Having Sex with Statues: Some Cases of Agalmatophilia in Latin Poetry
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Charilaos N. Michalopoulos
Abstract
This chapter discusses the role of agalmatophilia in a selection of passages from Latin poetry. Pygmalion’s erotic involvement with his statue, narrated by Ovid in his Metamorphoses (Met. 10.243-297), serves as a starting point, since it offers a set of motifs with high frequency in agalmatophilia narratives. A close reading of Laodamia’s infatuation with the wax effigy of her dead husband (Ovid, Heroides 13) reveals the importance of these motifs but also the structural and thematic intricacies behind their contextualisation. The Priapea, on the other hand, come with an unexpected twist by focusing not on the human agent but on the statue instead. As it proves, most agalmatophilia motifs are still present; however, they are recalled chiefly to be parodied and ridiculed.
Abstract
This chapter discusses the role of agalmatophilia in a selection of passages from Latin poetry. Pygmalion’s erotic involvement with his statue, narrated by Ovid in his Metamorphoses (Met. 10.243-297), serves as a starting point, since it offers a set of motifs with high frequency in agalmatophilia narratives. A close reading of Laodamia’s infatuation with the wax effigy of her dead husband (Ovid, Heroides 13) reveals the importance of these motifs but also the structural and thematic intricacies behind their contextualisation. The Priapea, on the other hand, come with an unexpected twist by focusing not on the human agent but on the statue instead. As it proves, most agalmatophilia motifs are still present; however, they are recalled chiefly to be parodied and ridiculed.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- List of Figures XI
- Sex, Sexuality, Sexual Intercourse and Gender: The Terms and Contexts of the Volume 1
-
Part I: Aspects of Homoeroticism
- Dover’s “Pseudo-sexuality” and the Athenian Laws on Male Prostitutes in Politics 19
- Group Sex, Exhibitionism/Voyeurism and Male Homosociality 43
- Making the Body Speak: The (Homo)Sexual Dimensions of Sneezing in Ancient Greek Literature 71
- “Fell in Love with an Anus”: Sexual Fantasies for Young Male Bodies and the Pederastic Gaze in Rhianus’ Epigrams 89
- Silencing Female Intimacies: Sexual Practices, Silence and Cultural Assumptions in Lucian, Dial. Meretr. 5 111
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Part II: Sex and Medicine
- Clitoridectomy in Ancient Greco-Roman Medicine and the Definition of Sexual Intercourse 141
- Sex and Epilepsy: Seizures and Fluids in Greek Medical Imagination 173
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Part III: The Use and Abuse of Sex Objects
- Some Dirty Thoughts about Chairs and Stools: Iconography of Erotic Foreplay 193
- Olive Oil, Dildos and Sandals: Greek Sex Toys Reassessed 221
- Statues as Sex Objects 245
- Having Sex with Statues: Some Cases of Agalmatophilia in Latin Poetry 263
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Part IV: Sexual Liminality
- Hephaistos Among the Satyrs: Semen, Ejaculation and Autochthony in Greek Culture 285
- Human-animal Sex in Ancient Greece 307
- The Womb Inside the Male Member: A Lucianic Twist 323
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Part V: Sex and Disgust
- Sex and Disgust in Martial’s Epigrams 351
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Part VI: The Scripts of Sexuality: Drama, Novel, Papyri and Later Texts
- To Voice the Physical: Sex and the Soil in Aeschylus 377
- Seminal Figures: Aristophanes and the Tradition of Sexual Imagery 425
- The Maiden who Knew Nothing about Sex: A Scabrous Theme in Novella and Comedy 445
- Sex and Abuse in Unhappy Marriages in Late Antique Oxyrhynchus: The Case of Two Women’s Narratives Preserved on Papyrus 471
- “Asexuality” in the Greek Papyrus Letters 487
- From Plato’s Symposium to Methodius’ and Late Antique Hagiography: “Female” Readings of Male Sexuality 509
- Notes on Editors and Contributors 529
- Index Locorum 531
- General Index 535
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- List of Figures XI
- Sex, Sexuality, Sexual Intercourse and Gender: The Terms and Contexts of the Volume 1
-
Part I: Aspects of Homoeroticism
- Dover’s “Pseudo-sexuality” and the Athenian Laws on Male Prostitutes in Politics 19
- Group Sex, Exhibitionism/Voyeurism and Male Homosociality 43
- Making the Body Speak: The (Homo)Sexual Dimensions of Sneezing in Ancient Greek Literature 71
- “Fell in Love with an Anus”: Sexual Fantasies for Young Male Bodies and the Pederastic Gaze in Rhianus’ Epigrams 89
- Silencing Female Intimacies: Sexual Practices, Silence and Cultural Assumptions in Lucian, Dial. Meretr. 5 111
-
Part II: Sex and Medicine
- Clitoridectomy in Ancient Greco-Roman Medicine and the Definition of Sexual Intercourse 141
- Sex and Epilepsy: Seizures and Fluids in Greek Medical Imagination 173
-
Part III: The Use and Abuse of Sex Objects
- Some Dirty Thoughts about Chairs and Stools: Iconography of Erotic Foreplay 193
- Olive Oil, Dildos and Sandals: Greek Sex Toys Reassessed 221
- Statues as Sex Objects 245
- Having Sex with Statues: Some Cases of Agalmatophilia in Latin Poetry 263
-
Part IV: Sexual Liminality
- Hephaistos Among the Satyrs: Semen, Ejaculation and Autochthony in Greek Culture 285
- Human-animal Sex in Ancient Greece 307
- The Womb Inside the Male Member: A Lucianic Twist 323
-
Part V: Sex and Disgust
- Sex and Disgust in Martial’s Epigrams 351
-
Part VI: The Scripts of Sexuality: Drama, Novel, Papyri and Later Texts
- To Voice the Physical: Sex and the Soil in Aeschylus 377
- Seminal Figures: Aristophanes and the Tradition of Sexual Imagery 425
- The Maiden who Knew Nothing about Sex: A Scabrous Theme in Novella and Comedy 445
- Sex and Abuse in Unhappy Marriages in Late Antique Oxyrhynchus: The Case of Two Women’s Narratives Preserved on Papyrus 471
- “Asexuality” in the Greek Papyrus Letters 487
- From Plato’s Symposium to Methodius’ and Late Antique Hagiography: “Female” Readings of Male Sexuality 509
- Notes on Editors and Contributors 529
- Index Locorum 531
- General Index 535
