Includes bibliographical references (pages 464-512) and indexes
Contents:
Introduction : bringing the marginal to the center -- Getting down to the nitty-gritty : provenance, date, archaeological context -- Looking back and forth : history of the archaeological scholarship -- Reading about the body : delectation by deriding the ugly? -- Western thinking and the concept of the grotesque body -- The Greeks and their humor : kindred burlesque scenes and negotiations of worlds upside down -- Looking at the body of the material -- Coming full circle
Summary:
"Figurines exhibiting a distorted appearance were exceptionally a la mode in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Archaeologists have attributed a wide gamut of functions to them. The underlying common denominator of all the propounded theories is that the purpose of these images was the lampoon and degradation of the dregs of society and of the physically deformed. This book argues that such statuettes conversely carried deeply positive meanings"--Page 4 of cover
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.