Sexual Life in Ancient Rome / by Otto Kiefer ; [Translated by Gilbert and Helen Highet]

by Otto Kiefer

Physical description; ix, 380 p., [16] leaves of plates : ill. ; 23 cm. Subjects; Sex — Rome — History. Sex customs — Rome — History. Latin literature — Translations into English.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Sexuality, Cultural, Reference

Hardcover

First published January 15, 1934

Reviews

[Iain Gardener]

rubbish, the authoer makes a common mistake of allowing his personal preudices to colour his apporoach. If you believe Kiefer, all romans were seual sadists, avoid this book!

[Naomi Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one! I was all prepared for sexist, misogynist, homophobic comments, but it really wasn't that bad, especially considering it was written in 1934. I thought the author did a good job of being fair to Rome as its own culture with its own cultural values and norms. He had some great comments about scholars who judge societies by their values and how nonsensical this is. I also love how he is upfront about his bias and points out everyone who writes history has their own bias. He definitely has a love of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. There are some quotes of his I will have to add later. A truly informative and engaging book.

As a side note: I will never think of the word "fascinating" the same way.

[Sammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A reasonably important book in 20th century classics studies but, nevertheless, all of the previous reviews are correct: not really that interesting, clearly motivated by the author's own prejudices, and seemingly more reactionary than factual. Nevertheless, a neat part of my Classics collection.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

not by any means as interesting as it sounds. Much talk of what Ovid wrote.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly not as factual as I had hoped. I think it was mostly author driven.

[Artemis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pg 156
Author has mentioned an interesting title, however curiously enough... I couldn't find any information online! Title: EGYPTIAN NIGHTS by HANS MUCH