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WINNER OF THE LONDON HELLENIC PRIZE

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ANGLO-HELLENIC RUNICMAN AWARD

A SUNDAY TIMES AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘A gloriously intimate tour of the body in antiquity’ Gavin Francis

‘A triumph … an extraordinary book that stopped me in my tracks’ Peter Frankopan

The Greek and Roman body is often seen as flawless – cast from life in buff bronze and white marble, to sit upon a pedestal. But this, of course, is a lie.

Here, classicist Caroline Vout reaches beyond texts and galleries to expose Greek and Roman bodies for what they truly were: anxious, ailing, imperfect, diverse, and responsible for a legacy as lasting as their statues. Taking us on a gruesome, thrilling journey, she taps into the questions that those in the Greek and Roman worlds asked about their bodies – where do we come from? What makes us different from gods and animals? What happens to our bodies, and the forces that govern them, when we die?

You’ve seen the paintings, read the philosophers and heard the myths – now here’s the classical body in all its flesh and blood glory.

Publisher Review

Written with such depth and enthusiasm, Exposed has expanded my mind on the body in the Ancient World. An essential and hugely enjoyable read — Katy Hessel, author * The Story of Art Without Men * Vout tackles a huge range of ideas and subjects with irrepressible energy … full of arresting, sometimes startling ideas and facts that topple the Greeks and Romans from their lofty, pristine, snow-white pedestals * Guardian * A triumph … an extraordinary book that stopped me in my tracks again and again — Peter Frankopan, author * The Earth Transformed * Spectacular … highly stimulating … it takes a book of ambitious scope like this to challenge preconceptions of what art actually is * Literary Review * The illustrations are superb throughout … packed with fascinating facts and original insights * The Sunday Times * From Ovid to the Olympics, Sophocles to spiritual Viagra, Caroline Vout is a wonderful guide, wearing her erudition lightly and with a great sense of fun. — Gavin Francis, bestselling author of Recovery and Adventures in Human Being Vout sustains a fast-moving conversation with her readers. She uses an admirably wide range of texts, art and objects and shows that bodies came in many shapes, sizes and roles in antiquity too. Exposed helps us widen our minds when we turn to envisaging the ancient world — Robin Lane Fox Caroline Vout takes the Greek and Roman body apart with impressive scholarship and a sublime sense of humour. In Exposed she goes well beyond our cliche view of the classical human form and reveals in unflinching detail what it was really like for the Greeks and Romans to inhabit their mortal coils and by extension the world about them. Of course in doing so she unavoidably directs us to contemplate the same. So if you have a body you should definitely read this. Oh and did I mention it made me laugh out loud too?” — Jimmy Mulville * Jimmy Mulville *