ABSTRACT
My immediate inspiration is Penelope Wilson’s observation on classical studies: ‘Masculinity is so encoded into the language of the subject that in the eighteenth century it is virtually inseparable from it’ (1982: 71). Eighteenth-century usage highlights a connection between manliness and ancient literature which has affected wes tern culture for over two thousand years: this book is a modest introduction to an important topic. Many scholars are investigating gender in ancient literature and civilization; comparatively few regard their predecessors’ attitudes to sexuality as an object of attention in its own right.
