Overview

Ancient Greek images of disability permeate the Western consciousness: Homer, Teiresias, and Oedipus immediately come to mind. But The Staff of Oedipus looks at disability in the ancient world through the lens of disability studies, and reveals that our interpretations of disability in the ancient world are often skewed. These false assumptions in turn lend weight to modern-day discriminatory attitudes toward disability. Martha L. Rose considers a range of disabilities and the narratives surrounding them. She examines not only ancient literature, but also papyrus, skeletal material, inscriptions, sculpture, and painting, and draws upon modern work, including autobiographies of people with disabilities, medical research, and theoretical work in disability studies. Her study uncovers the realities of daily life for people with disabilities in ancient Greece and challenges the translation of the term adunatos (unable) as ""disabled,"" with all its modern associations.

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9780472035731

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Reviews

""A break-through book, The Staff of Oedipus exposes regnant myths about disability that have been passed along as if true for hundreds of years."" —Lennard Davis, University of Illinois, Chicago

Author Information

Martha L. Rose is Professor of History, Truman State University.

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