Alastair J. L. Blanshard is a senior lecturer in Classics & Ancient History at the University of Sydney. He is the author of Hercules: A Heroic Life (2005).

“The book is helpfully provocative and certainly helps to explain the enduring appeal of Grecece and Rome in contemporary (erotic) culture.”  (INTAMS review - Journal for the Study of Marriage & Spirituality, 18 January 2012)"Recommended. Graduate students/faculty." (Choice, 1 March 2011) "This book is enjoyable and informative . . . it would be of especial interest to students of reception studies and the history of sexuality, but there is also much material that is useful to the classical scholar". (Bmcreview, 26 April 2011)"It is because of the personal narratives - as well as the sophistication, wit and learning of the whole enterprise - that this book is highly recommended reading." (Times Higher Education, 30 October 2010)

• List of Illustrations ixPreface xiPart I Roman Vice 11 Introduction 32 Naked Bodies 7An Introduction (less than successful) to the Naked Body 7The Naked Body in Greece 14Naked Romans 21The Love of Art and the Art of Love 283 Obscene Texts 34Illustrating the Unspeakable 34Talking Dirty 404 Erotic Rites 48The Myth of the Orgy 48Locating the Erotic in Roman Religion 555 Imperial Biography 65The Private Lives of the Caesars 65Explaining Roman Gossip Culture 79Part II Greek Love 896 Introduction 91What is 'Greek Love'? Scenes from a Courtroom I 927 Greece 97The Loves of Hellas 97The Platonic Vision 998 Rome and the West 109Greece under Rome and Rome under Greece 109Greek Love Burns Briefly, but Brightly 1199 Renaissance and Enlightenment 124Giving Birth in the Beautiful 124The Pursuit of Love 13510 Nineteenth Century and Beyond 143Greek Love Triumphant 143Sapphic Love 149A Mixed Legacy: Greek Love in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries 15911 Epilogue 164Scenes from a Courtroom II 164Notes and Further Reading 166Bibliography 190Index 205