The History Written on the Classical Greek Body (The Wiles Lectures) - Softcover

Osborne, Robin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521176700 ISBN 13: 9780521176705

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2011

Synopsis

This book challenges historians to come to terms with the distortions that they systematically introduce into their work by their reliance on what has been written on paper without looking at what was and was not written on the body. This book is concerned with the ways in which texts relating to classical Greece, and in particular to classical Athens, classified people and with the extent to which those classifications could be seen by the eye. It compares the qualities distinguished in texts to those distinguished in sculpture and painted pottery, and emphasises the frequent invisibility of the categories upon which historians have laid most stress – the citizen, the free person, the foreigner, even the god. The frequent impossibility of seeing who belonged to which category has major political, social and theological implications which are explored here, as well as potentially revolutionary implications for all future historical writing.

About this title

Review:

"His aim is not to produce a history of the Greek body, but rather to use the body as a lens to bring into focus the biases and distortions inherent in more traditional text-centered histories."
-- Zachary Biles, New England Classical Journal

Book Description:

Exposes the distortions systematically introduced by historians through relying on texts without looking at what was and was not written on the body. It shows that in classical Athens, on the basis of visual evidence, the categories advertised in texts do not match those which could be operated in life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0521176700
• ISBN 13: 9780521176705
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 276