Laughter in Ancient Rome

On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up

By: Mary Beard

Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon

What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear-a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter? What role did it play in the world of the law courts, the imperial palace, or the spectacles of the arena?

Laughter in Ancient Rome explores one of the most intriguing, but also trickiest, of historical subjects. Drawing on a wide range of Roman writing-from essays on rhetoric to a surviving Roman joke book-Mary Beard tracks down the giggles, smirks, and guffaws of the ancient Romans themselves. From ancient "monkey business" to the role of a chuckle in a culture of tyranny, she explores Roman humor from the hilarious, to the momentous, to the surprising. But she also reflects on even bigger historical questions. What kind of history of laughter can we possibly tell? Can we ever really "get" the Romans' jokes?

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Love Mary Beard but what might have been

About chapter 3 this book wades into the neuroscience and philosophy of laughter, which is sadly uninformed by the fascinating work "Inside Jokes" by Matthew Hurley, Daniel Dennett, and Reginald Adams. I think a better understanding of the machinery behind human laughter might have lead Ms. Beard to more interesting conclusions. Still, an interesting discussion, thank you.

Laugh along with the Romans

Mary Beard being informative but not serious as she talks about the Roman sense of humor.
Not all the jokes would play today, but enough will make you smile.

Surprised But Not in the Way I Hoped

I am surprised I did not enjoy Mary Beard’s work for once in this one and I believe this has to mainly deal with the narrator’s telling and the neuroscience and Freud behind laughter in the classical world. I adore Beard’s work, interviews, and documentaries but I did not enjoy this one as I had hoped to.

I Suppose it Might Appeal to Someone

Boring, repetitive and pointless. Mary Beard usually is none of those things, but good grief I felt as if I was listening to a synopsis of opposing views on the number of angels dancing on a pin.

The narrator was great. She kept me listening through for half of the book.