Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents [Paperback]

Thomas K. Hubbard (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0520234308 | ISBN-13: 978-0520234307 | Edition: 1

The most important primary texts on homosexuality in ancient Greece and Rome are translated into modern, explicit English and collected together for the first time in this comprehensive sourcebook. Covering an extensive period--from the earliest Greek texts in the late seventh century b.c.e. to Greco-Roman texts of the third and fourth centuries c.e.--the volume includes well-known writings by Plato, Sappho, Aeschines, Catullus, and Juvenal, as well as less well known but highly relevant and intriguing texts such as graffiti, comic fragments, magical papyri, medical treatises, and selected artistic evidence. These fluently translated texts, together with Thomas K. Hubbard's valuable introductions, clearly show that there was in fact no more consensus about homosexuality in ancient Greece and Rome than there is today.
The material is organized by period and by genre, allowing readers to consider chronological developments in both Greece and Rome. Individual texts each are presented with a short introduction contextualizing them by date and, where necessary, discussing their place within a larger work. Chapter introductions discuss questions of genre and the ideological significance of the texts, while Hubbard's general introduction to the volume addresses issues such as sexual orientation in antiquity, moral judgments, class and ideology, and lesbianism. With its broad, unexpurgated, and thoroughly informed presentation, this unique anthology gives an essential perspective on homosexuality in classical antiquity.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"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

From the Back 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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 575 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (May 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520234308
• ISBN-13: 978-0520234307
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #356,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Much-Needed Work, November 14, 2005

By 

William A. Percy "William A. Percy" (Professor of History, UMass Boston) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents (Paperback)

Thomas Hubbard has produced the most significant anthology about Greek and Roman homosexuality ever. I had wanted to do such a book twenty years ago, but I lacked the skill. A master of the Greek tongue, he found the best translations of texts often misunderstood or bowdlerized, and when he couldn't find any, he translated them himself or commissioned others to do so. He additionally placed extensive and erudite introductions along with very useful bibliographic notes at the beginning of each of chapter. Each chapter is well footnoted, and as Hubbard says in his preface, "The footnotes are geared to a general undergraduate audience that has little previous knowledge of classical civilization and may need explanation of basic cultural artifacts or historical references. The notes also include points of interpretation, which should interest both the general and the more knowledgeable reader."

He effectively demolished the absurdities of John Boswell and David Halperin, and criticized the less reprehensible but still erroneous theses of Dover and Foucault. True, Hubbard did not do much with lesbianism, but then it didn't appear often in the sources. His subtle but devastating attacks on social constructionists, extreme feminists, lesbiterians, and Socarides, the other (dying-off) old-time American Freudians, and the child abuse industry make his work not only intellectually unassailable but socially and legally relevant. It is the first of its kind and will not conceivably be surpassed. Reviewers and others may over time be able to add a few items or even quibble a bit with the translations offered. It is plausible, at the most, that a second edition may be needed in a decade or two.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Depth - Easy to read - Prose/Poems/Stories, August 21, 2011

By 

Jane (Canada) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents (Paperback)

It is a long book but it is so skilfully written that the reader looks forward to the next page! It is broken up with little stories, poems, arguments and anecdotes from famous names and not so famous names all in different stages of wooing a boy.

It is interesting to read about Socrates, Plato and poems from ordinary men trying to woo their love interest. Some successfully..other poems show the anger with the boy or the loss of his love.

There are wonderful arguments and debates regardinge the erastes/eromenus relationship. There are anecdotes about cross-dressers, lesbians, male prostitutes, lesbians (not so much) and spurned lovers. There are lessons on how to be successful courting a boy...what to look for and what to expect. Only families of the wealthy allowed their boys to be courted.

There were many rules of courtship and in this world the boys' virtue is protected by the father until he approves of the suitor..or the boy accepts.

The descriptions of where men can meet boys: the gymnasia, the baths, and sleeping outside a potential lovers door!

The poetry is some of the most beautiful I have ever read.

So much information but easy to digest. So much was uncovered (excuse the pun)

It was wonderful to read actual notes and speeches from Socrates,Plato and others. It provided a vivid snapshot of male love in Ancient times.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Indispensible Sourcebook, November 17, 2003

By 

Dale W. Boyer (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents (Paperback)

This is an exhaustive, absolutely fascinating compendium of a vast number of ancient texts, all of which make reference to classical attitudes concerning homosexuality. The array is fascinating, the conclusions myriad. For anyone who really wants to get down the the nitty gritty of ancient opinions -- or to see what day to day ancient life was like -- this book is indispensible.