering across the Greek and Roman worlds. Attuning our ears to new expressions of anguish can allow us to hear, even from this distance, voices that would otherwise remain unheard." James Uden, Boston University, BMCR 2024.04.21

• PrefaceList of Figures and TablesAbbreviationsNotes on Contributors1 Introduction: A New Approach to Pain in AntiquityJacqueline Clarke, Daniel King and Han Baltussen2 Labelling Pain: Early Greek Concepts from Homer to the Hellenistic EraHan Baltussen3 Painful Drinks: Poison and Pain Experience in Nicander’s AlexipharmacaDaniel King4 Emotional Persuasion: Communicating Pain in Seneca the Elder’s ControversiaeSarah Lawrence5 Is Pain Natural? A Study of Stoic PhilosophyJean-Christophe Courtil6 Pain with a PR Problem: Narrating Gout-Induced Pain in the Second SophisticGeorgia Petridou7 Perceiving and Diagnosing Pain according to Archigenes of ApameaOrly Lewis8 Between Aristotle and Stoicism: Alexander of Aphrodisias on the Varieties of PainWei Cheng9 Traumatic Pain and the Transformation of Identity: Prudentius and Ovid ComparedJacqueline Clarke10 Ignatius of Antioch’s Anticipation of Torture: An Alternative Reading of Romans 4–5Fiona McMeekin11 The Bishop’s Case Book: Augustine on PainGillian Clark12 Affective Lexica between Hellenistic Philosophy and Christian TheologyJonathan ZecherIndex