Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 304 pages; 24 cm.

Summary

1. When Rome was at its height, an emperor's male beloved, victim of an untimely death, would be worshipped around the empire as a god. In this same society, the routine sexual exploitation of poor and enslaved women was abetted by public institutions. Four centuries later, a Roman emperor commanded the mutilation of men caught in same-sex affairs, even as he affirmed the moral dignity of women without any civic claim to honor. The gradual transformation of the Roman world from polytheistic to Christian marks one of the most sweeping ideological changes of premodern history. At the center of it all was sex. Exploring sources in literature, philosophy, and art, Kyle Harper examines the rise of Christianity as a turning point in the history of sexuality and helps us see how the roots of modern sexuality are grounded in an ancient religious revolution. While Roman sexual culture was frankly and freely erotic, it was not completely unmoored from constraint. Offending against sexual morality was cause for shame, experienced through social condemnation. The rise of Christianity fundamentally changed the ethics of sexual behavior. In matters of morality, divine judgment transcended that of mere mortals, and shame -- a social concept -- gave way to the theological notion of sin. This transformed understanding led to Christianity's explicit prohibitions of homosexuality, extramarital love, and prostitution. Most profound, however, was the emergence of the idea of free will in Christian dogma, which made all human action, including sexual behavior, accountable to the spiritual, not the physical, world.

Series statement

1. Revealing antiquity ; 20

Uniform title

1. Revealing antiquity 20.

Subject

1. To 1500
2. Antiken
3. Sex > History > To 1500
4. Sexual ethics > History > To 1500
5. Sex > Religious aspects > Christianity
6. Civilization, Classical
7. Sex > Religious aspects
8. Religion and Sex
9. Sexuality > history
10. Ethics > history
11. Sexualité > Aspect religieux > Christianisme
12. Civilisation ancienne
13. Sexualité > Aspect religieux
14. Moral conditions
15. Sex
16. Sexual ethics
17. Spätantike
18. Sexualethik
19. Frühchristentum
20. Sexualitet > beteende > normer > etik > Romerska riket > antiken
21. Religion > kristendom > värderingar
22. Lesbianism > manlig homosexualitet
23. Kvinnouppfattning
24. Skam
25. Sexuality > behaviour > norms > ethics > Roman Empire > classical antiquity
26. Religion > Christianity > values
27. Lesbianism > male homosexuality
28. Views of women
29. Shame
30. Sexualetik > historia
31. Kristen etik > historia
32. Synd > historia
33. Sexualitet > etik och moral > historia
34. Sexualitet > religiösa aspekter > historia
35. Sexualitet i litteraturen
36. Rome > Moral conditions
37. Romerska riket
38. Rome (Empire)

Genre/Form

1. History

Contents

1. Introduction: From city to cosmos -- The moralities of sex in the Roman Empire -- The will and the world in early Christian sexuality -- Church, society, and sex in the age of triumph -- Revolutionizing romance in the late classical world -- Epilogue: Sex and the twilight of antiquity.

Owning institution

1. Harvard Library

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-298) and index.

Processing action (note)

1. committed to retain