Beautiful Bodies: Gender and Corporeal Aesthetics in the Past

The book explores the role of material culture in shaping corporeal aesthetics and beauty ideals in different past societies, challenging Western notions of beauty and contributing to the cultural relativization of bodily aesthetics and gender norms. It draws on archaeological, textual, and iconographic data from ancient Sumer, Aegean Bronze Age, ancient Egypt, ancient Athens, Roman provinces, the Viking world, and the Qajar Iran.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 15 January 2022
Publisher: Oxbow Books

The book explores the role of material culture in shaping corporeal aesthetics and beauty ideals across various historical societies, contributing to the cultural relativization of bodily aesthetics and related gender norms. It delves into the concept of beauty, which has been a subject of interest for some time, but has only recently been approached as a culturally contingent and socially constructed phenomenon by archaeologists. While archaeologists and ancient historians have extensively dealt with gender, they have paid less attention to its relationship with beauty. The contributions in this volume address different intersections of gender and corporeal aesthetics by drawing on rich archaeological, textual, and iconographic data from ancient Sumer, the Aegean Bronze Age, ancient Egypt, ancient Athens, the Roman provinces, the Viking world, and the Qajar Iran. By moving beyond a mere curiosity about the body's surface, the book aims to provide a more analytical concept for a better understanding of past and present societies.

Weight: 716g
Dimension: 170 x 239 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781789257717