Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature

Homer Iliad Book 14 extracts: deception of Zeus

Ovid Metamorphoses 6.103–28: divine lusts

Hesiod Theogony 188–206: birth of Aphrodite

Sappho Poem 1: hymn to Aphrodite

Theognidea 1386–9: powerful Aphrodite

Euripides Hippolytus 1–50: pitiless Aphrodite

Nossis Greek Anthology 5.170: sweet love

Lucretius On the Nature of Things Book 1 extracts: invocation of Venus

Tibullus Elegy 1.2.15–32: helpful Venus

Hesiod Theogony 116–22: birth of Eros

Alcman Fragment 59a: the impact of Eros

Sappho Fragment 130: the impact of Eros

Ibycus Fragment 287: the impact of Eros

Anacreon Fragment 413: the impact of Eros

Catullus Poem 85: the torture of loving

Propertius Elegy 2.12: depiction of Amor

Sappho Fragment 2: Aphrodite

Euripides Bacchae 677–703: Maenads

Livy Book 39.10.1–9: the Bacchanalian cult

Ovid Fasti 4.133–60: Fortuna Virilis and Venus Verticordia

Plutarch Roman Questions 20 (268d–e): Bona Dea

Lucian: On the Syrian Goddess 50–1: the Galli

Hesiod Works and Days 59–89: Pandora

Sappho Fragment 16.1–20: beauty defined

Philodemus Greek Anthology 5.132: beauty inspires desire

Ovid Amores 1.5: Corinna

Apuleius Metamorphoses 4.28.1–4: Psyche

Rufinus Greek Anthology 5.15: Melite

Rufinus Greek Anthology 5.60: a girl bathing

Homer Odyssey 6.149–63: Nausicaa

Sappho Fragment 132.1–2: Cleis

Martial Epigram 5.37: Erotion

Straton Greek Anthology 12.5: preferences

Mimnermus Poem 5: youth is fleeting, old age looms

Sappho Fragment 58: on old age

Philodemus Greek Anthology 5.13: Charito

Rufinus Greek Anthology 5.48: an ageing beauty

Tyrtaeus Fragment 10 extracts: bravery

Aristophanes Clouds 1010–19: sexy good looks

Apuleius Metamorphoses 5.22.4–7: the beauty of Cupid

Straton Greek Anthology 12.192: unadorned beauty

Statius Silvae 4.2.38–44: beauty and power

Juvenal Satire 6.103–12: a gladiator's charms

Homer Iliad 3.154–60: reaction to Helen

Sappho Fragment 31.1–16: the sight of the beloved

Catullus Poem 51: the sight of Lesbia

Beyond the physical

Pseudo-Demosthenes 61 Erotic Essay 30: the ideal qualities of the erōmenos

Anonymous Greek Anthology 12.96: good Pyrrhus

Catullus Poem 86: Quintia and Lesbia compared

Euripides Trojan Women 924–44: the judgement of Paris

Rufinus Greek Anthology 5.35: the back view

Rufinus Greek Anthology 5.36: the front view

Athenaeus 565f–566a: male contests

Athenaeus 609e–610b: more competitions

Hesiod Theogony extracts: irresistible ‘evils’

Hesiod Works and Days 695–705: choosing a wife

Semonides Poem 7: varieties of wives

Cato the Elder On Agriculture 143.1–2: expectations of a wife

Honestus Greek Anthology 5.20: the right age

Sappho Fragments: epithalamia – marriage hymns

Theocritus Idyll 18: Helen and Menelaus

Catullus Poem 61 extracts: Junia and Manlius

Euripides Iphigenia in Aulis extracts: marriage traditions

Plutarch Advice to the Bride and Groom 138b: marriage customs

Athenaeus 602d–e: a Spartan custom

Antiphanes Greek Anthology 9.245: the tragedy of Petale

Seneca the Elder Controversies 1.2.22: the bride

Martial Epigram 11.78: the groom

Aristophanes Lysistrata extracts: a sexy sex strike

Martial Epigram 11.71: Leda's frustration

Martial Epigram 11.104: a husband's demands

Homer Iliad 6.482–93: Hector and Andromache

Theognis 1225–6: a good wife

Plutarch Life of Pompey extract: Pompey and his wives

Martial Epigram 10.38: to Calenus, on Sulpicia

EG 44.2–3: epitaph for Chaerestrate

Cil I 2 1211: epitaph for Claudia

ILS 7472: funerary stele of Aurelius Hermia and his wife, Aurelia Philematium

Ovid Tristia 1.6 extracts: to his wife from exile

Pliny the Younger Epistle 7.5: to his third wife

Wedding invitations

POxy 267: agreement of marriage

POxy 266: divorce contract

POxy 281: complaint against a husband

POxy 282: complaint against a wife

Archilochus Fragments : pornē

Anacreon Fragments: hetaira

Apollodoros [Ps-Dem. 59] Against Neaera extracts

Plutarch Life of Pericles 24.3–7: Aspasia

Plautus Pseudolus extracts: a comic pimp

Gallus Greek Anthology 5.49: Lyde's services

Nicarchus Greek Anthology 11.328: the body of the female worker

Horace Satire 1.2.28–36: endorsement from Cato

Martial Epigram 9.32: the ideal girl

Athenaeus 568a–d: maid-to-order

Athenaeus 569a–d: brothel life

Martial Epigram 10.75: Galla

Athenaeus 570b–d: Lais

Strabo Geography 6.2.6: at Eryx

Strabo Geography 8.6.20: at Corinth

Advice and observations

Praise and abuse

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Aeschines Against Timarchus 21: the law

Plautus Pseudolus 767–88: a pimp's slave-boy

Martial Epigram 4.28: Chloe and her toy-boy

Petronius Satyricon 126: Encolpius for sale

Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 3070: proposition by mail

Sexual acts with men

Cil IV 8940: Sexual acts with women 1

Plato Symposium 189d–192b: same-sex attraction

Pseudo-Aristotle Problems 879a–880a: causes of male passivity

Phaedrus Fables 4.16: a Titanic error

Athenaeus 602f–603a: origins of pederasty

Ovid Ars Amatoria 2.683–84: love of boys is unequal

Plutarch Dialogue on Love 751a–b: love of boys is genuine

Straton Greek Anthology 12.7: girls and boys

Pseudo-Lucian Erotes 25–28: women and boys

Achilles Tatius Leucippe and Cleitophon 2.35–8: the merits of boy-love

Straton Greek Anthology 12.4: ideal ages for boys

Catullus Poem 48: kissing Juventius

Aelian Miscellany Book 3 extracts: pederasty at Sparta

Athenaeus 561e–f: love honoured

Sappho Fragments 49, 94, 96: love and friendship

Erinna Distaff 13–55: Baucis

Cil IV.5296: entreaty to a girl

PGM 32.1–19 Herais entreats Sarapias

SM 1.42 Side A extract: Sophia entreats Gorgonia

Anacreon Fragment 358: girl gazes on … girl

Asclepiades Greek Anthology 5.207: two women of Samos

Martial Epigram 7.67: Philaenis the tribad

Lucian Fifth Dialogue of the Hetairai: Clonarium and Leaena

Aristotle Politics 1269b: Celts and Spartans

Diodorus Siculus 5.32.7: Celtic sexual practices

Athenaeus 603a: Celtic preferences

Aristophanes Lysistrata 107–9: dildos

Herodas Mime 6 extracts: girl talk

Propertius Elegies 2.6.27–34: visual erotica

Suetonius Life of Horace extract: reflections

POxy 2891: Philaenis' erotic handbook

Athenaeus 220e–f: writers of erotic handbooks

Priapea 3: Elephantis

Martial Epigram 12.43: the wanton verses of Sabellus

Martial Epigram 12.95: a girl to hand

Martial Epigram 10.35: Sulpicia – erotica for the respectable

Lucretius On the Nature of Things 4.1101–20: lust – never enough

Lucretius On the Nature of Things 4.1153–76: lust is blind

Propertius Elegies 1.2.1–8: talent needs no adornment

Ovid Treatments for the Female Face extracts: importance of cultus

Ovid Ars Amatoria 1.35–8: the task

Ovid Ars Amatoria Book 1 extracts: the hunt

Ovid Ars Amatoria Book 1 extracts: flatter her

Ovid Ars Amatoria 1.753–4: trust no one

Ovid Ars Amatoria 2.657–66: don't mention her flaws

Ovid Ars Amatoria Book 3 extracts: tips for the unfortunate

Ovid Ars Amatoria 3.769–808: best positions for sex

Ovid Remedia Amoris extracts: healing the disease

Alcaeus Fragment 298.4–24: times of war – Ajax and Cassandra

Ovid Metamorphoses Book 6 extracts: Tereus and Philomela

Plutarch Life of Solon 23.1–2: Solon on adultery and rape

Lysias 1 On the Murder of Eratosthenes 32–3: rape and seduction in Athenian law

Demosthenes 23 Against Aristocrates 53: Athenian law on adultery

Valerius Maximus Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings 6.1.1: Lucretia and early responses to rape

Horace Satire 1.2.37–46: punishments for adultery

Aristophanes Acharnians 271–6: punishment of a slave-girl

Priapea 13 and 28: punitive rape

Catullus Poem 56: master punishes a slave-boy

Herodotus The Histories 8.33.1: death by gang rape

Xenophon Anabasis 4.1.12–4: male and female captives

Tacitus Histories 3.33: rape and the sack of Cremona

Tacitus Annals 14.31: rape and expansion of empire

Pausanias 10.22.3–4: the Galatians in Aetolia

Athenaeus 522d–e: mass rape at Carbina

Archilochus Fragment 196a: an ‘erotic’ encounter

Ovid Ars Amatoria 1.663–80: girls like it rough

Aristophanes Peace 894–904: sporting metaphors for rough sex

Martial On the Spectacles 5: Pasiphae and the bull

Philodemus Greek Anthology 11.30: partial impotence

Ovid Amores 3.7: equipment failure

Petronius Satyricon 138: treatment for impotence

Lucilius Fragment 1182: menstrual defilement

Horace Epode 12.1–20: old whore

Martial Epigram 3.93: Vetustilla

Rufinus Greek Anthology 5.76: ravages of old age

Priapea: Vergilian Appendix 83.26–37: a filthy old woman

Catullus Poem 97: Aemilius smells at both ends

Nicarchus Greek Anthology 11.241: Theodorus stinks

Lucillius Greek Anthology 11.239: Telesilla's classically foul breath

Martial Epigram 6.93: Thais stinks

Aristophanes Knights 1284–7: Ariphrades' tastes

Aristophanes Wasps 1280–7: Ariphrades' talent

Cil IV.1391: a liquid diet

Cil IV.1516: female muck

Martial Epigram 9.69: unforeseen consequences

Anonymous Greek Anthology 11.272: the kinaidos

Catullus Poem 80: tell-tale signs of fellatio

Martial Epigram 11.61: Nanneius' tongue

Juvenal Satire 2.65–83: haute couture in the courts

Artemidorus On Dreams Book 1 extracts: unnatural acts

Sophocles Oedipus Rex extracts: Oedipus and Jocasta

Catullus Poem 90: Gellius

Parthenius Erotic Misfortunes 31: incestuous desire and necrophilia

Ovid Metamorphoses Book 9 extracts: Byblis and her brother

Hipponax Fragment 92: a sound thrashing

Euripides Bacchae extracts: Pentheus' cross-dressing

Aristophanes Women at the Thesmophoria 130–45: Agathon's cross-dressing

Seneca the Younger Epistles 122.7: cross-dressing is unnatural

Juvenal Satire 2.115–42: male brides

Ausonius Epigram 76: fluid forms

Martial Epigram 9.41: autoeroticism and infertility

Martial Epigram 11.22: masturbation of a partner

Seneca the Younger Natural Questions 1.16: katoptronophilia

Pseudo-Lucian Erotes 15–16 extracts: agalmatophilia

Petronius Satyricon 26: an onlooker

Petronius Satyricon 140: pimping children (and scopophilia, again)

Herodotus The Histories 2.46.4: the Mendesian cult of the ram god

Ovid Ars Amatoria 1.289–326: Pasiphae and the bull

Hyginus Fables 40.1–2: Pasiphae and the bull

Martial Epigram 1.83: Manneia's puppy

Juvenal Satire 6.327–34: an arse for an ass

Apuleius Metamorphoses 10.19–22: lust for an ass

Antoninus Liberalis Metamorphoses 21 extract: Polyphonte and the bear

Athenaeus 606b–c: animals in love with humans

Justin Epitome 1.2.1–10: a woman in man's clothing

Orosius Seven Books of History Against the Pagans 1.4.4–8: a savage queen

Athenaeus 533d and 576c–d: Themistocles' lady chariot

Plutarch Life of Alcibiades 16.1–2: a man without restraint

Quintus Curtius Rufus History of Alexander 6.5.22–3: Alexander and Bagoas

Quintus Curtius Rufus History of Alexander 10.1.25–7: Bagoas and Orxines

Plutarch Life of Demetrius 24.1: ‘brother’ of Athena

Plutarch Life of Demetrius 14.3: a busy sex life

Athenaeus 577c; 479a: two ditties for Demetrius

Sallust War with Catiline 5.1–5; 14.3–15: Catiline's depravity

Cicero Speech Against Catiline 2.22–4: an ‘army’ of perverts

Sallust War With Catiline 24.3–25.5: Sempronia

Catullus Poem 57: Caesar and his bête noíre

Suetonius Life of Caesar 49.1–4: Caesar and Nicomedes

Suetonius Life of Caesar 52.1; 52.3: Caesar's relations with foreign queens

Cicero Second Philippic 18.44–5: Antony, the male whore

Horace Epode 9.11–20, 27–32: the shame and the defeat of Antony

Horace Ode 1.37: fall of Cleopatra

Tacitus Annals 6.51.5–6: the phases in the life of Tiberius

Tacitus Annals 6.1–5: the lusts of Tiberius

Suetonius Life of Tiberius extracts: the pleasure dome

Suetonius Life of Caligula extracts: brother and sisters

Suetonius Life of Nero 28: Sporus

Suetonius Life of Nero 29: Nero the groom (and the bride!)

Tacitus Annals 14.2.1–3: Nero and Agrippina