A lecture by Prof. Dr. Georgios Deligiannakis (Nikosia).
My paper examines expressions of the comic in the material culture of Late Antiquity, highlighting both methodological challenges and the scarcity of dedicated studies for this field. It is argued that while humorous themes, especially erotic and grotesque imagery, were common in Graeco-Roman art, they decline significantly after the 4th century.
The paper also explores how humor functioned in different social contexts, such as symposia, public entertainments, festivals, and private gatherings. Although literary sources confirm the persistence of laughter and comic performance, their representation in material culture becomes more limited. Through selected case studies, including lamps, mosaics, metalware, and consular diptychs, I demonstrate how humor could take forms such as sexual parody, social inversion, theatrical caricature, often linked to dining culture and mass entertainment. Reinterpretations of certain artworks are offered, suggesting that scenes previously understood as religious may indeed reflect playful, sympotic, or parodic contexts. It is also shown how the decline of comic imagery in late antiquity onward is connected to broader socio-cultural changes, including urban decline and the Church’s opposition to traditional forms of entertainment and wellbeing.
