Het is heden ten dage niet moeilijk om een volledige academische bibliografie van een academicus te vinden. De meest volledige oplijsting van mijn publicaties vind je hier, of volgens de academische systemen van de University of Manchester of van de Universiteit Antwerpen.
In feite laat ik me bij het publiceren slechts door twee uitgangspunten leiden. Ik zoek naar onderwerpen die me passioneren én ik besteed er de grootst mogelijke zorg aan, of het nu gaat om een klein lokaal tijdschrift of een publicatie met grote internationale uitstraling.
Ik ben de auteur van zes boeken en de editor van elf volumes. Op deze pagina stel ik graag enkele van mijn recente werken voor.
Christian Laes, Disability in Healing in Greek and Roman Myth, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2024.
Disability and Healing in Greek and Roman Myth takes its readers to stories, in versions known and often unknown. Disabilities and diseases are dealt with from head to toe: from mental disorder, over impairment of vision, hearing and speaking, to mobility problems and wider issues that pertain to the whole body. This Element places the stories in context, with due attention to close reading, and pays careful attention to concepts and terminology regarding disability. It sets Graeco-Roman mythology in the wider context of the ancient world, including Christianity. One of the focuses is the people behind the stories and their ‘lived’ religion. It also encourages its readers to ‘live’ their ancient mythology.
Christian Laes, Alfredo Buonopane, Grumentum. The Epigraphical Landscape of a Roman Town in Lucania, Turnhout, Brepols, 2020.
“The volume provides scholars with a useful and updated tool, which will be an indispensable point of reference for any future research on the city and, more generally, on the epigraphy and the society of the regio III Lucania et Bruttii.” (Alfredo Sansone)
Disabilities and the Disabled in the Roman World. A Social and Cultural History, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018 [Ned. origineel Beperkt? Gehandicapten in het Romeinse Rijk, Leuven, Davidsfonds, 2014].
(…) a comprehensive, detailed, and thoughtful piece of work that supersedes all previous scholarship on the subject, including Laes’ own considerable contributions (Jayne Draycott, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 2020).
Christian Laes (ed.), Disability in Antiquity, London and New York, Routledge, 2017.
This volume is a major contribution to the field of disability history in the ancient world. Contributions from leading international scholars examine deformity and disability from a variety of historical, sociological and theoretical perspectives, as represented in various media. The volume is not confined to a narrow view of ‘antiquity’ but includes a large number of pieces on ancient western Asia that provide a broad and comparative view of the topic and enable scholars to see this important topic in the round. “The volume serves as a fitting starting point for a new era in disability history focussing on the ancient Mediterranean.” (Jane Draycott)
Christian Laes, Ville Vuolanto (eds.), Children and Everyday Life in the Roman and Late Antique World, London and New York, Routledge, 2017.
On account of its impressive thematic breadth, the high-level quality of its contributions throughout, and its deep, critical engagement with issues of method and theory, Children and Everyday Life in the Roman and Late Antique World should be required reading for anyone interested in the history of childhood.” (Sinclair Bell)
Christian Laes, Johan Strubbe, Youth in the Roman Empire. The Young and the Restless Years?, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014 [Ned. origineel: Jeugd in het Romeinse Rijk. Jonge jaren, wilde haren?, Leuven, Davidsfonds, 2008].
Modern society has a negative view of youth as a period of storm and stress, but at the same time cherishes the idea of eternal youth. How does this compare with ancient Roman society? Did a phase of youth exist there with its own characteristics? How was youth appreciated? This book is a highly readable and wide-ranging account of how the crucial transition between childhood and adulthood operated in the Roman world.
Children in the Roman Empire. Outsiders Within, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011 [Ned. origineel: Kinderen bij de Romeinen. Zes eeuwen dagelijks leven, Leuven, Davidsfonds, 2011].
“If you want to know all there is to know about children in classical (primarily non-Christian) Rome, Laes’s learned, sensitive, and elegantly written book is the place to go.” (David Konstan)
“Laes has masterfully presented not only the social meaning of childhood in Roman antiquity, but also the grim realities of children’s lives.” (Ann-Cathrin Harders)