The session’s first speaker, Dr. Juha Lahnakoski, presented a study into embodied emotions in Neo-Assyrian texts. The relationship between emotions and the body is twofold: on one hand, our experiences of emotion may be triggered by emotion-related bodily states, and on the other hand, our conscious, subjective experience of emotions can affect their bodily expression. Although this model suggests that embodied emotions can vary between cultures, studies have found them to be quite similar across countries. Lahnakoski suggests that this may not be entirely due to shared biology, but at least partly a result of globalism. This is where the Neo-Assyrian textual corpus comes in: how were emotions embodied in an ancient culture free from the influence of the shared communication and history of the modern world?
Using the Neo-Assyrian corpus on ORACC, the project examined 275 emotion words and 63 body words. Based on their co-occurrences, a heatmap of the body was made for each emotion word showing how strongly each body part is associated with that word. The 275 emotion words were categorised under 18 primary emotion categories like “anger”, “pride”, and “surprise”, and the individual maps for the emotions of each category were combined. The end result was 18 categorical maps, clustered hierarchically to show the relationships between the primary emotions. The results showed both similarities and differences to the way emotions are embodied in the present day. For example, where modern self-reports primarily localize anger in the upper body, the Neo-Assyrian data connected anger mostly with the legs. The liver was very active in several emotions, while modern self-reports would hardly ever localize an emotion there.
Dr. Lahnakoski identified some limitations in the study. For one, the heat maps do not show the context for how an emotion relates to a body part: an emotion that is embodied as a weakness in the legs will look similar to an emotion embodied as strength in the legs, for example. Another limitation is that female anatomy had to be excluded due to constraints in the software used to create the body maps. Nonetheless, this method of visualization enables intuitive understanding of embodied emotions in ancient text corpora and has potential as a tool for comparisons between cultures.
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The second speaker, Dr. Tuomo Nuorluoto, spoke on how emotions are verbalized and depicted in ancient Roman inscriptions. Most Roman emotion history has focused on literary texts, but Nuorluoto’s study shows that epigraphic sources also contain rich emotions. This group of sources presents its own challenges: inscriptions are usually short, the texts are very heterogenous, and the texts have often been removed from their original contexts. The last point is especially challenging due to the significance context has in the creation of an emotional effect: the emotive power of a funerary inscription is elevated when viewed together with its associated portrait, for example. At the same time, epigraphic sources are a very plentiful group, distributed widely across geography and social class.
Dr. Nuorluoto discussed two ways in which ancient Romans themselves spoke about emotions. To a skilled rhetorician, emotions were something to be aroused in the audience. To the Stoics, emotions were something to be controlled. To philosophers like Aristotle, emotions were the result of cognitive processes, arising from a rational assessment of the circumstances: for example, anger was seen as a desire for revenge resulting from perceived injustice.
Emotions such as grief and mourning had social norms regarding their acceptable presentation and duration. While the initial shock was natural and understandable, especially men were expected to bear their loss stoically like a soldier bears a battle wound; wailing was the business of women, who were thought to be unable to control their emotions as men did. Indeed, it was typical of funerary inscriptions to console their living loved ones and urge them to control their emotions, often employing the voice of the dead person to do so.
In addition to consolation, funerary inscriptions could also display hopeless grief, especially in the inscriptions for dead children. While child mortality was high, it was still painful and shocking, and the inscriptions reflect this. In many cases, the only consolation comes from the idea of death as freedom, such as from sickness or slavery. Inscriptions for people who faced violent deaths or other injustice display anger and bitterness connected to a wish for revenge, reflecting Aristotle’s view of emotions. Not all emotions found in these speaking funerary inscriptions were negative: some also display happiness and gratitude from the person beyond the grave.
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We would like to thank both speakers, as well as all the attendants. Please join us in the next AMME seminar on Thursday 27 March (16:15–18:00 EET/UTC+2h) on the theme of Ancient Archives.