Ancient Sexuality Archive
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Subordinate Woman or Favored Leader: Portrayals of Mary Magdalene in Christian Canonical & Non-Canonical Gospels
Posted on October 11, 2012 | No CommentsIn the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, the repeated mention and identification of Mary Magdalene by name validates her presence and prominence among Biblical women. Furthermore, when amongst a group of women, her name is frequently the first listed (though not always). Moreover, Jesus appears to Mary first after his resurrection in several of the books too. Despite these distinctions above nearly all other women, she is specifically named only eleven times in eight chapters of the Gospels (two chapters each). -
Historical contraception: birth control before “the pill”
Posted on October 11, 2012 | No CommentsAmong the various forms of contraception described emerge three clear categories of contraception: techniques, herbo-pharmacology, and devices. -
To Prevent, Treat and Cure Love in Ancient Egypt
Posted on October 7, 2012 | No CommentsHaving sex initiated a set of actions: cleaning, shaving, perfuming, moisturizing, and, in some cases as today, substances to prevent or avoid ill-effects. -
Can One Believe the Ancient Sources That Describe Messalina?
Posted on September 29, 2012 | No CommentsOne of the primary sources that discusses Messalina in the most depth is The Annals, by Tacitus. However, Tacitus?s account of Messalina is questionable in several ways. First, Tacitus seems to have distinct motives for writing about Messalina that call into question the accuracy of his depiction. -
Queering Sex and Gender in Ancient Egypt
Posted on September 12, 2012 | No CommentsAs part of my general endeavours to queer the dominant representation of the archaeological past and, more specifically in the context of this paper, the construction of sex and gender in ancient egypt, I do not intend to develop another argument to determine whether niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were brothers or -
The censure of powerful women : roman monarchy and gender anxiety
Posted on August 30, 2012 | No CommentsRoman literature is full of disparaging commentary on women. Pemales in general are depicted as greedy, susceptible to luxuria, at the mercy of their uncontrollable passions, deceitful, jealous and cruel; a woman in proximity to power will attempt to corrupt that power or usurp it for herself and her own personal desires. -
For All Time: An Examination of Romantic Love Through Curse Tablets
Posted on August 27, 2012 | No CommentsThe current prevailing model for the study of gender and sexuality in Greco-Roman antiquity defines relationships as based upon either power or penetration. Through analysis of the amatory defixiones, or curse tablets, it will be demonstrated that romantic love, in addition to relationships based on domination and familial and political alliances, existed in the classical world. -
Frank Miller
Posted on August 16, 2012 | No CommentsHas 300 so successfully appealed to audiences globally because of, or despite, its extremely violent, racist, homophobic, and sexist subtext?...This paper approaches 300 as a media product produced and consumed in spatially specific ways. I present a geographical reading of 300 -
The female body in Latin love poetry
Posted on August 16, 2012 | No CommentsMy study examines the female body -
Livy and the Bacchanalia
Posted on August 5, 2012 | No CommentsLivy begins his account by claiming that the Bacchanalia had come to Rome from Etruria and Campania.9 Classical Bacchic cult was a ritual enactment of the maenads
