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Loading... A History of Private Life, Volume 1: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium (1985)by Paul Veyne (Editor), Georges Duby (Editor)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. 3.5 stars ( ) Dense, interesting, uneven. I didn’t realize this was translated from French. I don’t think I’ve reached for the dictionary this often in quite a while. Much more like a textbook than I was expecting, it’s a collection of essays, not the History Channel overview I was expecting. As someone who hasn’t studied much of this time it did give me a completely different perspective, although I suspect everyone would not agree with the picture presented here. I found the chapters on Rome enlightening and fascinating. This book brings home the brutality of daily Roman life, especially with its descriptions of abandoned infants left to die by the side of the road. It is important when looking at the merits of the Greek and Roman cultures whose heritage we have inherited to take off our rose-colored glasses and see the flip-side as well. This book reveals a lot of history overlooked elsewhere. no reviews | add a review
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First of the widely celebrated and sumptuously illustrated series, this book reveals in intimate detail what life was really like in the ancient world. Behind the vast panorama of the pagan Roman empire, the reader discovers the intimate daily lives of citizens and slaves--from concepts of manhood and sexuality to marriage and the family, the roles of women, chastity and contraception, techniques of childbirth, homosexuality, religion, the meaning of virtue, and the separation of private and public spaces. The emergence of Christianity in the West and the triumph of Christian morality with its emphasis on abstinence, celibacy, and austerity is startlingly contrasted with the profane and undisciplined private life of the Byzantine Empire. Using illuminating motifs, the authors weave a rich, colorful fabric ornamented with the results of new research and the broad interpretations that only masters of the subject can provide. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)390.009Social sciences Customs, Etiquette, Folklore Customs and folklore Customs; Costumes; Folklore Customs; Costumes; FolkloreLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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