Body Language in the Greek and Roman Worlds

by Douglas Cairns (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781905125012
Publisher:	Classical Press of Wales, The
Publication date:	12/31/2005
Series:	Greece, Rome, & Beyond
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.17(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Douglas Cairns is Professor of Classics in the University of Edinburgh. He has published widely on Greek literature and thought, especially on the emotions. His publications include Aidos: The psychology and ethics of honour and shame in Greek literature (1993) and (ed.) Oxford Readings in Homer's Iliad (2001). For the Classical Press of Wales he has edited (with R.A. Knox) Law, Rhetoric, and Comedy: Essays in honour of D.M. Mac Dowell (2004) and (with V. Liapis) Dionysalexandros: Essays ... in honour of A. F. Garvie (2006).

Table of Contents

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