Bisexuality in the Ancient World - Softcover

Cantarella, Eva

4.13

587 ratings by Goodreads

9780300059243: Bisexuality in the Ancient World

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300059248 ISBN 13: 9780300059243

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1994

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Bisexuality was intrinsic to the cultures of the ancient world. In both Greece and Roman, sexual relationships between men were acknowledged, tolerated and widely celebrated in literature and art. For the Greeks and Romans, homosexuality was not an exclusive choice, but alternative to and sometime simultaneous with the love of a woman. Drawing on a range of sources - from legal texts, inscriptions and medical documents to poetry and philosophical literature - Eva Cantarella reconstructs the bisexual cultures of Athens and Rome and compares them. She explores the psychological, social and cultural mechanisms that determined male sexual choice and considers the extent to which that choice was free, directed or coerced. She analyzes the link between social class and homosexuality, and assesses the impact of homosexual relations on heterosexual ones. In Greece the relationship between men and young boys was deemed the noblest of associations, a means of education and spiritual exaltation, though such relationships were regulated and never left to individual sponeneity. In Rome, however, the sexual ethic mirrored the political, males being domineering in love as in war. The critical sexual distinction was that between active and passive, the victims commonly being slaves or defeated enemies rather than young Roman freemen. Cantarella explains how the etiquette of bixexuality was corrupted over time and how homosexuality came to be regarded as an unnatural act when it was influenced by the pagan and Judeo-Christian traditions. The book also has chapters on love between women and the response of women to male homosexuality.

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Review:

"An important study that is destined to take its place next to the classic works of Foucault and Pomeroy." -- Alan Mendelson, History: Reviews of New Books

"Cantarella presents the ancient evidence in a straightforward fashion, draws insightful comparisons between heterosexuality and homosexuality, and elucidates the larger cultural context of erotic experience..." -- John F. Makowski, Classical Journal

"Easily the best book on the topic." -- John Buckler, Historian

"Offers a valuable, close-in reassessment of intricate evidence, freshly researched, readable, and open-minded." -- Alan Sinfield, Gay Times

"This is a book I recommend for all students of sexology. The book is a treasure trove of both major areas of information that sexologists would do well to master and trivia that they might enjoy knowing." -- Milton Diamond, Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality

About the Author:

Eva Cantarella is professor in the Institute of Roman Law at the University of Milan. Cormac O'Cuilleanain is lecturer in Italian at Trinity College, Dublin.

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