The World through Roman Eyes

The culmination of a project aimed at showcasing in a systematic way the potential of applying anthropological perspectives to classical studies this volume highlights the fundamental contribution this approach has to make to our understanding of ancient Roman culture. Through the close study of themes such as myth polytheism sacrifice magic space kinship the gift friendship economics animals plants riddles metaphors and images in Roman society (often in comparison with Greece) - where the texts of ancient culture are allowed to speak in their own terms and where the experience of the natives (rather than the horizon of the observer) is privileged - a rich panorama emerges of the worldview beliefs and deep structures that shaped and guided this culture.