Body Language in the Greek and Roman Worlds

edited by Douglas Cairns

Book cover: Body Language in the Greek and Roman Worlds

Extent: 300 pages

Publisher: The Classical Press of Wales

Subjects: Classical Studies

Series: Greece, Rome, & Beyond

Language: English

(Hardback) (Published)

(December 2005)

ISBN: 9781905125012

6.1 x 9.17 inches

Price: $85.00

In stock

(PDF) (Published)

(December 2005)

ISBN: 9781910589649

Price: $85.00

A distinguished cast of scholars discusses models of gesture and non-verbal communication as they apply to Greek and Roman culture, literature and art. Topics include dress and costume in the Homeric poems; the importance of looking, eye-contact, and face-to-face orientation in Greek society; the construction of facial expression in Greek and Roman epic; the significance of gesture and body language in the visual meaning of ancient sculpture; the evidence for gesture and performance style in the texts of ancient drama; the erotic significance of feet and footprints; and the role of gesture in Roman law. The volume seeks to apply a sense of history as well as of theory in interpreting non-verbal communication. It looks both at the cross-cultural and at the culturally specific in its treatment of this important but long-neglected aspect of Classical Studies.

Introduction - D.L. Cairns 1. Bullish looks and sidelong glances: social interaction and the gaze in Greek antiquity - D.L. Cairns 2. Lavinia's blush - F. Cairns 3. On the semantics of ancient Greek smiles - M. Clarke 4. Gesture in early Roman law: empty forms or essential formalities? - A. Corbeill 5. On being seated: gesture and body language in Hellenistic and Roman art - G.M. Davies 6. Eraton Bama (Her Lovely Footsteps): the erotics of feet in ancient Greece - D.B. Levine 7. Body language and the female role player in Greek tragedy and Japanese Kabuki theatre - L. Llewellyn-Jones 8. Nonverbal behaviour on the Roman comic stage - C. Panayotakis 9. Sardanapallus' gesture - I. Papadopoulou 10. Clothes, class, and gender in Homer - H. van Wees

  • Edited by Douglas Cairns