Body Behaviour and Identity Construction in Ancient Greek and Roman Literature

<p>This book offers the first systematic up-to-date <a>cross-cultural and detailed </a>study of “semi-volitional bodily behaviour” (sneezing spitting coughing burping vomiting defecating etc.) in the classical world.</p><p>Examining verse and prose texts fragments and scholia from the age of Homer to the second century AD the central argument put forward in this volume is that semi-volitional bodily acts have the potential to betray individual or collective (ethnic/civic and cultural) identities centred on a variety of different themes. Discussions specifically focus on the following five aspects of the interplay between semi-volitional body language and identity construction: sexuality and gender; the link between sexuality and socioeconomic identity of individuals or groups; the embodied markers of civic/ethnic and cultural collectives and the contrast between “we-ness” and “otherness”; <i>?thos</i> and emotions; and how dietary habits and illnesses indicate the “somo-psychosocial” identity of individuals or groups. The book offers a comprehensive understanding of representations of the human body in ancient Greece and Rome while reopening the complex and fascinating discussion about the relationship between intention mind body and identity.</p><p>This book offers a fascinating study suitable for students and scholars of classics and ancient Greek and Roman history. It is also of interest to those in a variety of other disciplines including body culture studies gender and sexuality studies and performance studies as well as sociology anthropology cognitive medicine and the history of medicine.</p>