The Grotesque Body in Graeco-Roman Antiquity

Anastasia Meintani, The Grotesque Body in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, Image & Context 21 (Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2022). 9783110691733.

Reviewed by India Watkins Nattermann, University of Cologne, inatterm@uni-koeln.de. 

The Grotesque Body in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, a reworking of Anastasia Meintani’s dissertation, provides a much-needed reevaluation of the Graeco-Roman corpus of grotesque miniatures. She sheds light on these often-overlooked figurines, arguing they “embodied a grand agenda of joys as well as of fears and social anxieties” (p. 6). Using modern theories on ugliness, she situates these objects in their artistic, religious, and cultural contexts to push back against interpretations that attempt to pin down a single purpose for them. Instead, she assesses the “carnivalesque grotesque” and the “abject” elements of the corpus to stress the positive functions of these figurines: the miniatures, she argues, were not intended to ridicule the disabled and poor, but poked fun at the status quo and enjoined the viewer to “seize the day,” among other uses. The result of Meintani’s efforts, which deftly incorporate theoretical approaches and back up her claims with an abundance of examples, is a refreshing reassessment of the various roles of  grotesque miniatures in antiquity. 

Meintani begins with a series of introductory chapters: the first refocuses the reader’s attention on the ugly, outlining the reasons behind the relative neglect of grotesques in scholarship, and provides an outline of the subsequent chapters. She then delineates the scope of her project before explaining, here and in the second chapter, the limitations of the material (poor preservation and/or provenance, lack of chronological evidence, etc.). The third chapter provides a clear overview of previous scholarship with well-argued refutations. Meintani complicates interpretations of the figurines that would assign them a single function, whether that be as apotropaic device or medical teaching aid: she correctly points out that no monolithic theory will explain such disparate pieces of evidence, whose various functions (religious, sympotic, apotropaic, etc.) overlap with one another. She particularly pushes back against the idea that grotesque figurines provided an ego boost for the elite by ridiculing the disabled or the poor, arguing that the marginalized bodies they represent are merely the means through which the figurines humorously upend the status quo. 

Chapter Four situates the grotesque figurines within literary portrayals of ugliness and within cultural practices and attitudes toward the disabled gleaned from literary sources. Overall, this chapter is less successful in its use of evidence and seems scattershot in its selection of material. It begins by examining literary depictions of ugly figures to shine light on their positive role as truth-tellers, but the link to the grotesque was not always clear: for example, Lycidas (from Theocritus Idyll 7) is a peasant, but his physical appearance beyond his clothing is not described in the pastoral. A comparison of Aristotle’s and Hippocrates’ concepts of reproduction and heredity follows, but these topics do not resurface in the main body of the book, making this section seem digressive. In addition, Meintani does not engage with these writers’ misogynistic attitudes towards the female body, which were formative to their ideas about health and beauty (and, conversely, ugliness). Meintani goes on to discuss other ancient practices, including infant exposure, physiognomics, pharmakoi rituals, the evil eye, and attitudes toward the disabled. She ends the chapter with a reading of selected mythology in relation to disability. 

Chapter Five clearly introduces the theories operative within the book: first, Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the carnivalesque and the role of the grotesque body within it, and second, Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection. Meintani rightly emphasizes the positivity of the grotesque body within Bakhtin’s thought, pointing out that later applications of the carnivalesque distort Bakhtin’s original formulation by arguing that the grotesque ultimately reinforces the status quo, rather than challenging it. For Meintani, these theories help explain the function and meaning of the grotesque miniatures within the cultural context of the Hellenistic period: the figurines first appear in this period, she argues, because of its general Zeitgeist, which includes anxieties about embodiment and death. Although these theories are clearly explained, their connection with the Hellenistic period and the origin of the grotesque miniatures could be developed further. Potential explanations for the fear of death in this period, and the identity of those affected (i.e., the class and gender of the viewers, the functions of these objects) are not taken into account. 

The following chapter (Chapter Six) situates the grotesques within their artistic and cultural contexts. Meintani emphasizes the carnivalesque in various cultic festivals and rituals (e.g., the Dionysia), the symposium, and dramatic performances (Old Comedy and satyr plays). She also examines analogous cultural products, namely, burlesque vase paintings on phylax vases and on kabeirion ware; terracotta figurines; depictions within the Sam Wide group; and depictions on other vases. These cultural practices and products, she convincingly shows, “spring from the same cultural soil” as the grotesque miniatures (p. 96).

Chapter Seven is divided into three subchapters, two on the “carnivalesque grotesque” (one with thirteen subsections) and one on the abject, and makes up the bulk of the book. In this chapter, Meintani rallies a plethora of examples to support her argument that the grotesque figurines are subversive to the status quo. Her introduction cogently argues that the “grotesque carnivalesque” targets ideals and not the underdog, and she then continues with sections on figurines that parody classical artistic types, gods and heroes, and the educated “elite” (e.g., orators, teachers, the wealthy). Although some of Meintain’s identifications of the specific gods and heroes depicted in these figurines were unclear and did not strengthen the argument, the rest of the examples were persuasive. The next subsection on dwarves and fighters contextualizes these figurines within their Egyptian background and convincingly reads them as “genre-crossing” due to the contrast between their diminutive stature and subject matter and the luxurious materials used. In the following section on Egyptian figurines representing Macedonian soldiers, Meintani refocuses the evidence to interpret these figures as caricatures of soldiers, pushing back against the tendency to identify them as comedic actors. In the next two sections, she counters the prevailing idea that grotesque figurines of athletes and of dancers poke fun at dwarves. She persuasively argues, rather, that these humorous figures make fun of the beautiful bodies that such athletes and performers sport. Here, and in another section on musicians, she also rightly stresses the positive ritual and sympotic associations of grotesque dancer and musician figurines, although she points out that definitively assigning either function to individual figurines is impossible. In the following section on rustic figures, the attempt to distinguish between those performing rituals and profane functions is plagued by similar difficulties, although Meintani attempts to sort through the evidence. She divides examples into those that clearly represent cult servants or pataikoi, cult celebrants, those that could represent cult celebrants or participants in a secular feast, and figurines with no religious associations (e.g., the “running slave” type). Although Meintani makes a valiant effort at organizing the evidence and rightly emphasizes the positive associations of their ritual and/or profane contexts, the obscurity of the evidence means that many examples do not fit neatly into this schema, making this section somewhat difficult to follow. The next section on figurines that stick out their tongues could have benefited from further discussion on how these grotesques interact with their viewers. She then successfully argues that a bald head and ugly face do not make a mime figurine, although the brief introduction on ancient mime rapidly dealt with evidence from a wide range of time periods and geographic locations, with too little context. The last two sections briefly discuss actors and figures that represent street life. In the latter, the criteria for distinguishing between purely profane figures like street hawkers and cult celebrants from the previous section on rustic figurines were unclear. 

Overall, this subchapter (7.2) presents, through an abundance of examples, a persuasive argument that these grotesque bodies are not the butt of a joke but a means of poking fun at the status quo. In addition, the many examples included make this resource a must-read for researchers searching for information about individual figurines or types. At times, however, this chapter was difficult to follow. Meintani attempts to divide the mass of material into clear sections, but sometimes her divisions are more disorienting than clarifying. In addition, figurines discussed previously were at times referred to again by their find spot or current museum location, without including figure numbers, and figurines discussed, but not pictured, were not clearly marked as such. Meintani also gestures toward a few intriguing lines of interpretation that would benefit from further analysis—for example, that grotesque figurines interact more with their viewers than their larger counterparts because they were picked up and handled, or because they performed practical functions.

The concluding section of Chapter Seven deals with figurines Meintani categorizes as “abject.” She moves away from the argument that these figurines depicted specific maladies (for use as teaching tools, for example), arguing instead that they could have fulfilled a variety of functions in multiple contexts, upon which we can only speculate. She offers many suggestions for the meaning behind the figurines: they could help viewers work through anxieties about death; encourage them to seize the day; provide comfort in the assurance that viewers are, at least, still alive; offer a source of moribund attraction; or function as apotropaic devices or ex-votos. In her examples, she examines individual figurines through a variety of angles: she points to the fine materials of a masturbating man with possible Pott’s Disease (figure 338), for example, to draw attention to its positive associations with a carpe diem mentality, fertility, and apotropaic functions. Meintani again pushes back against scholarly attempts to pin down a single function or meaning behind these obscure figures and opens up several avenues of interpretation through her categorization of them as abject, although she could have spent more time with this designation (i.e., interrogating what exactly about these bodies is abject, what anxieties they embody and for whom, etc.). 

In the concluding chapters, Meintani nicely reiterates and contextualizes her arguments. Chapter Eight speculates on the use of these grotesque figurines within their possible contexts (during the symposium, in sanctuaries, and as grave gifts), in light of Meintani’s interpretations of them as grotesque and abject. The summary in Chapter Nine, provided in both English and German, returns to the biases and assumptions of modern scholarship: It concludes with the book’s main argument that these grotesque figurines need not be understood in a negative light, that is, as a joke at the expense of poor or impaired people, but that a closer look at their original cultural contexts leads us to interpret them more positively.

Overall, the book’s cogent and persuasive message was marred slightly by editing errors, both infelicities in the English and typos (a critique more fairly directed to the publisher). Although Meintani’s choice of the grotesque and the abject to illuminate these figurines was an insightful one, she could have spent more time explaining how these theories operate at the level of individual figurines. In some places, the book felt rushed; many chapters lacked even a concluding sentence. The rapid-fire pace of the examples, along with the aforementioned editing errors and the unwieldy structure, lent the impression that this dissertation manuscript could have benefited from more revision and editing. Regardless, the book’s real value lies in its reevaluation of the evidence on grotesque figurines. Meintani situates them within their artistic, cultural, and religious contexts to successfully push back against interpretations that see them in a wholly negative light and to provide a balanced interpretation that steers clear of the usual pitfalls in dealing with fragmentary and obscure evidence. In sum, Meintani offers a convincing reassessment of this genre of art, an achievement which is indispensable for anyone working with or teaching grotesque figurines.

Table of Contents 

1. Introduction: Bringing the Marginal to the Center (1–15) 
1.1 Sizing up the Problem (3–12)
1.2 The Material and Its Challenges (13–16)
2. Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty: Provenance, Date, Archaeological Context (17–26
3. Looking Back and Forth: History of the Archaeological Scholarship (27–45) 
4. Reading about the Body: Delectation by Deriding the Ugly? (47–76) 
4.1 The Maculate Muse (50–52) 
4.2 The Nature of Semen: Aristotle vs. the School of Hippocrates (53–56) 
4.3 The Philosophies of Eugenics (57–59) 
4.4 The Ideologies of Physiognomics (60) 
4.5 Responses (61–62) 
4.6 Welfare States (63–64) 
4.7 Rituals of Casting Out: Put the Blame on Him (65–66) 
4.8 The Minotaur and Hephaestus (67–68)
4.9 The Roman World—The Uglies’ Moment (69–72) 
4.10 Evil Eye or Fatal Glances (73) 
4.11 Coda (74) 
5. Western Thinking and the Concept of the Grotesque Body (77–91) 
5.1 Bakhtin’s “Theory of Carnival” (83–89) 
5.2 Abjection: A Psychological Model (90–92) 
6. The Greeks and their Humor: Kindred Burlesque Scenes and Negotiations of Worlds Upside Down (93–115) 
6.1 Cultic Festivals and Rituals (97–98) 
6.2 The Symposion (99) 
6.3 Dramatic Performances (100) 
6.4 Burlesque Vase Painting (101–16) 
7. Looking at the Body of the Material (117–375) 
7.1 The Classical Canon vs. the Grotesque Canon: The Pinups and the Uglies (120–25) 
7.2 The Unruly Carnivalesque Body (126–352) 
7.2.1 The Thorn-puller (126–30)
7.2.2 Anti-Gods and Heroes (130–39)
7.2.3 The Learned Cycles and Upper Crusts (139–57)
7.2.4 Pygmies and Fighters (158–78) 
7.2.5 Macedonians (178–79)
7.2.6 The World of Athletics (179–201)
7.2.7 Dancers (201–69) 
7.2.8 Musicians (269–79)
7.2.9 Rustic Characters (279–313) 
7.2.10 Sticking out the Tongue (313–15)
7.2.11 Mimes (315–42) 
7.2.12 Parodies of Actors (342–45) 
7.2.13 Street Life (346–52)
7.3 The Abject Body (353–76) 
8. Coming Full Circle (377–82) 
9. Summary (383–92) 
Summary (385–88) 
Zusammenfassung (389–92) 
Appendix (393–568) 
Notes (395–463) 
Bibliography (464–512) 
List of Illustrations (513–22) 
General Index (523–30) 
Index of Ancient Authors (531–34) 
Color Plates (535–68)