Explores how Roman imperial power was constructed and contested through the representation of sexual relations.

Autorentext

Caroline Vout is Lecturer in Classics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Christ's College, having previously taught at the University of Nottingham. She studied at Newnham College, Cambridge and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and has been a Rome Scholar at the British School at Rome. She has published widely on aspects of Roman imperial culture and curated the exhibition Antinous: the Face of the Antique at the Henry Moore Institute in summer 2006.

Zusammenfassung
Through detailed analysis of a selection of material (poetry, prose and statues), this book explores how imperial power, and the authority and accessibility of the Roman emperor, were constructed and contested through the representation of sexual relations.

Inhalt

1. The erotics of imperium; 2. Romancing the stone: the story of Hadrian and Antinous; 3. Compromising traditions: the case of Nero and Sporus; 4. A match made in heaven: Earinus and the emperor; 5. Mistress as metaphor: a dialogue with Panthea; 6. And so to bed...