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Bisexuality was intrinsic to the cultures of the ancient world. In both Greece and Rome, same gender sexual relationships were acknowledged, and those between men were not only tolerated but widely celebrated in literature and art. Nor for Greeks and Romans was homosexuality an exclusive choice, but alternative to and sometimes concurrent with the love of the opposite sex.
Whilst exploring aspects of the female condition in Classical antiquity, Eva Cantarella came to understand that the sheer ubiquity of male homosexuality had a fundamental impact on relationships between men and women.
Drawing on the full range of surviving sources - legal texts, inscriptions, medical documents, poetry and philosophical literature - she now reconstructs the homosexual cultures of Greece and Rome and provides a full, readable and thought-provoking history of bisexuality in the Classical age.
Cantarella explores the psychological, social and cultural mechanisms that determined sexual choice and consider: the extent to which that choice was free, directed or coerced in each civilization. In Greece the relationship between adults and youngs[sic] boys was deemed the noblest of associations, a means of education and spiritual exhaltation[sic].
Cantarella reveals that such relationships, though highly regulated and never left to individual spontaneity, were more than pedagogic and platonic: they were fully carnal. In Imperial Rome, however, the sexual ethic mirrored the political and males were cruelly domineering in love as in war. The critical sexual distinction was that between active and passive, the victims commonly being slaves or defeated enemies, rather than young Roman freemen.
In terms of female bisexuality, accounts of love between Roman women were transmitted exclusively by men. In Greece, however, women had Sappho to give them voice. Cantarella examines the activities of the thiasoi - Greek communities of women - and reveals that their ritual ceremonies also embraced passionate love.
Cantarella explains how the etiquette of bisexuality was corrupted over time and how, influenced by pagan and Judeo-Christian traditions, homosexuality came to be regarded as an unnatural act. Her interpretation goes further than any previous study, claiming not only that homosexuality was common, but that for Greeks of both genders it constituted true love.
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1
Secondo natura: La bisessualità nel mondo antico
2016, Feltrinelli, Universale Economica. Saggi
Paperback
in Italian
8807888386 9788807888380
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2
Bisexuality in the ancient world
2002, Yale University Press
in English
- 2nd ed.
0300093020 9780300093025
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5
Segun Natura: La Bisexualidad En El Mundo Antiguo/ Bisexuality in the Ancient World (Interdisciplinar/ Interdisciplinary)
June 30, 1991, Akal Ediciones
Paperback
in Spanish
- Tra edition
8476009941 9788476009949
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6
Selon la nature, l'usage et la loi: La Bisexualité dans le monde antique
February 1, 1991, La Découverte
Paperback
2707120014 9782707120014
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7
Secondo natura: la bisessualità nel mondo antico
1988, Editori riuniti
in Italian
- 1a ed.
8835931479 9788835931478
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Translated from the Italian C. O Cuilleanain.
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I greci e i romani, al di là delle profonde differenze tra le due culture, vivevano i rapporti tra uomini in modo molto diverso da quello in cui lo viviamo noi oggi. Per i greci e i romani (ovviamente, salvo eccezioni) l'omosessualità non era mai una scelta esclusiva. Amare un altro uomo non era un'opzione fuori dalla norma, che esprimeva una diversità. Era "solo" una parte integrante dell'esperienza di vita: era la manifestazione di una pulsione vuoi sentimentale vuoi sessuale che nell'arco dell'esistenza si alternava e talvolta si affiancava all'amore per una donna. Questo brillante saggio, stimolante e pungente, sulla bisessualità a Roma e Atene ne esplora i contorni e ne rilegge le dinamiche più profonde, grazie all'accurato utilizzo delle fonti più diverse (testi giuridici e medici, poesia, letteratura filosofica). Un libro importante e al contempo di gradevolissima lettura: il rituale educativo dell'amore per gli adolescenti in Grecia e lo stupro nell'antica Roma vengono riletti come gli elementi cruciali, per quanto rinnegati, del mondo classico. Una tesi che ancora adesso suscita scalpore.
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