Rome, Pollution and Propriety: Dirt, Disease and Hygiene in the Eternal City from Antiquity to Modernity

Description

Rome, Pollution and Propriety brings together scholars from a range of disciplines in order to examine the historical continuity of dirt, disease and hygiene in one environment, and to explore the development and transformation of these ideas alongside major chapters in the city's history, such as early Roman urban development, Roman pagan religion, the medieval Church, the Renaissance, the unification of Italy and the advent of Fascism. This volume sets out to identify the defining characteristics, functions and discourses of pollution in Rome in such realms as disease and medicine, death and burial, sexuality and virginity, prostitution, purity and absolution, personal hygiene and morality, criminality, bodies and cleansing, waste disposal, decay, ruins and urban renovation, as well as studying the means by which that pollution was policed and controlled.

Mark Bradley is Associate Professor of Ancient History at the University of Nottingham. His main research and teaching interests are in the visual and intellectual culture of imperial Rome, and his recent work has been particularly concerned with exploring cultural differences in perception, aesthetics and sensibilities. His first book, Colour and Meaning in Ancient Rome (Cambridge, 2009), was longlisted for the 2011 Warwick Prize for Writing, and he is the author of several articles in the field of Roman visual culture. He is Editor of The Papers of the British School at Rome and is currently working on a book on foul bodies in Ancient Rome.

'A sophisticated analysis ... within this volume Rome has become an excellent test study for the examination of theoretical approaches to pollution and purity that should be sought after by students and scholars in anthropology, classical art and archaeology, and social and cultural history.' Bryn Mawr Classical Review '... entertaining and thought-provoking ... provides a novel way of thinking about the city of Rome, both past and present.' Zena Kamash, The Journal of Roman Studies 'Rome, Pollution, and Propriety is a series of beautiful chapters offering a collection of inspiring reflections on Rome and its dark sides, approached through case studies spread across two millennia.' Antonella Romano, Isis