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book: Haunted Greece and Rome
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Haunted Greece and Rome

Ghost Stories from Classical Antiquity
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 1998

About this book

Stories of ghostly spirits who return to this world to warn of danger, to prophesy, to take revenge, to request proper burial, or to comfort the living fascinated people in ancient times just as they do today. In this innovative, interdisciplinary study, the author combines a modern folkloric perspective with literary analysis of ghost stories from classical antiquity to shed new light on the stories' folk roots.

The author begins by examining ancient Greek and Roman beliefs about death and the departed and the various kinds of ghost stories which arose from these beliefs. She then focuses on the longer stories of Plautus, Pliny, and Lucian, which concern haunted houses. Her analysis illuminates the oral and literary transmission and adaptation of folkloric motifs and the development of the ghost story as a literary form. In her concluding chapter, the author also traces the influence of ancient ghost stories on modern ghost story writers, a topic that will interest all readers and scholars of tales of hauntings.

Author / Editor information

D. Felton is Professor of Classics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Reviews

In the decade since its publication, D. Felton's brief book has deservedly acquired the status of a minor classic. It is an accessible, well-written and engaging exposition and analysis of a trio of versions of a deeply traditional ghost-story from the Graeco-Roman world.
— Journal of Scientific Exploration

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    vii
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    Preface

    ix
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    Introduction

    xi
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    ONE The Folklore of Ghosts

    1
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    TWO Problems of Definition and Classification

    22
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    THREE Haunted Houses

    38
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    FOUR Plautus's Haunted House

    50
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    FIVE The Supernatural in Pliny's Letters

    62
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    Six Lucian's Ghost Stories

    77
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    SEVEN The Fate of the Ghost Story

    89
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    Notes

    99
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    Bibliography

    129
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    Index of Passages Cited

    141
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    General Index

    143
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
November 12, 2021
eBook ISBN:
9780292757325
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.7560/725072
eBook ISBN: 9780292757325
Audience(s) for this book
For universities and colleges of further and higher education
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