Product Description

What did sex mean to the ancient Romans? In this illustrated study, John R. Clarke investigates an assortment of Roman erotic art to answer this question - and along the way, he reveals a society quite different from that of modern day America. Clarke re-evaluates our understanding of Roman art and society in a study informed by gender and cultural studies, and focusing on attitudes toward the erotic among both the Roman non-elite and women. This volume is a study of erotic art and sexuality which sets these works in their ancient context and defines 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 e

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #565207 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 406 pages

Review
"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"

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