What is a Man?

What Is a Man? enriches our understanding of the paradigm shift produced by feminist theory, that gender is constructed, not "natural," and is political. Indeed, Kampen's essay explores new ground, for as she points out, "few 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." 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 colour.