Disabilities and the Disabled in the Roman World

Disabilities and the Disabled in the Roman World PDF Author: Christian Laes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316730093
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Get Book

Book Description
Almost fifteen per cent of the world's population today experiences some form of mental or physical disability and society tries to accommodate their needs. But what was the situation in the Roman world? Was there a concept of disability? How were the disabled treated? How did they manage in their daily lives? What answers did medical doctors, philosophers and patristic writers give for their problems? This book, the first monograph on the subject in English, explores the medical and material contexts for disability in the ancient world, and discusses the chances of survival for those who were born with a handicap. It covers the various sorts of disability: mental problems, blindness, deafness and deaf-muteness, speech impairment and mobility impairment, and includes discussions of famous instances of disability from the ancient world, such as the madness of Emperor Caligula, the stuttering of Emperor Claudius and the blindness of Homer.

Disabilities and the Disabled in the Roman World

Disabilities and the Disabled in the Roman World PDF Author: Christian Laes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316730093
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Get Book

Book Description
Almost fifteen per cent of the world's population today experiences some form of mental or physical disability and society tries to accommodate their needs. But what was the situation in the Roman world? Was there a concept of disability? How were the disabled treated? How did they manage in their daily lives? What answers did medical doctors, philosophers and patristic writers give for their problems? This book, the first monograph on the subject in English, explores the medical and material contexts for disability in the ancient world, and discusses the chances of survival for those who were born with a handicap. It covers the various sorts of disability: mental problems, blindness, deafness and deaf-muteness, speech impairment and mobility impairment, and includes discussions of famous instances of disability from the ancient world, such as the madness of Emperor Caligula, the stuttering of Emperor Claudius and the blindness of Homer.

The Eye of the Beholder

The Eye of the Beholder PDF Author: Robert Garland
Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
ISBN: 9781853997372
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
This engrossing book was the first ever investigation into the plight of the disabled and deformed in Graeco-Roman society, drawing on a wealth of material, including literary texts, medical tracts, vase paintings, sculpture, mythology and ethnography. It is now issued in paperback for the first time with a new preface and updated bibliography.

Disabilities in Roman Antiquity

Disabilities in Roman Antiquity PDF Author: Christian Laes
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004251251
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 332

Get Book

Book Description
This is the first volume ever to systematically study the subject of disabilities in the Roman world. The contributors examine the topic a capite ad calcem, from head to toe. Chapters deal with mental and intellectual disability, alcoholism, visual impairment, speech disorders, hermaphroditism, monstrous births, mobility problems, osteology and visual representations of disparate bodies. The authors fully engage with literary, papyrological, and epigraphical sources, while iconography and osteo-archaeology are taken into account. Also the late ancient evidence is taken into account. Refraining from a radical constructionist standpoint, the contributors acknowledge the possibility of discovering significant differences in the way impairment was culturally viewed or assessed.

Disability in Antiquity

Disability in Antiquity PDF Author: Christian Laes
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317231546
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 490

Get Book

Book Description
This volume is a major contribution to the field of disability history in the ancient world. Contributions from leading international scholars examine deformity and disability from a variety of historical, sociological and theoretical perspectives, as represented in various media. The volume is not confined to a narrow view of ‘antiquity’ but includes a large number of pieces on ancient western Asia that provide a broad and comparative view of the topic and enable scholars to see this important topic in the round. Disability in Antiquity is the first multidisciplinary volume to truly map out and explore the topic of disability in the ancient world and create new avenues of thought and research.

Difference and Disability in the Medieval Islamic World

Difference and Disability in the Medieval Islamic World PDF Author: Kristina Richardson
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 074864508X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book

Book Description
Medieval Arab notions of physical difference can feel singularly arresting for modern audiences. Did you know that blue eyes, baldness, bad breath and boils were all considered bodily 'blights', as were cross eyes, lameness and deafness? What assumptions about bodies influenced this particular vision of physical difference? How did blighted people view their own bodies? Through close analyses of anecdotes, personal letters, (auto)biographies, erotic poetry, non-binding legal opinions, diaristic chronicles and theological tracts, the cultural views and experiences of disability and difference in the medieval Islamic world are brought to life.

The Eye of the Beholder

The Eye of the Beholder PDF Author: Robert Garland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Get Book

Book Description
In the eyes of the ancient Greeks and Romans, physical imperfections and infirmities were comparable to marks of the barbarian. The distinguished historian Robert Garland offers the first detailed investigation of the plight of those Greeks and Romans who, owing either to deformity or to disability, did not meet their society's exacting criteria for the ideal human form. Drawing on classical drama and poetry, historical works, medical tracts, vase painting and sculpture, mythology, and ethnography, Garland examines the high incidence of disability and deformity among the Greek and Roman population. From the deaf, the blind, and the lame to hunchbacks, dwarfs, and giants, to those even more severely disabled, he explores the lives of the handicapped and their place in ancient society. Garland discusses medical treatments, jobs available to the disabled, religious and scientific explanations for congenital deformities, and the prevalence of belief in monstrous races. And he analyzes how, through public rituals, social institutions, literature, and art, ancient society as a whole utilized deformity for its own purposes. The handicapped served as living testimony to the power of divine retribution, and were also regarded as scapegoats, portents, embodiments of evil, objects of amusement, and proof of nature's ingenuity. Referring frequently to the condition of the disabled in contemporary society, The Eye of the Beholder contributes an important chapter in the history of the treatment of the disabled and offers a revealing introduction to a relatively neglected aspect of ancient life.

Disabilities and the Disabled in the Roman World

Disabilities and the Disabled in the Roman World PDF Author: Christian Laes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316732029
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

Get Book

Book Description
Almost fifteen per cent of the world's population today experiences some form of mental or physical disability and society tries to accommodate their needs. But what was the situation in the Roman world? Was there a concept of disability? How were the disabled treated? How did they manage in their daily lives? What answers did medical doctors, philosophers and patristic writers give for their problems? This, the first monograph on the subject in English, explores the medical and material contexts for disability in the ancient world, and discusses the chances of survival for those who were born with a handicap. It covers the various sorts of disability: mental problems, blindness, deafness and deaf-muteness, speech impairment and mobility impairment, and includes discussions of famous instances of disability from the ancient world, such as the madness of Emperor Caligula, the stuttering of Emperor Claudius and the blindness of Homer.

Disability Studies and the Classical Body

Disability Studies and the Classical Body PDF Author: Ellen Adams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000381382
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book

Book Description
By triangulating the Greco-Roman world, classical reception, and disability studies, this book presents a range of approaches that reassess and reimagine traditional themes, from the narrative voice to sensory studies. It argues that disability and disabled people are the ‘forgotten other’ of not just Classics, but also the Humanities more widely. Beyond the moral merits of rectifying this neglect, this book also provides a series of approaches and case studies that demonstrate the intellectual value of engaging with disability studies as classicists and exploring the classical legacy in the medical humanities. The book is presented in four parts: ‘Communicating and controlling impairment, illness and pain’; ‘Using, creating and showcasing disability supports and services’; ‘Real bodies and retrieving senses: disability in the ritual record’; and ‘Classical reception as the gateway between Classics and disability studies’. Chapters by scholars from different academic backgrounds are carefully paired in these sections in order to draw out further contrasts and nuances and produce a sum that is more than the parts. The volume also explores how the ancient world and its reception have influenced medical and disability literature, and how engagements with disabled people might lead to reinterpretations of familiar case studies, such as the Parthenon. This book is primarily intended for classicists interested in disabled people in the Greco-Roman past and in how modern disability studies may offer insights into and reinterpretations of historic case studies. It will also be of interest to those working in medical humanities, sensory studies, and museum studies, and those exploring the wider tension between representation and reality in ancient contexts. As such, it will appeal to people in the wider Humanities who, notwithstanding any interest in how disabled people are represented in literature, art, and cinema, have had less engagement with disability studies and the lived experience of people with impairments. FREE CHAPTER AVAILABLE! Please go to https://bit.ly/3pzpO7n to access the Introduction, which we have made freely available.

A Cultural History of Disability in Antiquity

A Cultural History of Disability in Antiquity PDF Author: Christian Laes
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350028533
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Get Book

Book Description
Though there was not even a word for, or a concept of, disability in Antiquity, a considerable part of the population experienced physical or mental conditions that put them at a disadvantage. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, from literary texts and legal sources to archaeological and iconographical evidence as well as comparative anthropology, this volume uniquely examines contexts and conditions of disability in the ancient world. An essential resource for researchers, scholars and students of history, literature, culture and education, A Cultural History of Disability in Antiquity explores such themes and topics as: atypical bodies; mobility impairment; chronic pain and illness; blindness; deafness; speech; learning difficulties; and mental health.

The Oxford Handbook of Disability History

The Oxford Handbook of Disability History PDF Author: Michael A. Rembis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190234954
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 553

Get Book

Book Description
This Handbook brings together twenty-nine authors from around the world, each expert in a different area within the history of disability. This collection of new and original essays forms a benchmark in a field of historical inquiry that has been growing and maturing over the last thirty years. It is the first book to gather critical essays that incorporate studies from South and East Asia, eastern and western Europe, Australia, North America, and the Arab world. This Handbook is unique among other disability history texts in that it engages simultaneously in methodological and historiographic debates and in a further articulation and analysis of the lived experiences of disabled people.