“Asexuality” in the Greek Papyrus Letters
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Rosalia Hatzilambrou
Abstract
This chapter aims to explore the scarcity of love letters among the Greek letters written on papyrus. In the first part, Hatzilambrou briefly presents the extant specimens of Greek love correspondence in post-pharaonic Egypt, while also commenting on points in them that are relevant to her argument. In the second part, she firstly justifies her suggestion that the small number of papyrus love letters appears puzzling, when compared to the emphasis placed on love and sexual desire in other texts of the same period, e.g. in the magical papyri and, secondly, she argues that the reason for the observed “asexuality” in the corpus of the Greek papyrus letters lies in a range of factors, namely the literacy issue, the defective postal system, the moral climate and the deliberate destruction of love letters, which have nothing to do with the sexuality of the Greek speaking inhabitants of post-pharaonic Egypt.
Abstract
This chapter aims to explore the scarcity of love letters among the Greek letters written on papyrus. In the first part, Hatzilambrou briefly presents the extant specimens of Greek love correspondence in post-pharaonic Egypt, while also commenting on points in them that are relevant to her argument. In the second part, she firstly justifies her suggestion that the small number of papyrus love letters appears puzzling, when compared to the emphasis placed on love and sexual desire in other texts of the same period, e.g. in the magical papyri and, secondly, she argues that the reason for the observed “asexuality” in the corpus of the Greek papyrus letters lies in a range of factors, namely the literacy issue, the defective postal system, the moral climate and the deliberate destruction of love letters, which have nothing to do with the sexuality of the Greek speaking inhabitants of post-pharaonic Egypt.
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
