Buch, Englisch, Band 23, 358 Seiten, Format (B × H): 211 mm x 274 mm, Gewicht: 1247 g
Buch, Englisch, Band 23, 358 Seiten, Format (B × H): 211 mm x 274 mm, Gewicht: 1247 g
Reihe: Babesch Supplements: Annual Pa
ISBN: 978-90-429-2897-8
Verlag: PEETERS PUB
This volume is the outcome of the first conference to take place on the
topic of Greek baths and bathing culture, a central but hitherto
neglected area in the field of ancient studies. Fifteen papers by an
international group of archaeologists, art historians and ancient
historians discuss Greek bathing culture from a socio-historical and
cultural-anthropological perspective, resulting in a comprehensive
reassessment that elucidates the sophistication of both the architecture
and the culture of bathing throughout the Greek world.
Individual papers examine bathing in the context of science, medicine
and the cultural discourses coded in images on vases, while the majority
focus on the archaeological evidence itself, as the crucial component in
this reassessment that removes Greek baths from the traditional category
of ‘primitive predecessors’ to Roman baths. From Greece and Egypt in the
east, to Sicily, southern Italy and France in the west, new information
from recent excavations is brought to bear on a wide range of related
issues, including urban contexts, regional variations in experimental
design and construction, innovations in technology, and the social
meaning of the rise of bathing culture in the Hellenistic period. This
better understanding of Greek baths adds a crucial element to the much
debated question of the relationship between Greek and Roman bathing
culture. This book also provides the first comprehensive catalog of all
known Greek public baths (balaneia), including descriptions, plans and
bibliographies, as a major reference tool for future comparative
research on ancient bathing culture and beyond. catalog and papers
combined make this a rich study of a topic of newly recognized
significance in the ancient world.
