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Description
Death ritual in Classical antiquity contained inherent elements of theatricality that involved performing participants and multiple layers of viewing in distinct phases, both private and public, centered upon a corpse. Even the moment of death could be staged, most notably in the arena as combat or execution. Today, modern reenactments of deaths such as Christ's or Caesar's perpetuate this theatricality. The resultant corpse is then at the center of an audience's attention: during preparation for burial, on display at a wake, at the funeral, in procession, and finally at disposal. Commemorative monuments and rituals extend the identity of the dead and an audience's focus on them.
This book explores the various stagings of death and the dead in Classical antiquity and their reception: how the ancient dead are staged and viewed as objects of the audience's gaze in funerary ritual and commemoration; executions; amphitheatre and spectacle entertainment; fatal charades; super-human feats, and museum exhibitions in which the actual dead replace artistic representations, ancient and Neoclassical, of the dead and dying as art. These performances, ancient and modern, by the dead have sated bloodlust, instilled fear, and stirred the curiosity of captive audiences. The corpse is the show!
Accessibility Information
Additional accessibility information
- EPUB 3.0
- Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
- WCAG level AA
- WCAG v2.2 compliant
- accessibility@bloomsbury.com
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The publication contains no hazards
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- Has alternative text descriptions for images
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Language tagging provided
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Playing Dead
Funeral Stages
Funeral Processions
Staged Funerals
Staging Dead Emperors
Chapter 2: Arenas of Death
Staging Executions
Crucifixions
Assassination Performances
Execution Performances
Arenas of Death
Arenas of War
Chapter 3: Performing Martyrs
Performing Martyrs
Panorama of Horror
Post-Mortem Performances
Saints' Corpses and Relics
Via Crucis
Processions of Relics
Chapter 4: Spectacular Corpses
Displaying the Ancient Dead
The Performative Dead
Re-staging Executions
Pompeii Plaster-Casts
Conclusion
Bibliography
Product details
| Published | Dec 24 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 208 |
| ISBN | 9781350330139 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 50 bw illus |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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