A collection of essays seeking to establish Roman constructions of sexuality and gender difference as a distinct area of research, complementing work already done on Greece, in an attempt to present a fuller picture of ancient sexuality. By applying feminist critical tools to forms of public discourse, including literature, history, law, medicine, and political oratory, the essays explore the hierarchy of power reflected in most Roman sexual relations, where noblemen acted as the penetrators, and women, boys and slaves the penetrated. In many cases, the authors show how these roles could be inverted, in ways that revealed citizens' anxieties during the days of the early Empire, when traditional power structures seemed threatened.
Author(s): Judith P. Hallett, Marilyn B. Skinner (eds.)
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Year: 1997
Language: English
Pages: 351
Title......Page 1
CONTENTS......Page 5
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 7
Marilyn B. Skinner - INTRODUCTION. QUOD MULTO FIT ALITER IN GRAECLA (3-25)......Page 11
PART ONE: UNMARKED SEXUALITY......Page 35
1. Jonathan Walters - INVADING THE ROMAN BODY: MANLINESS AND IMPENETRABILITY IN ROMAN THOUGHT (29-43)......Page 37
PART TWO: WAYWARD SEXUALITIES......Page 53
2. Holt N. Parker - THE TERATOGENIC GRID (47-65)......Page 55
3. Catharine Edwards - UNSPEAKABLE PROFESSIONS: PUBLIC PERFORMANCE AND PROSTITUTION IN ANCIENT ROME (66-95)......Page 74
PART THREE: GENDER SLIPPAGE IN LITERARY CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE MASCULINE......Page 105
4. Anthony Corbeill - DINING DEVIANTS IN ROMAN POLITICAL INVECTIVE (99-128)......Page 107
5. Marilyn B. Skinner - EGO MULIER: THE CONSTRUCTION OF MALE SEXUALITY IN CATULLUS (129-150)......Page 137
6. Ellen Oliensis - THE EROTICS OF AMICITIA: READINGS IN TIBULLUS, PROPERTIUS, AND HORACE (151-171)......Page 159
7. David Fredrick - READING BROKEN SKIN: VIOLENCEI N ROMAN ELEGY (172-193)......Page 180
PART FOUR: MALE CONSTRUCTIONS OF "WOMAN"......Page 203
8. Amy Richlin - PLINY'S BRASSIERE (197-220)......Page 205
9. Sandra R. Joshel - FEMALE DESIRE AND THE DISCOURSE OF EMPIRE: TACITUS'S MESSALINA (221-254)......Page 229
10. Judith P. Hallett - FEMALE HOMOEROTICISM AND THE DENIAL OF ROMAN REALITY IN LATIN LITERATURE (255-273)......Page 263
11. Pamela Gordon - THE LOVER'S VOICE IN HEROIDES 15: OR, WHY IS SAPPHO A MAN? (274-291)......Page 282
PART FIVE: FEMALE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DESIRING SUBJECT......Page 301
12. Alison Keith - TANDEM VENIT AMOR: A ROMAN WOMAN SPEAKS OF LOVE (295-310)......Page 303
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 319
CONTRIBUTORS......Page 341
INDEX......Page 343
