ÎÎ¹Î½Î±á½·Î´ÏÎ½ Î²á½·Î¿Ï: Ethics, Lifestyle, and Sensuality in Greek Erotic Culture

Giulia Sissa

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Chapter 1 ÎÎ¹Î½Î±á½·Î´ÏÎ½ Î²á½·Î¿Ï: Ethics, Lifestyle, and Sensuality in Greek Erotic Culture

In: Searching for the Cinaedus in Ancient Rome

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Giulia Sissa

Giulia Sissa UCLA

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 24â66

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004548381_003

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Abstract

The figure of the Îºá½·Î½Î±Î¹Î´Î¿Ï, and his ÎºÎ¹Î½Î±Î¹Î´á½·Î±, offer a puzzling object of inquiry both in terms of sexual practices and of gender expression. Whether recent scholarship has problematized the relevance of gender rather than sexuality to capture the Greek definition of this kind of person, I attach the utmost importance to Platoâs emphasis on the life of these men, ÎºÎ¹Î½Î±á½·Î´ÏÎ½ Î²á½·Î¿Ï, in the Gorgias. Taking the cue from Plato, I focus on character, dispositional states and lifestyles as the truly important notions that pertain to the erotic experience in ancient Greece. After a discussion of the epistemological obstacles created by the modern binaries active/passive and penetrating/penetrated, I argue that our dilemma is not between framing the Îºá½·Î½Î±Î¹Î´Î¿Ï in terms of either sexual acts or manners of living a gendered body. We must rather reconstruct the semantic ramifications of the Greek discourses themselves. Thinkers and writers such as Aristophanes, Plato, Aeschines, and Aristotle connect matters, textures, sensations, habits, dispositions, pleasures and desires. They convey a phenomenological ethics in the form of praise or blame. The paradox of the Îºá½·Î½Î±Î¹Î´Î¿Ï is that he lives a life of sensuality, both soft and hyperactive, therefore impossible to praise.

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Searching for the Cinaedus in Ancient Rome

Series:Â Mnemosyne, Supplements, Volume: 475

Cover Searching for the <i>Cinaedus</i> in Ancient Rome

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004548381

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 25 Aug 2023

Subjects
- Classical Studies
  - Greek & Latin Literature
- Literature and Cultural Studies
  - Gender Studies

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Chapter 1 ÎÎ¹Î½Î±á½·Î´ÏÎ½ Î²á½·Î¿Ï: Ethics, Lifestyle, and Sensuality in Greek Erotic Culture

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Searching for the Cinaedus in Ancient Rome

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Chapter 1 ÎÎ¹Î½Î±á½·Î´ÏÎ½ Î²á½·Î¿Ï: Ethics, Lifestyle, and Sensuality in Greek Erotic Culture