Bodily Fluids in Antiquity

"This carefully curated collection of essays offers the first comprehensive treatment of bodily fluids in premodern Mediterranean cultures from a variety of socio-cultural, historical, scientific, linguistic and semiotic perspectives. This landmark volume shows how, despite the different functions and symbolic valences of bodily fluids, they nevertheless constitute an identifiable conceptual category in the ancient and early modern mind." - Ralph M. Rosen, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

"Bodily Fluids in Antiquity is not a book (just) for medical historians: there is something for everyone, cultural historian, literary critic, linguist, or the simply curious. An unforgettable immersion in the liquid dimension of human bodies." - Caroline Petit, University of Warwick, UK.

"This collection of essays is remarkable not only for the breadth of its scope, materials and approaches, but also for its quality." - Sophie Cavarria, The Journal of Roman Studies.

"The diversity of perspectives, methodologies, and authors examined is employed to foster a collective discussion on the topic of fluids and bodily permeability, which, whilst not exhaustive, offers new and innovative approaches to the understanding of the human body" - Nuncius