Cultural history and the history of the body in German Ancient History

Abstract

This article aims to explain the idiosyncrasies of cultural history as practiced in Germany – or rather the German-speaking world – and to draw attention to some recent developments within the context of this new cultural history among German ancient historians in the specialized field of the history of the body. Several trends of cultural history are discussed. First, historians have been influenced by the history of everyday life, which focuses on small units and different aspects of ordinary life rather than large superstructures of society. Another trend is the growing interest of German historians in methods and theories derived from cultural anthropology. A third trend is the growing interest in feminist history and especially in the construction of gender roles. A special case in this rather broad field of cultural history is the history of the body. To a certain extent, this specialized area of history exemplifies all the problems and opportunities of cultural history.