ABSTRACT

Looking at sex and sexuality from a variety of historical, sociological and theoretical perspectives, as represented in a variety of media, Sex in Antiquity represents a vibrant picture of the discipline of ancient gender and sexuality studies, showcasing the work of leading international scholars as well as that of emerging talents and new voices.

Sexuality and gender in the ancient world is an area of research that has grown quickly with often sudden shifts in focus and theoretical standpoints. This volume contextualises these shifts while putting in place new ideas and avenues of exploration that further develop this lively field or set of disciplines. This broad study also includes studies of gender and sexuality in the Ancient Near East which not only provide rich consideration of those areas but also provide a comparative perspective not often found in such collections. Sex in Antiquity is a major contribution to the field of ancient gender and sexuality studies.

part I|84 pages

Ancient Near East

chapter 1|15 pages

“I have hired you with my Son's Mandrakes”

Women's reproductive magic in ancient Israel

chapter 3|17 pages

Guarding the House

Conflict, rape, and David's concubines

chapter 4|13 pages

From Horse Kissing to Beastly Emissions

Paraphilias in the Ancient Near East

chapter 5|17 pages

Too Young – Too Old?

Sex and age in Mesopotamian literature

part II|236 pages

Archaic, classical and Hellenistic Greece

chapter 6|16 pages

Fantasy and the Homosexual Orgy

Unearthing the sexual scripts of ancient Athens

chapter 7|22 pages

Was Pederasty Problematized?

A diachronic view

chapter 8|20 pages

Before Queerness?

Visions of a homoerotic heaven in ancient Greco-Italic tomb paintings

chapter 9|22 pages

“Sex ed” at the Archaic Symposium

Prostitutes, boys and paideia 1

chapter 11|16 pages

Relations of Sex and Gender in Greek Melic Poetry

Helen, object and subject of desire 1

chapter 14|15 pages

Dog-Love-Dog

Kynogamia and Cynic sexual ethics

chapter 15|18 pages

Naming Names, Telling Tales

Sexual secrets and Greek narrative 1

chapter 16|20 pages

Ancient Warfare and the Ravaging Martial Rape of Girls and Women

Evidence from Homeric epic and Greek drama

chapter 18|18 pages

Fantastic Sex

Fantasies of sexual assault in Aristophanes 1

part III|219 pages

Republican, imperial and late-ancient Rome

chapter 21|19 pages

What is Named by the Name “Philaenis”?

Gender, function, and authority of an antonomastic figure 1

chapter 23|14 pages

Making Manhood Hard

Tiberius and Latin literary representations of erectile dysfunction

chapter 24|27 pages

Toga and Pallium

Status, sexuality, identity

chapter 25|12 pages

Revisiting Roman Sexuality

Agency and the conceptualization of penetrated males

chapter 26|21 pages

The Language of Gender

Lexical semantics and the Latin vocabulary of unmanly men

chapter 27|18 pages

Remaking Perpetua

A female martyr reconstructed

chapter 28|17 pages

Agathias and Paul the Silentiary

Erotic epigram and the sublimation of same-sex desire in the age of Justinian

chapter 29|19 pages

Friends without Benefits

Or, academic love