Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up (Sather Classical Lectures) (Sather Classical Lectures, 71, Band 71)

Laughter in Ancient Rome is a masterwork simultaneously a sophisticated work of historical and literary scholarship and an unputdownable read. Beard never loses sight of the specificities of Roman culture yet she encompasses an extraordinary range of ancient and modern theorizing. Her book will appeal to psychologists and anthropologists as well as to classicists and indeed anyone who has ever thought about the much-debated question of why we laugh. --William V. Harris William R. Shepherd Professor of History at Columbia University and author of Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquit y With a bounty of suggestive and unfailingly intelligent conclusions about the situation of laughter within ancient Roman culture Beard's remarkable learning is displayed on every page. Laughter in Ancient Rome is unmistakably a work of scholarship but it is also an unpretentious and inviting exploration available to anyone who is interested. As a literary attainment this book is marvelous. --Dylan Sailor Associate Professor of Classics at University of California Berkeley