The history written on the classical Greek body / Robin Osborne.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2011.Description: xv, 260 p. : ill. ; 25 cmISBN:
  • 9781107003200 (hbk.)
  • 9780521176705 (pbk.)
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 938.0072 22
LOC classification:
  • DF78 .O83 2011
Other classification:
  • HIS002000
Online resources:
Partial contents:
Writing history on the classical body -- The appearance of the classical Greek body -- The distinguished body -- The citizen body -- Foreign bodies -- Dirty bodies -- Godsbodies -- Telling bodies.
Summary: "This book challenges historians of all periods 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. Historians use textual evidence to try to understand what people did in the past. But in interpreting that textual evidence they make assumptions about what past peoples could see. In particular they make assumptions about the way in which the classifications of language were visible to the eye, as well as conceivable in the mind. 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 with those distinguished in sculpture and painted pottery and emphasizes 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 variously explored here. It also has implications for how history is written which go far beyond the case of classical Greece. Nothing short of a revolution in what historians are prepared to treat as source material will be required to take account of the findings of this book"--
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Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Circulating Philip Becker Goetz Library DF78 .O83 2011 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available

Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-248) and index.

Writing history on the classical body -- The appearance of the classical Greek body -- The distinguished body -- The citizen body -- Foreign bodies -- Dirty bodies -- Godsbodies -- Telling bodies.

"This book challenges historians of all periods 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. Historians use textual evidence to try to understand what people did in the past. But in interpreting that textual evidence they make assumptions about what past peoples could see. In particular they make assumptions about the way in which the classifications of language were visible to the eye, as well as conceivable in the mind. 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 with those distinguished in sculpture and painted pottery and emphasizes 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 variously explored here. It also has implications for how history is written which go far beyond the case of classical Greece. Nothing short of a revolution in what historians are prepared to treat as source material will be required to take account of the findings of this book"--

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