Modules

Cultures of the Body in the Roman Empire (CLAM079)

15 credits

The body is often assumed to be a natural, unchanging, biologically and genetically determined thing; this module challenges that view by unpacking the complex history of the body in the Roman Empire. It examines the ways in which different cultural discourses approached the male and female body in the Roman Empire, including medicine, philosophy, sporting activity, artistic representation, rhetorical and fictional literature. You will explore not only how different views of the body emerged in different cultural contexts across the Empire, but how these competing approaches intersected and informed one another to construct the ancient physical habitus.