Ancient Supplication

"In Ancient Supplication, the first book-length treatment of the subject, F. S. Naiden establishes the centrality of supplication to our understanding of ancient society. He investigates the varied gestures made by the suppliants, the types of requests they tender, the arguments used in defense of requests, and the role of the supplicandus, who evaluates and decides whether to fulfill the requests. Naiden formulates an analysis of the practice in its sacred and social aspect, articulating literary, legal, and political dimensions. In constructing this analysis, he considered more than 800 acts of supplication from Greek, Hebrew, and Roman literature and varied visual sources. The variety and abundance of these sources allow him to establish a typology of supplication, inviting comparison between diverse societies. Numerous illustrations and a map of relevant locations accompany the text. Classicists will benefit from Naiden's treatment of familiar passages while historians and legal scholars will find that a deeper understanding of supplication lends a new context to their own fields of study."--BOOK JACKET.

Fred S. Naiden is Assistant Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill