Sexual Life in Ancient Rome

by Otto Kiefer

No greater difference can be imagined than the difference between the sexual habits of the Greeks and the Romans.

The Greeks, capable of appreciating the higher ends of civilization, fulfilled themselves by the creation of great works of art and a socially perfect state.

The Romans expressed their will to power in a cruder manner, and carried their crudeness into their sexual activities. Otto Kiefer argues in Sexual Life in Ancient Rome that this power expressed itself among the mass of the people as sadism in sex as well as enjoyment of the savage spectacles of the games.
This Roman cruelty is shown to be manifested throughout a wide range of Roman life.

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

380 pages, 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]

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]

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]

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

[Pam]

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

[Artemis]

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