Rome's Visceral Reactions
In ancient Rome, the Latin word viscera denoted the inner parts of the body, where physical sensations related to fear and anger could be felt and whose injury meant certain death. Viscera were also entangled with religious, political, and reproductive imagery: the word could refer to cuts of sacrif...
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| פורמט: | Online |
| שפה: | אנגלית |
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Michigan State University Press
2026
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| גישה מקוונת: | ONIX_20260316T122833_9780472905393_12 |
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אין תגיות, היה/י הראשונ/ה לתייג את הרשומה!
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| _version_ | 1869522397181247488 |
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| author | Hines, Caitlin |
| author_browse | Hines, Caitlin |
| author_facet | Hines, Caitlin |
| author_sort | Hines, Caitlin |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | In ancient Rome, the Latin word viscera denoted the inner parts of the body, where physical sensations related to fear and anger could be felt and whose injury meant certain death. Viscera were also entangled with religious, political, and reproductive imagery: the word could refer to cuts of sacrificial meat, the inner workings of a governing body, a mother’s fertile womb, and the offspring she has carried. It appears in scientific descriptions of human anatomy, in elaborations of violent deaths, accusations of political conspiracy, and the laments of parents who must watch their children die. The sudden expansions of viscera into vivid metaphors for the body politic, the violated womb, and the desecrated sacrifice materialized in parallel with watershed moments in Roman history, reflecting urgent contemporary anxieties about politics, reproduction, and succession. Rome’s Visceral Reactions traces and interprets the semantic history of viscera , whose progressive acquisition of new meanings offers a compelling case for the dynamic interaction between body metaphor, semantic change, and political crisis at Rome. Caitlin Hines follows the history of viscera from its earliest attestations through the end of the Julio-Claudian period and considers the works of Lucretius, Cicero, Vergil, Livy, Ovid, Seneca, and Lucan. Applying theories of embodied cognition and semantic change, Hines demonstrates how Roman authors influenced the development of their language through the invention, reception, and affirmation of innovative meanings and how pressing political and cultural crises could shape, and be shaped in return, by the sophisticated linguistic games of the Roman literary elite. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-173748 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Michigan State University Press |
| publisherStr | Michigan State University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1737482026-03-19T14:11:55Z Rome's Visceral Reactions Hines, Caitlin Body metaphor Semantic change Viscera Ancient Rome Latin literature Latin poetry Latin language Cicero Vergil Ovid Lucan Seneca Roman republic Roman empire Augustan literature Neronian literature Latin epic Latin elegy Latin tragedy Conceptual metaphor theory Embodied metaphor Intertextuality Cultural discourse Situational semantics Civil war Fertility politics Roman sacrifice thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNT Anthologies: general thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDA European history: the Romans thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history In ancient Rome, the Latin word viscera denoted the inner parts of the body, where physical sensations related to fear and anger could be felt and whose injury meant certain death. Viscera were also entangled with religious, political, and reproductive imagery: the word could refer to cuts of sacrificial meat, the inner workings of a governing body, a mother’s fertile womb, and the offspring she has carried. It appears in scientific descriptions of human anatomy, in elaborations of violent deaths, accusations of political conspiracy, and the laments of parents who must watch their children die. The sudden expansions of viscera into vivid metaphors for the body politic, the violated womb, and the desecrated sacrifice materialized in parallel with watershed moments in Roman history, reflecting urgent contemporary anxieties about politics, reproduction, and succession. Rome’s Visceral Reactions traces and interprets the semantic history of viscera , whose progressive acquisition of new meanings offers a compelling case for the dynamic interaction between body metaphor, semantic change, and political crisis at Rome. Caitlin Hines follows the history of viscera from its earliest attestations through the end of the Julio-Claudian period and considers the works of Lucretius, Cicero, Vergil, Livy, Ovid, Seneca, and Lucan. Applying theories of embodied cognition and semantic change, Hines demonstrates how Roman authors influenced the development of their language through the invention, reception, and affirmation of innovative meanings and how pressing political and cultural crises could shape, and be shaped in return, by the sophisticated linguistic games of the Roman literary elite. 2026-03-19T14:11:54Z 2026-03-19T14:11:54Z 2026-03-16T16:12:57Z 2026 book ONIX_20260316T122833_9780472905393_12 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/111728 9780472905393 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/173748 eng open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/111728/1/9780472905393.pdf Michigan State University Press University of Michigan Press 10.3998/mpub.14513088 10.3998/mpub.14513088 aa7f6664-5117-41d8-90f8-c3af56526b92 9780472905393 University of Michigan Press 246 open access |
| spellingShingle | Body metaphor Semantic change Viscera Ancient Rome Latin literature Latin poetry Latin language Cicero Vergil Ovid Lucan Seneca Roman republic Roman empire Augustan literature Neronian literature Latin epic Latin elegy Latin tragedy Conceptual metaphor theory Embodied metaphor Intertextuality Cultural discourse Situational semantics Civil war Fertility politics Roman sacrifice thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNT Anthologies: general thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDA European history: the Romans thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history Hines, Caitlin Rome's Visceral Reactions |
| title | Rome's Visceral Reactions |
| title_full | Rome's Visceral Reactions |
| title_fullStr | Rome's Visceral Reactions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rome's Visceral Reactions |
| title_short | Rome's Visceral Reactions |
| title_sort | rome s visceral reactions |
| topic | Body metaphor Semantic change Viscera Ancient Rome Latin literature Latin poetry Latin language Cicero Vergil Ovid Lucan Seneca Roman republic Roman empire Augustan literature Neronian literature Latin epic Latin elegy Latin tragedy Conceptual metaphor theory Embodied metaphor Intertextuality Cultural discourse Situational semantics Civil war Fertility politics Roman sacrifice thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNT Anthologies: general thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDA European history: the Romans thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history |
| topic_facet | Body metaphor Semantic change Viscera Ancient Rome Latin literature Latin poetry Latin language Cicero Vergil Ovid Lucan Seneca Roman republic Roman empire Augustan literature Neronian literature Latin epic Latin elegy Latin tragedy Conceptual metaphor theory Embodied metaphor Intertextuality Cultural discourse Situational semantics Civil war Fertility politics Roman sacrifice thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNT Anthologies: general thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DB Ancient, classical and medieval texts thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDA European history: the Romans thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology::JHMC Social and cultural anthropology thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history |
| url | ONIX_20260316T122833_9780472905393_12 |
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