1 Why the body?

In many ways, human history is a history of bodies. Bodies attend parliaments and move to different regions; it is in human brains that ideas are conceived and decisions are made; it is human limbs that embrace friends and fight enemies. Moreover, history is shaped by bodily experience: lives of important people have been cut short by illnesses; large groups of migrants have decided to stay in or leave regions based on their capacity to acquire food and cope with the climate; major political crises have resulted from the simple fact of sexual attraction between two key figures. These may seem obvious points to make, but starting from these considerations gives us a new approach to the past and a fascinating prism through which to explore ancient societies.

Figure 2 Relief depicting an oculist examining a patient, second century CE, stone. Museo della Civiltà Romana, Rome. Photo: Bridgeman Images.

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This is a colour photograph showing a panel of sand-coloured stone carved in high relief. To the left is a seated male wearing a long garment. He sits facing right on a high-backed chair, the supporting legs of which form a cross. Discs are visible on its joints. His feet rest on a low platform at the base of the chair. His right arm and hand rest on his lap. His left hand rests on the top of a square box which is held at waist height in the left hand of a second man wearing knee-length garments. This man is standing immediately in front of him. The two men face each other with their heads perfectly aligned. The man on the right is shown stepping forward slightly so that his right foot is half hidden behind the low platform at the base of the chair. His right arm is raised and he touches the seated man’s left eye. A double-tiered bell-shaped object hangs from the wall on either side of the scene. An inscription is carved on the architrave above the panel. It reads MEMPHI GLEGORI.

Figure 2 Relief depicting an oculist examining a patient, second century CE, stone. Museo della Civiltà Romana, Rome. Photo: Bridgeman ...

The centrality of the body to human cultures is something an increasing number of scholars have begun to explore and, in the past few decades especially, there has been an explosion in the number of studies that use the human body as a starting point for understanding various aspects of the ancient world. When we bring the dimension of the body into the way we view the past, we suddenly find that new questions and new ways of approaching old questions emerge. For example, in the field of architecture the study of ancient buildings is as old as the discipline of classical studies itself, but what did it feel like to walk through the streets of, say, a Greek or Roman city? What were the smells and sounds one might have experienced? How far could one see? How much light was there in a given area?

But why is the body so interesting? It doesn’t take much to consider that all humans throughout history have been born, have eaten, slept, fallen ill, experienced injuries and died. This is precisely where it gets interesting, because although all humans have done or will do these things, the way that they have gone about them has differed dramatically according to the society in which they lived. In other words, the way that people fulfil their basic bodily needs and engage in their daily activities is embedded in the social world around them.