How do we compare with the ancient Greeks and Romans in our tolerance for sexual practices different from our own? How do the rights of our women compare? For whatever reason, we like to compare ourselves with our intellectual ancestors in the Greco-Roman world and hope to find ourselves coming out favorably. These books -- beyond the traditional Sarah Pomperoy and Eva Keuls -- look at the Greco-Roman world, and in the process, more than casually touch on aspects of ancient sexuality.
1. Love, Sex, and Tragedy
Simon Goldhill's book on why the classics matter has fascinating sections on sexuality. The ancient world had standards of beauty that were as unattainable as those we face today. The main difference was that beauty was something sought by men. There are also sections describing the homosexual affairs and practices of the Greeks, and material on the very public role of the erect phallus.
2. Trying Neaira
In Trying Neaira, Debra Hamel shows what it was like living as a self-supporting woman in the male world of ancient Greece. Since Neaira was a prostitute, Hamel also looks at the world of ancient prostitution.
