Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World

409 Pages·2002·4.75 MB·English

by  Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz

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among women
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a m o n g
w o m e n
From the Homosocial
to the Homoerotic
in the Ancient World
Edited by
Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz
and Lisa Auanger
University of Texas Press, Austin
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Copyright © 2002 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2002
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this
work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas
Press, Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819.
(cid:1)(cid:2) The paper used in this book meets the minimum
requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997)
(Permanence of Paper).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Among women : from the homosocial to the homoerotic
in the ancient world / edited by Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz
and Lisa Auanger.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-292-77113-4 (alk. paper)
1. Lesbians—History—To 500. 2. Lesbians in art.
3. Art, Classical. 4. Lesbians in literature. 5. Literature,
Classical. 6. Civilization, Classical. I. Rabinowitz,
Nancy Sorkin. II. Auanger, Lisa, 1965–
hq75.5 .a485 2002
305.48(cid:1)9664(cid:1)09—dc21 2001034790
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For Peter, Michael, and Rachel, always patient, always loving
For Victor Estevez
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Contents
Abbreviations xiii
Acknowledgments xv
1. Introduction 1
Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz
2. Imag(in)ing a Women’s World in Bronze Age Greece: 34
The Frescoes from Xeste 3 at Akrotiri, Thera
Paul Rehak
3. Aphrodite Garlanded: Erôsand Poetic Creativity in Sappho 60
and Nossis
Marilyn B. Skinner
4. Subjects, Objects, and Erotic Symmetry in Sappho’s Fragments 82
Ellen Greene
5. Excavating Women’s Homoeroticism in Ancient Greece: 106
The Evidence from Attic Vase Painting
Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz
6. Women in Relief: “Double Consciousness” in Classical Attic 167
Tombstones
John G. Younger
7. Glimpses through a Window: An Approach to Roman Female 211
Homoeroticism through Art Historical and Literary Evidence
Lisa Auanger
8. Ovid’s Iphis and Ianthe: When Girls Won’t Be Girls 256
Diane T. Pintabone
9. Lucian’s “Leaena and Clonarium”: Voyeurism or a Challenge 286
to Assumptions?
Shelley P. Haley
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10. “Friendship and Physical Desire”: The Discourse of Female 304
ce
Homoeroticism in Fifth-Century Egypt
Terry G. Wilfong
Works Cited 331
Notes on Contributors 373
Index 375
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Illustrations
2.1. Plan of Xeste 3at Akrotiri, Thera. 35
2.2. Lustral-basin fresco, Xeste 3,ground floor. 38
2.3. Stone relief rhyton, Zakros palace, Crete. 39
2.4. Detail of lustral-basin women, Xeste 3,ground floor. 40
2.5. Male figures, Xeste 3,ground floor. 43
2.6. Goddess and girls, Xeste 3,upper floor. 44
2.7. Detail of goddess, Xeste 3,upper floor. 45
2.8. Mature woman, Xeste 3, upper floor. 47
5.1. Red-figure cup. Woman carding wool. 111
5.2a, b. Red-figure cup, fragments. Women exchanging gifts. 114
5.3. Red-figure krater. Women musicians. 118
5.4. Red-figure calyx krater. Women musicians. 118
5.5 I, a, b. Red-figure kylix. Interior (I), woman leading another; (a) and
(b) exterior, pairs of women. 120–121
5.6. Red-figure pyxis. Bride and groom, with another woman. 122
5.7.Red-figurelebesgamikos.Womanplacingnecklaceonthebride. 123
5.8. Red-figure lebes gamikos. Bride examining flute, while companion
playsharp. 123
5.9. Red-figure lebes gamikos. Crowning of a bride. 124
5.10. Red-figure squat lekythos. Aphrodite and her companions. 127
5.11. Red-figure cup. Maenads. 128
5.12. Black-figure neck amphora. Dionysos and Maenads. 129
5.13. Black-figure lekythos. Two women sharing mantle. 131
5.14 a, b, c. Black-figure pyxis. Male-male, male-female, female-female
couples. 132