Classical Culture and Modern Masculinity

Since the middle of the eighteenth century, the classical world has been seen as foundational and exemplary to Western civilization. However, the Greeks never invaded and colonised western and northern Europe the way the Romans did, and, conversely, Greece was a difficult place to reach for
modern travellers well into the nineteenth century. Inevitably, therefore, the links with ancient Greece were a product of the imagination: an exemplary civilization, in its politics, arts, and culture. There was one problem, however: the Greeks, it seemed, enjoyed pederastic relations. And not only
this: one of Athens' most famous teachers, Socrates, was attracted to boys. Daniel Orrells offers a fresh, original examination of how modern thinkers in Germany and Britain, who were so invested in a model of history that directly traced the European present back to an ancient Greek past,
negotiated the tricky issue of ancient Greek pederasty.

Author: Daniel Orrells
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 09/26/2011
Pages: 312
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780199236442

Review Citation(s):
Choice 03/01/2012

About the Author

Daniel Orrells is Associate Professor in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick.

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