Eros: The Myth Of Ancient Greek Sexuality

301 Pages·1998·47.1 MB·English

by  Bruce S Thornton

Q?
(PW&
This page intentionally left blank
Eros
The Myth of Ancient
Greek Sexuality
Bruce S.Thornton
Westview
PRESS
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
Ail rights reserved. Printed in the United States oi America. No part of this publication may be repro-
duced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.
Copyright © 1997 by Westview Press, A Member of the Perseus Books Group
Published In 1997 in the United States of America by Westview Press, 5500 Central Avers tie, Boulder,
Colorado 80301 -2877, and in the United Kingdom by Westview Press, 12 HicPs Copse Road, Crminor
HilL Oxford OX2 9JJ
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thornton, Bruce S.
Eros: the myth of ancient Greek sexuality / Bruce Thornton,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8133-3225-7.—ISBN 0-8133-3226-5
1. Sex customs—Greece—History, I.Tide.
HQ13.T46 1997
392'.6'0938—dc20 96-36786
CIP
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standarad for per-
manence of Paper for Printed Library materials z39.48-1984.
Perseus
POD
ON DEMAND 10 9 8 7 6 5
/ dedicate this book with love and gratitude
to my wunferjacalyn,
and my boys, Isaac ami Cole,
who have given me a reason to believe that it all has a point.
Oh Plato! Plato! you have paved the way
With your confounded fantasies, to more
Immoral conduct by the fancied sway
Your system feigns o'er the contmltess core
Of human hearts, than all the long army
Of poets and romancers:—You're a bore,
A charlatan, a coxcomb—and have been,
At best, no better than a go-between.
—Don Juan, 1.116
Contents
Preface xi
Acknotfledgments xv
A Note on Translation xvii
Introduction: "Custom the King of All" 1
PART ONE
The "ControUess Core"
\ The "Tyrant of Gods and Men" 11
Madness and the Irrational, 17
Death, Violence, War, 23
"Thermos Ens"31
Erotic Disease, 33
Wind, Sea, and Storm, 35
The Beasts of Love, 38
The" Very God of Evil" 43
2 The Golden Child of the Bloody Foam 49
Aphrodite and Helen, 57
The Seduction of Zeus, 58
Fear and Desire on Mt. Ida, 59
Sappho's Aphrodite, 60
"Something Greater Than a God," 61
Her Cruel Smile, 65
Aphrodite Domesticated—Somewhat, 65
The Goddess of Gold and Blood, 66
3 Pandora's "Foul Tribe of Women" 69
The Charybdis of Appetite, 70
The Daughters of Earth and Blood, 76
vii
viii Contents
The Mother of Them All, 81
"The Memorial of Disasters," 83
The Lion in the House. 89
The Child-Killer, 91
Phaedra, 94
"Man-Slaughterer," 96
The Power of Pandora's Tribe, 97
4 Monsters of Appetite 99
Culture or Nature? 101
The Heterosexual Paradigm, 106
Outrage and Shame, 110
The Itch of Appetite, 115
The Controlless Core, 120
PART TWO
The "Fancied Sway"
5 Taming the Beasts 123
Cosmic Love, 124
The "Steersman of the Soul," 127
The Order of the Soul, 134
6 Erotic Technology 139
Flowers, Fruit, Furrows, 140
The Technology of Ritual, 146
Putting Aphrodite in Her Place, 150
Cultivating the Cyclopses' Island, 159
7 Wives and the Order of the House 161
Sowing Heirs and Citizens, \ 64
The Most Important Possession: A Chaste Wife, 166
Preserving the Household, 169
Home Economics, 175
Andromache, 179
Alcestis, 182
Circumspect Penelope, 184
The Rehabilitation of Helen, 187
The Technology of Marriage, 191
Content:; ix
Eros the Pedagogue 193
The Heterosexual Paradigm Revisited, 196
The Drinking Party, 199
Outrage, Shame, and "fust Eros," 201
Taming the Horses of the Soul, 206
The Ladder of Erotic Beauty. 210
The Fancied Sway, 212
Conclusion: Dissing Eros and Aphrodite 213
Abbreviations 221
Note; 227
Critical Bibliography 245
About (lie Book and Author 269
Index 271