Disability and Healing in Greek and Roman Myth
Disability and Healing in Greek and Roman Myth
Disability and Healing in Greek and Roman Myth takes its readers to stories, in versions known and often unknown. Disabilities and diseases are dealt with from head to toe: from mental disorder, over impairment of vision, hearing and speaking, to mobility problems and wider issues that pertain to the whole body. This Element places the stories in context, with due attention to close reading, and pays careful attention to concepts and terminology regarding disability. It sets Graeco-Roman mythology in the wider context of the ancient world, including Christianity. One of the focuses is the people behind the stories and their 'lived' religion. It also encourages its readers to 'live' their ancient mythology.
Reviews & endorsements
'Laes' approach is to be commended for condensing the sheer amount of evidence and explaining the complexities of this interdisciplinary field in an engaging and personable style. The book enriches the field and, from it, readers either well-versed in or new to the field will encounter familiar and novel evidence for embodied and metaphysical experiences, which produced different meanings interpreted through a variety of factors and contexts.' Alyce R. Cannon, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Product details
April 2024Hardback
9781009494663
82 pages
235 × 155 × 10 mm
0.28kg
Not yet published - available from June 2025
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Setting the scene: disabilities, myths, and religion
- 2. Disabled gods and heroes 'from head to toe
- 3. Other 'oddities': monsters, twins, dwarfs and old age
- 4. Purity and wholesomeness for priests and cultic servants?
- 5. The role of Christianity and monotheism
- 6. Conclusion: disability as anachronism or analogy?
- References.
