Greek and Roman Sexualities: A Sourcebook

Since the publication of Foucault's History of Sexualitythe volume of Classical scholarship on gender, sexuality and the body has steadily increased in tandem with the expansion of these topics in other areas of the Humanities. This volume will provide readers with a substantial selection of primary sources documenting sexualities, sexual behaviors, and perceptions of sex, sexuality, gender, and the body among people in the ancient Greco-Roman world. The coverage will begin with Homer in the eighth century BCE and will focus most heavily on Classical Greece and Rome from the Republic to the early Empire, though sources reflecting societal changes in later antiquity and a selection of Jewish and Christian readings will also be included. Authors will include Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Ovid and Plutarch, with each chapter including one or two substantial 'focal' readings. The materials will include poetry, history, oratory, medical and philosophical writings, letters, and inscriptions, both public and private.

Introduction / 1. Sexuality and the Gods / 2. Deities of Desire: Their Nature and Effects / 3. Anxiety, Suspicion and Blame / 4. Pederasty and Male Homoerotic Relations / 5. Female Homosocial and Homoerotic Relations / 6. Philosophical and Medical Models of Sexuality / 7. Virginity, Chastity and Modesty / 8. Marital Sexuality / 9. Transgression and Deviance / 10. Prostitution / Bibliography / Index of Sources / General Index.