Celebrity in Antiquity: From Media Tarts to Tabloid Queens

What sort of people were able to grab the attention of the public in the ancient world? How was celebrity achieved? What methods did people use to achieve it? Robert Garland turns the spotlight on the careers of some of the most successful and colourful self-promoters ever to have lived, including Alcibiades, Socrates, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Augustus, Jesus, Nero and Theodosia, and investigates the secrets of their success. He also looks at ways in which other highly talented individuals turned themselves into celebrities, including sports personalities, entertainers, philosophers, founders of new religions, and internationally renowned prostitutes. The reader may be forgiven for supposing that celebrity is a phenomenon that has no equivalent in antiquity. This book proves that it did!