Votive Body Parts in Greek and Roman Religion

This book analyses hundreds of votive body parts to examine how ideas about the human body changed throughout classical antiquity.

List of contents

1. Introduction: fragments of history; 2. Fragmentation as metaphor: anatomical votives in Classical Greece, fifth-fourth centuries BC; 3. Under the skin: anatomical votives in Republican Italy, fourth-first centuries BC; 4. The anxiety of influence: anatomical votives in Roman Gaul, first century BC-first century AD; 5. Punishing bodies: the Lydian and Phrygian 'propitiatory' stelai, second-third centuries AD; Afterword: revisiting fragmentation.

About the author

Jessica Hughes is a Lecturer in Classical Studies at The Open University, Milton Keynes. She has an MA and PhD in Art History and most of her subsequent research has focused on Greco-Roman art and its reception in later periods.

Summary

This book examines a type of object that was widespread and very popular in classical antiquity - votive offerings in the shape of parts of the human body, using them to explore how beliefs about the body changed throughout the period. Of interest to scholars and students of classics as well as religious studies.

Product details

• Authors: Jessica Hughes, Jessica (The Open University Hughes, Hughes Jessica
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2021
• EAN: 9781316610428
• ISBN: 978-1-316-61042-8
• No. of pages: 233
• Series: Cambridge Classical Studies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Antiquity; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works; Europe, HISTORY / Ancient / General, RELIGION / History, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, History of Religion, Social and cultural history, Ancient History, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, BCE to c 500 CE, BCE period – Protohistory