Valerie M. Hope - Böcker

This innovative volume draws on recent research in archaeology, ancient history and the history of medicine to discuss how people in the ancient world understood and dealt with illness and death in the urban environment.

This innovative volume draws on recent research in archaeology, ancient history and the history of medicine to discuss how people in the ancient world understood and dealt with illness and death in the urban environment.

War as Spectacle examines the display of armed conflict in classical antiquity and its impact in the modern world. The contributors address the following questions: how and why was war conceptualized as a spectacle in our surviving ancient Greek and Latin sources? How has this view of war been adapted in post-classical contexts and to what purpose? This collection of essays engages with the motif of war as spectacle through a variety of theoretical and methodological pathways and frameworks. They include the investigation of the portrayal of armed conflict in ancient Greek and Latin Literature, History and Material Culture, as well as the reception of these ancient narratives and models in later periods in a variety of media. The collection also investigates how classical models contribute to contemporary debates about modern wars, including the interrogation of propaganda and news coverage.Embracing an interdisciplinary approach to the study of ancient warfare and its impact, the volume looks at a variety of angles and perspectives, including visual display and its exploitation for political capital, the function of internal and external audiences, ideology and propaganda and the commentary on war made possible by modern media. The reception of the theme in other cultures and eras demonstrates its continued relevance and the way antiquity is used to justify as well as to critique later conflicts.

To date, mourning has not featured prominently in studies of ancient Roman society, and this book redresses this by presenting a comprehensive analysis of who mourners were and what mourners did, as well as investigating the social, cultural and ritual significance of mourning. It brings together varied evidence, ranging from literature and art to epigraphy, which helps to illustrate the rituals of mourning. Valerie M. Hope addresses fundamental questions about how mourning was expressed, displayed, performed and experienced via the body, and in turn what mourning can reveal about Roman society.In previous literature on the topic, roles played by mourners in funeral rituals and commemorative acts may be acknowledged, but there has been little engagement with the varied emotional and physical behaviours of mourners. When mourning has been considered, the emphasis has predominantly fallen on gender and specific literary genres. There have hitherto been few attempts to unite the diverse evidence for Roman mourning to consider different literary genres simultaneously or to evaluate how mourning was presented through material culture. The evaluation of social expectations, legal regulations and idealised roles, across a diverse evidence base and time frame, make this volume the first full and systematic study of mourning in the Roman world.

War as Spectacle examines the display of armed conflict in classical antiquity and its impact in the modern world. The contributors address the following questions: how and why was war conceptualized as a spectacle in our surviving ancient Greek and Latin sources? How has this view of war been adapted in post-classical contexts and to what purpose? This collection of essays engages with the motif of war as spectacle through a variety of theoretical and methodological pathways and frameworks. They include the investigation of the portrayal of armed conflict in ancient Greek and Latin Literature, History and Material Culture, as well as the reception of these ancient narratives and models in later periods in a variety of media. The collection also investigates how classical models contribute to contemporary debates about modern wars, including the interrogation of propaganda and news coverage.Embracing an interdisciplinary approach to the study of ancient warfare and its impact, the volume looks at a variety of angles and perspectives, including visual display and its exploitation for political capital, the function of internal and external audiences, ideology and propaganda and the commentary on war made possible by modern media. The reception of the theme in other cultures and eras demonstrates its continued relevance and the way antiquity is used to justify as well as to critique later conflicts.