Erôs and the Polis: love in context

Erôs and the Polis: love in context

 Ed Sanders (Editor) 

Series: Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies Supplements

Published in association with: Institute of Classical Studies

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Arising out of a conference on ‘Erôs in Ancient Greece’, the articles in this volume share a historicizing approach to the conventions and expectations of erôs in the context of the polis, in the Archaic and Classical periods of ancient Greece.

The articles focus on (post-Homeric) Archaic and Classical poetic genres – namely lyric poetry, tragedy, and comedy – and some philosophical texts by Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle.

They pursue a variety of issues, including: the connection between homosexual erôs and politics; sexual practices that fell outside societal norms (aristocratic homosexuality, chastity); the roles of sôphrosynê (self-control) and akrasia (incontinence) in erotic relationships; and the connection between erôs and other socially important emotions such as charis, philia, and storgê.

The exploration of such issues from a variety of standpoints, and through a range of texts, allows us to place erôs as an emotion in its socio-political context.

Copyright: 2013

DOI: 10.14296/917.9781905670789

Publication date: September 2019

PDF ISBN: 9781905670789

Paperback ISBN: 9781905670444

Ed Sanders ‘Erôs and the polis’: an introduction

James Davidson Politics, poetics, and erôs in archaic poetry

Nick Fisher Erotic charis: what sorts of reciprocity?

Dimitra Kokkini The rejection of erotic passion by Euripides’ Hippolytos

Stavroula Kiritsi Erôs in Menander: three studies in male character