Laughter in Ancient Rome cover art

Laughter in Ancient Rome

On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up

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Laughter in Ancient Rome

By: Mary Beard
Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
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About this listen

What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear-a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter? What role did it play in the world of the law courts, the imperial palace, or the spectacles of the arena?

Laughter in Ancient Rome explores one of the most intriguing, but also trickiest, of historical subjects. Drawing on a wide range of Roman writing-from essays on rhetoric to a surviving Roman joke book-Mary Beard tracks down the giggles, smirks, and guffaws of the ancient Romans themselves. From ancient "monkey business" to the role of a chuckle in a culture of tyranny, she explores Roman humor from the hilarious, to the momentous, to the surprising. But she also reflects on even bigger historical questions. What kind of history of laughter can we possibly tell? Can we ever really "get" the Romans' jokes?

©2014 The Regents of the University of California (P)2024 Tantor Anthropology Literary History & Criticism Rome Funny Witty

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The narrator’s voice droning on.

Interesting enough 90% of the time but at times a bit tedious and the narrator’s voice although pleasant enough sounded flat and monotonous.

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