Walking in Roman Culture
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Description
Walking served as an occasion for the display of power and status in ancient Rome, where great men paraded with their entourages through city streets and elite villa owners strolled with friends in private colonnades and gardens. In this first book-length treatment of the culture of walking in ancient Rome, Timothy O'Sullivan explores the careful attention which Romans paid to the way they moved through their society. He employs a wide range of literary, artistic, and architectural evidence to reveal the crucial role that walking played in the performance of social status, the discourse of the body and the representation of space. By examining how Roman authors depict walking, this book sheds new light on the Romans themselves - not only how they perceived themselves and their experience of the world, but also how they drew distinctions between work and play, mind and body, and republic and empire.
Publication Date
8-2011
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
City
New York
Keywords
Rome, social life, Roman customs, walking, history, identity, group identity, city life, walking in literature, Latin literature
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Classics
Original Publication Information
Cambridge University Press
Recommended Citation
O'Sullivan, Timothy, "Walking in Roman Culture" Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Comments
Table of Contents:
The art of walking -- Seneca on the mind in motion -- Urban walkers on display -- Cicero's legs -- Theoretical travels -- Walking with Odysseus -- Conclusion