Gregory Jusdanis
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452840
- eISBN:
- 9780801454752
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452840.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
This chapter considers the specter of desire between the two comrades—another anxiety which runs through many treatments of friendship, both in literature and popular culture. From the ancient ...
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This chapter considers the specter of desire between the two comrades—another anxiety which runs through many treatments of friendship, both in literature and popular culture. From the ancient preoccupation over whether Achilles and Patroclus were lovers to the modern putdown “that's so gay,” we seem to be disturbed by the possibility that two male friends may be drawn to each other by erotic attraction. The introduction of the sexual seems to transform the relationship, blurring the boundary between friendship and sexuality, whether the two friends are of the same or a different gender. Yet in raising the possibility that a father, son, or husband is sensually drawn to his friend, writers destabilize the distinction between heterosexuality and homosexuality.Less
This chapter considers the specter of desire between the two comrades—another anxiety which runs through many treatments of friendship, both in literature and popular culture. From the ancient preoccupation over whether Achilles and Patroclus were lovers to the modern putdown “that's so gay,” we seem to be disturbed by the possibility that two male friends may be drawn to each other by erotic attraction. The introduction of the sexual seems to transform the relationship, blurring the boundary between friendship and sexuality, whether the two friends are of the same or a different gender. Yet in raising the possibility that a father, son, or husband is sensually drawn to his friend, writers destabilize the distinction between heterosexuality and homosexuality.
Radcliffe G. Edmonds III
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691156934
- eISBN:
- 9780691186092
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691156934.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
What did magic mean to the people of ancient Greece and Rome? How did Greeks and Romans not only imagine what magic could do, but also use it to try to influence the world around them? This book ...
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What did magic mean to the people of ancient Greece and Rome? How did Greeks and Romans not only imagine what magic could do, but also use it to try to influence the world around them? This book provides the most comprehensive account of the varieties of phenomena labeled as magic in classical antiquity. Exploring why certain practices, images, and ideas were labeled as “magic” and set apart from “normal” kinds of practices, the book gives insight into the shifting ideas of religion and the divine in the ancient past and in the later Western tradition. Using fresh approaches to the history of religions and the social contexts in which magic was exercised, the book delves into the archaeological record and classical literary traditions to examine images of witches, ghosts, and demons as well as the fantastic powers of metamorphosis, erotic attraction, and reversals of nature, such as the famous trick of drawing down the moon. From prayer and divination to astrology and alchemy, the book journeys through all manner of ancient magical rituals and paraphernalia. It considers the ways in which the Greco-Roman discourse of magic was formed amid the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, including Egypt and the Near East.Less
What did magic mean to the people of ancient Greece and Rome? How did Greeks and Romans not only imagine what magic could do, but also use it to try to influence the world around them? This book provides the most comprehensive account of the varieties of phenomena labeled as magic in classical antiquity. Exploring why certain practices, images, and ideas were labeled as “magic” and set apart from “normal” kinds of practices, the book gives insight into the shifting ideas of religion and the divine in the ancient past and in the later Western tradition. Using fresh approaches to the history of religions and the social contexts in which magic was exercised, the book delves into the archaeological record and classical literary traditions to examine images of witches, ghosts, and demons as well as the fantastic powers of metamorphosis, erotic attraction, and reversals of nature, such as the famous trick of drawing down the moon. From prayer and divination to astrology and alchemy, the book journeys through all manner of ancient magical rituals and paraphernalia. It considers the ways in which the Greco-Roman discourse of magic was formed amid the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, including Egypt and the Near East.
