Envy, Jealousy and Zeal in the Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean (History of Emotions)

This open access book is a cross-cultural history of the rivalrous emotions.Based in close studies of half a dozen pre-modern Mediterranean societies, from the biblical Israelites and the classical Greeks to Umayyad Córdoba and medieval Latin Christendom, Envy, Jealousy and Zeal in the Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean traces changing understandings of jealousy and envy across two millennia.By treating envy, jealousy and their estranged cousin zeal as concepts with long and complex histories, it shows how they have reflected and in turn influenced broader social changes in gender relations, friendship, class structure, marriage norms, religious piety, sexuality, emotional style and language.Is jealousy a healthy social virtue, or a manifestation of the utter depravity of human nature?The answer depends, to a remarkable extent, on the language you speak. A host of unexpected stories emerge along the way: how religious ‘zealotry’ evolved out of pious ‘jealousy’ to become the emotion whi