A History of Private Life: I - From Pagan Rome to Byzantium

Veyne, Paul; Paul Veyne (Edited by); Philippe Aries and Georges Duby (General Editors); Arthur Goldhammer (Translated by)

ISBN 10: 0674399749 / ISBN 13: 9780674399747

Published by The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA & London, 1987

About this Item

670 pp. Solidly bound copy with minimal external wear, crisp pages and clean text. Slightly creased back cover along fore edge. Small stain on fore edge.

Seller Inventory # 4BislCh0025

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A History of Private Life: I - From Pagan Rome to Byzantium
• Publisher: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA & London
• Publication Date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674399749
• ISBN 13: 9780674399747
• Binding: Trade Paperback
• Edition: 1st Harvard Univ Press Ppbk Ed/9th Print
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Classical Studies & Literature
  • History, Ancient History & Studies
  • Academic, Scholarly, Research

About this title

Synopsis

First of the widely celebrated and sumptuously illustrated series, this book reveals in intimate detail what life was really like in the ancient world. Behind the vast panorama of the pagan Roman empire, the reader discovers the intimate daily lives of citizens and slaves―from concepts of manhood and sexuality to marriage and the family, the roles of women, chastity and contraception, techniques of childbirth, homosexuality, religion, the meaning of virtue, and the separation of private and public spaces.

The emergence of Christianity in the West and the triumph of Christian morality with its emphasis on abstinence, celibacy, and austerity is startlingly contrasted with the profane and undisciplined private life of the Byzantine Empire. Using illuminating motifs, the authors weave a rich, colorful fabric ornamented with the results of new research and the broad interpretations that only masters of the subject can provide.

About the Authors

Paul Veyne is Professor at the Collège de France.

Georges Duby, a member of the Académie Française, is Professor of Medieval History at the Collège de France.