Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents Paperback - 2003

First line

Homoerotic themes abound in Greek lyric poetry from the seventh to the early fifth centuries B.C.E., and this material provides our earliest literary evidence.

From the rear cover

"Professor Hubbard has had the generosity and good sense to include fragmentary as well as complete texts, and inscriptions and graffiti as well as properly literary works. The translations by divers hands faithfully represent an enormously wide range of genres and both high and colloquial styles, and the Greek and Latin texts are intelligently grouped into ten chapters by period and subject-matter, each introduced and annotated by the editor. There is an excellent selection of illustrations, including the fetishistic Roman-period Warren Cup recently purchased by the British Museum, that depicts both pederastic sodomy and voyeurism."--Paul Cartledge, author of Spartan Reflections

"It would be difficult to find a way to overstate the value of Hubbard's contribution to our study of ancient sex and sexuality. Even those who think they know all about these topics are in for some surprises when they explore this vast collection of primary texts from the ancient Mediterranean world. Students, too, will find a great feast of information spread before them. The selection is comprehensive, and the English translations are carefully chosen. My first question, as I began to understand the nature of the sourcebook I held in my hands, was: Why has no one done this before?"--John T. Kirby, author of Secret of the Muses Retold

"Hubbard has achieved a remarkable feat. He has collected the literary and historical (and some artistic) evidence documenting same-sex eroticism in ancient Greece and Rome, in all its varieties. He introduces these sources to the general reader by period and author and analyzes controversial issues such as essentialism vs. social constructivism and the very rubric homosexuality, and he traces changing attitudes toward diverse homoerotic practices. His Sourcebook provides readers with just the right amount of background on changing social and political contexts from Greece to Rome, and introduces the full range of scholarship on a broad and important topic. It will fascinate and educate all those interested in the history of sexuality and, in practical terms, it will facilitate teaching and research in Gay Studies and indeed in Cultural Studies and Ancient History."--Nancy Felson, author of Regarding Penelope: From Character to Poetics