Already in its third printing, L’Erotisme masculin dans la Rome antique, is a fascinating, erudite, and lucid presentation of the question of desire in the ancient world, that enters the conversation that was begun by Foucault on the nature of homosexuality.
In order to look back and take stock of the situation regarding same-sex relations without falling into the trap of present-day definitions, the authors perform an anthropology of the erotized body in ancient Rome: who could be found in the physical presence of whom; on what occasion; how were they clad; what were the behavioral norms; and what words were used to describe the interactions and relationships. They thus avoid as they put it “an anthropology of sexual differentiation”. As the authors see it, in Rome the choice of a male or female sexual partner had more to do with social class, race, and status, than with a differentiation of sexuality.