"Embodied Invective" and Identity Construction in Ancient Literature (Mnemosyne, Supplements, 507)

This volume establishes "embodied invective" as a significant new analytical category for understanding Greco-Roman culture. Moving beyond simple insults, the contributors show how ancient writers strategically weaponised the corporeal self―physical traits, habits, and gestures―to undermine the social and moral standing of their targets. Covering material from early iambic poetry to Late Antique epistles, the collection examines how the body functioned as a rhetorical battleground where gender norms, ethnic identities, and social hierarchies were contested. By decoding these "deep structures" of abuse, the volume provides a systematic framework for viewing the human body as a primary site of ancient cultural negotiation and identity performance.

Dennis Pausch, Ph.D. (2003), is Professor of Latin at Marburg and full member of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz. He works on biography and historiography and was part of the research collaboration Invectivity. Constellations and Dynamics of disparagement at Dresden University.
Andreas Serafim, Ph.D. (2013), is Director of the Centre for Hellenic Culture in Cyprus. A prolific scholar of classical rhetoric and culture, he has published five monographs and sixteen edited volumes. His research covers nonverbal behaviour, performance, and persuasion, with a particular focus on the intersections of gender, invective, and social identity. His most recent monograph is Body Behaviour and Identity Construction in Ancient Greek and Roman Literature (Routledge, 2025).
Rafał Toczko, Ph.D (2010), is a University Professor at the Nicolaus Copernicus University (UMK) in Toruń. His research focuses on ancient rhetoric, early Christian polemics, saint Augustine’s works, hagiography and invective. He has led the project "The History and Rhetoric of Invective in Ancient Greek, Roman and Early Christian Polemics" funded by NCN and co-created two databases: www.scrinium.umk.pl and ancient-invective.umk.pl