Research Catalog

Sex on show : seeing the erotic in Greece and Rome

Filter by

Item details
Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building M1 to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	JQE 14-3	Schwarzman Building M1 - Art & Architecture Room 300

Description

256 pages : illustrations (chiefly color); 24 cm

Summary

The ancient Greeks and Romans were not shy about sex. Phallic imagery, sex scenes, and the lively activities of their promiscuous gods adorned many objects, buildings, and sculptures. Drinking cups, oil-lamps, and walls were decorated with scenes of seduction; statues of erect penises served as boundary-stones and signposts; and marble satyrs and nymphs grappled in gardens.
Caroline Vout examines the abundance of sexual imagery in Greek and Roman culture. Were these images intended to be shocking, humorous, or exciting? Are they about sex or love? How are we to know whether our responses to them are akin to those of the ancients? The answers to these questions provide fascinating insights into ancient attitudes toward religion, politics, sex, gender, and the body. They also reveal how the ancients saw themselves and their world, and how subsequent centuries have seen them. Beautifully illustrated throughout, this lively and thought-provoking book not only addresses theories of sexual practice and social history, it is also a visual history of what it meant and still means to stare sex in the face. -- Provided by publisher.

Alternative Title

Subjects

Bibliography (note)

Contents

Sex, love, seduction -- Exposure -- Fantasy -- Divine encounters -- Fatal attraction -- Desire for the antique.

Call Number

JQE 14-3

ISBN

LCCN

2013939862

OCLC

839389215

Author

Vout, Caroline.

Title

Sex on show : seeing the erotic in Greece and Rome / Caroline Vout.

Imprint

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2013.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 238-250) and index.

Research Call Number

JQE 14-3