Sex Vice and Love from Antiquity to Modernity

by Blanshard, Alastair J. L.

• ISBN13: 9781444323566
• ISBN10: 1444323563
• Edition: 1st
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2010-02-25
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Sex: Vice and Love from Antiquity to Modernity examines the impact that sexual fantasies about the classical world have had on modern Western culture.

•  Offers a wealth of information on sex in the Greek and Roman world
• Correlates the study of classical sexuality with modern Western cultures
• Identifies key influential themes in the evolution of erotic discourse from antiquity to modernity
• Presents a serious and thought-provoking topic with great accessibility

Author Biography

Alastair J. L. Blanshard is a senior lecturer in Classics & Ancient History at the University of Sydney. He is the author of Hercules: A Heroic Life (2005).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations.

Preface.

Part I Roman Vice.

1. Introduction.

2. Naked Bodies.

An introduction (less than successful) to the naked body.

The Naked Body in Greece.

Naked Romans.

The Love of Art and the Art of Love.

3. Obscene Texts.

Illustrating the Unspeakable.

Talking Dirty.

4. Erotic Rites.

The Myth of the Orgy.

Locating the Erotic in Roman Religion.

5. Imperial Biography.

The Private Lives of the Caesars.

Explaining Roman Gossip Culture.

Part II Greek Love.

6. Introduction.

What is 'Greek Love'?: Scenes from a Courtroom I.

7. Greece.

The Loves of Hellas.

The Platonic Vision.

8. Rome and the West.

Greece under Rome and Rome under Greece.

Greek love burns briefly, but brightly.

9. Renaissance and Enlightenment.

Giving Birth in the Beautiful.

The Pursuit of Love.

10. Nineteenth-Century and Beyond.

Greek Love Triumphant.

Sapphic Love.

A Mixed Legacy.

11. Epilogue.

Scenes from a Courtroom II.

Notes and Further Reading.

Bibliography.

Index.