ABSTRACT
The Western scientifi c antecedents of homosexuality date from antiquity, and yet much of that sexual archaeology remains unknown. The early modern period has particular interest for the recovery of this occluded history. While the Renaissance1 furthered the recovery of the ancients’ resources of natural knowledge that had begun c.1100 through Arabic and Byzantine transmissions and Latin translations, Gutenberg’s invention of movable type in the mid-fi fteenth century enabled hitherto impossible disseminations of texts. Both humanism and print made ancient views of same-sexual relations2 that clashed with Christian moral orthodoxy more accessible. The procedures, disciplines, and disciplinary boundaries of natural inquiry were being redefi ned, and innovations in medical understanding were proceeding apace. This volume enhances knowledge of the genealogies of homosexuality by exploring representations of same-sexual desires and behaviors in the diverse intellectual disciplines that sought to study and interpret natural phenomena and the order of nature, from c.1450 to 1750. As the characteristics of homosexuality’s prehistory before the seventeenth century are currently most controversial, so my introduction will focus on the relevance of those disciplines prior to 1600.
