Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction PART ONE VISUAL HUMOR 1. Words or Images? Degrees of Visuality in Roman Humor 2. Funny Faces Onstage and Off 3. Double Takes 4. Apotropaic Laughter PART TWO SOCIAL HUMOR 5. Power over the Other or the Other's Power? Laughing at the Pygmy and the Aethiops 6. Who's Laughing? Modern Scholars and Ancient Viewers in Class Conflict 7. Parody in Elite Visual Culture at Pompeii: Heroes, Gods, and Foundation Myths PART THREE SEXUAL HUMOR 8. Sexual Humor and the Gods 9. Laughing at Human Sexual Folly Conclusion Notes Bibliography List of Illustrations Index

About the Author

John R. Clarke is Annie Laurie Howard Regents Professor of History of Art at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans (UC Press, 2003), Roman Sex (2003), Looking at Lovemaking: Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art,100 B.C. A.D. 250 (UC Press, 1998), and The Houses of Roman Italy: 100 B.C. A.D. 250: Ritual, Space, and Decoration (UC Press, 1991).

Reviews

"Brave and sometimes brilliant... Clarke has a wonderful eye for the byways of Roman art and a passionate determination... Presents an extremely powerful case... A wonderful book." New York Review Of Books 20080717 "No one is doing more to enrich our pictures of Roman visual culture, or to encourage a more imaginative and open-minded approach to it... For this contribution alone, the author and his book are to be greatly recommended." -- Christopher H. Hallett Journal Of Interdisciplinary History 20090301 "Clearly written and carefully explicated, the book is suitable for students and nonspecialists ... art historians and classicists." -- Eve D'ambra The Historian 20100630 "Clarke has accomplished a pioneering study... The book is beautifully executed." Art Bulletin (CAA) 20110601