Poer and Eroticism in Imperial Rome [Paperback]

This book explores how Roman imperial power was constructed and contested through the representation of sexual relations.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.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.The relationships between Roman emperors and their objects of desire, male and female, are well attested. The salacious nature of this evidence means that it is often omitted from mainstream historical inquiry. Yet that is to underestimate the importance of 'gossip' and the act of thinking about an emperor's private life. In this book Dr Vout takes the reader from Rome, and Martial's and Statius' poems about Domitian's favourite eunuch, to Antioch and dialogues in praise of Lucius Verus' mistress, to the widespread visual commemoration and cult of Hadrian's young male lover, Antinous. She explores not the relationships themselves but rather the implications of their description. Such description provides a template with which to examine the relationship between emperor and subject, gods and mortals, East and West, centre and periphery. It thus contributes to the fields of imperial representation, court society and the imperial cult.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... As its punchy title suggests, this book chronicles the sex lives of Roman emperors, but its theme is explored in a refreshing new way that reaches beyondl“˜