The Mirror of the Self: Sexuality, Self-Knowledge, and the Gaze in the Early Roman Empire

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Shadi Bartsch

The Mirror of the Self

Sexuality, Self-Knowledge, and the Gaze in the Early Roman Empire

Shadi Bartsch

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English

Chicago University Press
03 July 2006

History; European history; Ancient history: to c 500 CE; Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500

People in the ancient world thought of vision as both an ethical tool and a tactile sense, akin to touch. Gazing upon someone—or oneself—was treated as a path to philosophical self-knowledge, but the question of tactility introduced an erotic element as well. In The Mirror of the Self, Shadi Bartsch asserts that these links among vision, sexuality, and self-knowledge are key to the classical understanding of the self.

Weaving together literary theory, philosophy, and social history, Bartsch traces this complex notion of self from Plato’s Greece to Seneca’s Rome. She starts by showing how ancient authors envisioned the mirror as both a tool for ethical self-improvement and, paradoxically, a sign of erotic self-indulgence. Her reading of the Phaedrus, for example, demonstrates that the mirroring gaze in Plato, because of its sexual possibilities, could not be adopted by Roman philosophers and their students. Bartsch goes on to examine the Roman treatment of the ethical and sexual gaze, and she traces how self-knowledge, the philosopher’s body, and the performance of virtue all played a role in shaping the Roman understanding of the nature of selfhood. Culminating in a profoundly original reading of Medea, The Mirror of the Self illustrates how Seneca, in his Stoic quest for self-knowledge, embodies the Roman view, marking a new point in human thought about self-perception.

Bartsch leads readers on a journey that unveils divided selves, moral hypocrisy, and lustful Stoics—and offers fresh insights about seminal works. At once sexy and philosophical, The Mirror of the Self will be required reading for classicists, philosophers, and anthropologists alike.

By: Shadi Bartsch
Imprint: Chicago University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 23mm, Width: 16mm, Spine: 3mm
Weight: 680g
ISBN: 9780226038353
ISBN 10: 0226038351
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 03 July 2006
Audience: College/higher education , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Shadi Bartsch is the Ann L. and Lawrence B. Buttenwieser Professor of Classics and a member of the Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World at the University of Chicago. She has served as the editor of Classical Philology and is the author of several books, including, most recently, Ideology in Cold Blood: A Reading of Lucan's Civil War.

Reviews for The Mirror of the Self: Sexuality, Self-Knowledge, and the Gaze in the Early Roman Empire

"""A powerful book on an excellent topic from a distinguished author. It's likely to appeal to a good range of scholars in classics and beyond."" - Simon Goldhill, author of Love, Sex & Tragedy"""