Sex Vice and Love from Antiquity to Modernity

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

List of Illustrations ix

Preface xi

Part I Roman Vice 1

1 Introduction 3

2 Naked Bodies 7

An Introduction (less than successful) to the Naked Body 7

The Naked Body in Greece 14

Naked Romans 21

The Love of Art and the Art of Love 28

3 Obscene Texts 34

Illustrating the Unspeakable 34

Talking Dirty 40

4 Erotic Rites 48

The Myth of the Orgy 48

Locating the Erotic in Roman Religion 55

5 Imperial Biography 65

The Private Lives of the Caesars 65

Explaining Roman Gossip Culture 79

Part II Greek Love 89

6 Introduction 91

What is 'Greek Love'? Scenes from a Courtroom I 92

7 Greece 97

The Loves of Hellas 97

The Platonic Vision 99

8 Rome and the West 109

Greece under Rome and Rome under Greece 109

Greek Love Burns Briefly, but Brightly 119

9 Renaissance and Enlightenment 124

Giving Birth in the Beautiful 124

The Pursuit of Love 135

10 Nineteenth Century and Beyond 143

Greek Love Triumphant 143

Sapphic Love 149

A Mixed Legacy: Greek Love in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries 159

11 Epilogue 164

Scenes from a Courtroom II 164

Notes and Further Reading 166

Bibliography 190

Index 205

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