A Cultural History of Disability in Antiquity

Though there was not even a word for, or a concept of, disability in Antiquity, a considerable part of the population experienced physical or mental conditions that put them at a disadvantage. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, from literary texts and legal sources to archaeological and iconographical evidence as well as comparative anthropology, this volume uniquely examines contexts and conditions of disability in the ancient world.

An essential resource for researchers, scholars and students of history, literature, culture and education, A Cultural History of Disability in Antiquity explores such themes and topics as: atypical bodies; mobility impairment; chronic pain and illness; blindness; deafness; speech; learning difficulties; and mental health.

Christian Laes is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Manchester and Professor of Ancient History and Latin at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He is the author of Children in the Roman Empire (2011), Disabilities and the Disabled in the Roman World (2018), and edited volumes in three of Bloomsbury’s Cultural Histories series: A Cultural History of Education in Antiquity, A Cultural History of Youth in Antiquity (with Ville Vuolanto) and a Cultural History of Disability in Antiquity. He is co-author, along with Johan Strubbe, of Youth in the Roman Empire (2014).