Overview

What did sex mean to the ancient Romans? In this lavishly illustrated study, John R. Clarke investigates a rich assortment of Roman erotic art to answer this question-and along the way, he reveals a society quite different from our own. Clarke reevaluates our understanding of Roman art and society in a study informed by recent gender and cultural studies, and focusing for the first time on attitudes toward the erotic among both the Roman non-elite and women. This splendid volume is the first study of erotic art and sexuality to set these works-many newly discovered and previously unpublished-in their ancient context and the first to define the differences between modern and ancient concepts of sexuality using clear visual evidence. Roman artists pictured a great range of human sexual activities-far beyond those mentioned in classical literature-including sex between men and women, men and men, women and women, men and boys, threesomes, foursomes, and more. Roman citizens paid artists to decorate expensive objects, such as silver and cameo glass, with scenes of lovemaking. Erotic works were created for and sold to a broad range of consumers, from the elite to the very poor, during a period spanning the first century B.C. through the mid-third century of our era. This erotic art was not hidden away, but was displayed proudly in homes as signs of wealth and luxury. In public spaces, artists often depicted outrageous sexual acrobatics to make people laugh. Looking at Lovemaking depicts a sophisticated, pre-Christian society that placed a high value on sexual pleasure and the art that represented it. Clarke shows how this culture evolved within religious, social, and legal frameworks that were vastly different from our own and contributes an original and controversial chapter to the history of human sexuality.

Full Product Details

Author:   John R. Clarke
Publisher:   University of California Press
Imprint:   University of California Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.726kg
ISBN:  

9780520229044

ISBN 10:   0520229045
Pages:   406
Publication Date:   16 April 2001
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

List if Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction I. The Cultural Construction of Sexuality 2. Greek and Hellenistic Constructions of Lovemaking The Augustan and Early ]ulio-Claudian Periods (27 B.C. -A.D. 30) 3. Representations of Male-to-Male Lovemaking 4* Representations of Male-to-Female Lovemaking 5. Sex and the Body of the Other Pompeii: The Neronian and Flavian Periods (A.D. 54-79) 6. The Display of Erotica and the Erotics of Display in Houses 7. The Display of Erotica and the Erotics of Display in Public Buildings Italy and the Provinces: I7te First through the Third Centuries 8. The Invention and Spread of Sexual Imagery through the Roman World Conclusions Notes Glossary A Guide to Classical Texts Bibliography Index

Reviews

"""This is an important book, ambitious in the goals it sets itself and elegantly realized. It succeeds in demonstrating its major thesis, that Roman sociosexual role allocations, values and attitudes do not correspond to familiar modern ones but demand to be understood in their own radical otherness, and that visual imagery can be an invaluable aid to such an understanding. The controversy which Looking at Lovemaking will no doubt provoke cannot fail to have a stimulating effect upon the rapidly developing appreciation of the complexity of Roman visual culture."" - Sheldon Nodelman, Art in America ""Clarke has produced a major book which contains much that is new, useful, and stimulating in terms of analysis as well as evidence. He melds contemporary theoretical insights and fresh primary data with a hard look at contexts - not only the original settings of the art works he discusses, but also the intellectual climates which have produced modern analyses. The result is a book which points in significant and unexpected directions."" - Dominic Montserrat, The Classical Review ""Carefully written and lavishly illustrated. Clarke is refreshingly honest and straightforward, presenting his assumptions and aims in clear, jargon-free prose. This book offers a well-constructed and convincing analysis of both familiar and unfamiliar material. [It's] meticulously researched and intelligently argued... an engaging and stimulating book. [It] is not only a model of the ways in which a creative and ambitious project may be carried out with precision and care, but also a fine addition both to the study of Roman art and to the exploration of ancient sexual practice."" - Kristina Milnor, American Journal of Archaeology"""

Please don't buy this book if you are offended by pictures and frank discussion of sexual intercourse. Perhaps for us the most startling aspect of Roman life is the frequent depictions of sex which assailed citizens in many public and private situations. They show couples and groups in various combinations and positions, sometimes passionate, sometimes oddly detached, sometimes deeply tender; the illustrations come from the public baths, domestic utensils, villa wall frescoes and sculptures. The author, an art historian, concludes that Roman ideas of sexuality, untrammelled by later notions of shame and guilt, were more complex than classical literature suggests, and that they were vastly different from our own. As far as is possible, he places this erotic art in its original context, allowing new insights even to the familiar. Though not for prudes, this is a fine, scholarly work on a long-neglected subject. (Kirkus UK)

This is an important book, ambitious in the goals it sets itself and elegantly realized. It succeeds in demonstrating its major thesis, that Roman sociosexual role allocations, values and attitudes do not correspond to familiar modern ones but demand to be understood in their own radical otherness, and that visual imagery can be an invaluable aid to such an understanding. The controversy which Looking at Lovemaking will no doubt provoke cannot fail to have a stimulating effect upon the rapidly developing appreciation of the complexity of Roman visual culture. - Sheldon Nodelman, Art in America Clarke has produced a major book which contains much that is new, useful, and stimulating in terms of analysis as well as evidence. He melds contemporary theoretical insights and fresh primary data with a hard look at contexts - not only the original settings of the art works he discusses, but also the intellectual climates which have produced modern analyses. The result is a book which points in significant and unexpected directions. - Dominic Montserrat, The Classical Review Carefully written and lavishly illustrated. Clarke is refreshingly honest and straightforward, presenting his assumptions and aims in clear, jargon-free prose. This book offers a well-constructed and convincing analysis of both familiar and unfamiliar material. [It's] meticulously researched and intelligently argued... an engaging and stimulating book. [It] is not only a model of the ways in which a creative and ambitious project may be carried out with precision and care, but also a fine addition both to the study of Roman art and to the exploration of ancient sexual practice. - Kristina Milnor, American Journal of Archaeology

Author Information

John R. Clarke is Annie Laurie Howard Regents Professor of Art History at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of The Houses of Roman Italy: Ritual, Space, and Decoration (California, 1991).

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