The Importance of Being Gorgeous

"This is a wonderful, sophisticated book that, like all others written by Susanna Elm, combines a sensitive reading of ancient source materials with intense creativity, to produce a study of imperial representation focused particularly on manliness. Elm develops new ways to understand late antique panegyrics, poems, sermons, and laws, while never losing sight of the rulers, strivers, and other people who shaped late Roman life. This is a humanistic triumph, in the fullest sense."--Edward Watts, author of The Romans: A 2,000-Year History "With erudition and élan, Elm enters the thicket of complex issues surrounding Roman imperial power, gender performativity, and the late antique child emperor. She emerges with a powerful new interpretation of ancient masculinity and, what is more, a compelling new story of what beauty meant in the ancient world."--Catherine Michael Chin, author of Life: The Natural History of an Early Christian Universe