Erotic geographies in ancient Greek literature and culture / Kate Gilhuly.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: the erotics of place -- Corinth, courtesans and the politics of place -- Medea in Corinth -- Laconic sex -- Lyric poetry, rape and Spartan song on the comic stage -- Lesbians are not from Lesbos -- Lesbos and the invention of heterosexuality in Longus' Daphnis and Chloe.

"Erotic Geographies in Ancient Greek Literature and Culture addresses the question how does a place "get a reputation." The Athenians associated sexual behaviors with particular places and their inhabitants, and this book decodes the meaning of the sexualization of place, and traces the repercussions of these projections. Focusing on Corinth, Sparta, and Lesbos, each section starts from the fact that there were comic joke words that made a verb out of a place name to communicate a sexual slur. Corinth was thought of as a hotbed of prostitution; Sparta was perceived as a hyper-masculine culture that made femininity a problem; Lesbos had varying historically determined connotations, but was always associated with uninhibited and adventurous sexuality. The cultural beliefs encoded in these sexualized stereotypes are unpacked."-- Provided by publisher