What Is a Man?: Changing Images of Masculinity in Late Antique Art

What Is a Man? enriches our understanding of the paradigm shift produced by feminist theory, that gender is constructed, not ìnatural,î and is political. Indeed, Kampenís essay explores new ground, for as she points out, ìfew scholars until very recently have written about the way that gender as a category illuminates our understanding of manhood, and fewer still are the archaeologists and art historians who have studied masculinity in late antiquity.î Kampen draws on pioneering studies of sexuality in classical art, including her own work, to direct attention to the many social and artistic masculinities in play in the late Roman world. What Is a Man? gathers together a diverse group of objects, including portrait sculpture, sarcophagus fragments, pottery, ivory carving, textiles, and coins. All the objects are illustrated in color.