This innovative study, one of the first syntheses on female homosexuality in Antiquity, explores the subject with careful reference to ancient concepts and views, fully drawing from existing visual and written material, including literary, philosophical, and scientific texts.

Even today, ancient female homosexuals are often viewed through the lens of myth, an ethereal Sapphic love, or stereotypically as "Amazons" or courtesans. Boehringer's academic work replaces these clichés with rigorous and precise analysis of the iconography and texts of Sappho, Plato, Ovid, Juvenal, and many other lyric poets, satirical and astrological writers, seeking the prevailing norms, restrictions, and possibilities for erotic desire.

The picture that emerges is of an ancient society in which today's sexual categories do not apply—a society "before sexuality"—where female homosexuality looks very different but remains very real.

Now available in English for the first time, the book "Female Homosexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome" includes a foreword by David Halperin. This book will be valuable for students and scholars of ancient sexuality and gender, as well as anyone interested in the histories and theories of sexuality.

Pages: 380, Dimensions: 15.6x15.6cm