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This agenda-setting text has been fully revised in its second edition, with coverage extended into the Christian era. It remains the most comprehensive and engaging introduction to the sexual cultures of ancient Greece and Rome.
Marilyn B. Skinner is Professor of Classics Emerita at the University of Arizona. Her research has focused on notions of gender and sexuality in the ancient world. She is the author of Clodia Metelli: The Tribune’s Sister (2011), and co-editor of Narrating Desire: Eros, Sex, and Gender in the Ancient Novel (with M. P. F. Pinheiro and F. I. Zeitlin, 2012), and The New Sappho on Old Age: Textual and Philosophical Issues (with E. Greene, 2009).
Preface to the First Edition xiv
Preface to the Second Edition xvii
Acknowledgments xxi
Abbreviations xxiii
Chronological Charts xxxv
Maps
Introduction: Why Ancient Sexuality? Issues and Approaches 1
Thinking about Sexuality 4
Sex Changes 6
Checking the Right Box 11
The Language and Ethos of Boy-love 17
Foul Mouths 27
Conclusion 32
Discussion Prompts 34
Further Reading 35
1 The Homeric Age: Epic Sexuality 37
The Golden Goddess 39
Dynamics of Desire 46
The Baneful Race of Women 49
Love under Siege 53
The Beguilement of Zeus 57
Alternatives to Penelope 60
Achilles in the Closet? 68
Conclusion 70
Discussion Prompts 74
Further Reading 74
2 The Archaic Age: Symposium and Initiation 76
When the Cups Are Placed 78
Fields of Erotic Dreams 82
Singing as a Man . . . 99
. . . and Singing as a Woman 95
Boys into Men 62
Girls into Women 113
Conclusion 122
Discussion Prompts 126
Further Reading 127
3 Late Archaic Athens: More than Meets the Eye 128
Out of Etruria 130
Lines of Sight 134
Flirtation at the Gym 136
Party Girls 143
In the Boudoir 153
Bride of Quietness 157
Conclusion 159
Discussion Prompts 161
Further Reading 162
4 Classical Athens: The Politics of Sex 166
More Equal than Others 169
Pederasty and Class 175
Interview with the Kinaidos 187
In the Grandest Families 198
Criminal Proceedings 206
His and Hers [or His] 209
Conclusion 218
Discussion Prompts 221
Further Reading 222
5 The Early Hellenistic Period: Turning Inwards 224
Court Intrigues 230
Medicine and the Sexes 235
From Croton to Crete 241
Safe Sex 247
Athenian Idol 255
Conclusion 263
Discussion Prompts 268
Further Reading 269
6 The Later Hellenistic Period: The Feminine Mystique 271
Disrobing Aphrodite 272
Hellenes in Egypt 277
Love among the Pyramids 283
To Colchis and Back 293
Desiring Women – and their Detractors 296
Conclusion 303
Discussion Prompts 308
Further Reading 309
7 Early Rome: A Tale of Three Cultures 311
The Pecking Order 314
Imported Vices 318
Bringing Women under Control 322
Butchery for Fun 333
Conclusion 338
Discussion Prompts 341
Further Reading 342
8 Republican and Augustan Rome: The Soft Embrace of Venus 344
Only Joking 347
Young Men (?) in Love 353
Mother of All Empires 362
Domestic Visibility 376
Going Too Far 378
Conclusion 382
Discussion Prompts 387
Further Reading 388
9 Elites in the Empire: Self and Others 390
Risky Business 394
Boys Named Sue 400
Them 403
Roads to Romance 410
‘Greek Love’ under Rome 415
Roads to Nowhere 420
Conclusion 429
Discussion Prompts 433
Further Reading 434
10 The Imperial Populace: Toward Salvation? 436
The 99% 441
Gravestones and Walls 445
In the Eye of the Beholder 453
“O Isis und Osiris…” 460
Christian Continence 471
Things Fall Apart 475
Conclusion 480
Discussion Prompts 485
Further Reading 486
Afterword: The Use of Antiquity 488
Glossary of Terms 527
Index
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