Virginity in Ancient Mesopotamia
‘A virgin body has the freshness of secret springs, the morning sheen of an unopened flower, the orient luster of a pearl on which the sun has never shone. Grotto, temple, sanctuary, secret garden – man, like the child, is fascinated by enclosed and shadowy places not yet animated by any consciousness, which wait to be given a soul: what he alone is to take and to penetrate seems to be in truth created by him.’
Roman Monogamy
Mating in Rome was polygynous; marriage was monogamous.
Sexual virtue on display I: the cults of pudicitia and honours for women
This book begins with a chapter about pudicitia as publicly celebrated and rewarded in Roman society. A striking aspect of pudicitia was its association with public and visual display by married women to rhe community, both through their appearance and demeanour and through their cultivation of pudicitia as a goddess.
Incest Laws and Absent Taboos in Roman Egypt
For at least two hundred and fifty years, many men in the Roman province of Egypt married their full sisters and raised families with them…
Gender and public image in imperial Rome
Ancient Roman society was heavily visual; the physical act of seeing and the physical state of being watched informed how a Roman citizen navigated, consumed, and contributed to Roman culture.
Coming of age in Rome: the history and social significance of assuming the toga virilis
It is the purpose of this thesis, therefore, to collect and analyze evidence for the assumption of the toga virilis in an effort to determine its importance in Greco-Roman society both within the context of Roman family life and from the broader perspective of the cornmunity as a whole.
Religion in the Ancient Novel
Religion plays a central role in the plot of virtually every fictional narrative, influencing the lives, actions, mentality, practices, beliefs, and eventual fates of the characters (and narrators); the types, interventions, and motives of divinity or other uncanny forces; the use of mythological exemplars.
Sex and empire: a Darwinian perspective
This paper draws on evolutionary psychology to elucidate ultimate causation in imperial state formation and predatory exploitation in antiquity and beyond. Differential access to the means of reproduction is shown to have been a key feature of early imperial systems.
Valentines from Ancient Rome: Sex, Death and Lust
‘Love for them was interesting, both to live and to write about, because it was painful, like a disease,’ Gold says. Roman lovers described themselves as ‘wounded, wretched, enslaved by their lovers, having their bone marrow on fire and suffering from double vision.’
Monogamy and polygyny
This paper discusses Greco-Roman practices of monogamy and polygyny for a forthcoming handbook on the ancient family.