Minnen, Peter van (Advisor)
Arehart, Brent (Author)
Minnen, Peter van
Cincinnati, University of
Physical Details: 253
Language: English
This dissertation investigates the relationship between sexual intercourse and medicine during the Roman imperial period (c. I-IV CE). Whereas previous scholarship has tended to view that relationship through the lenses of historical progress and/or ethics, I adopt the concept of sexual medicine as an organizational scheme in order to better analyze what ancient medical texts say about the body's sexual functions (such as desire, arousal, and the ability to experience pleasure). Rather than affirming an influential narrative in which imperial medical thinkers developed austere attitudes towards sex, I demonstrate that ethicizing interpretations misportray the relevance of intercourse to medicine during the Roman Empire and unduly narrow the available evidence to dietetic discussions. I argue that the ability to engage in sex was deemed worthy of preservation and therapeutic intervention whenever compromised because sex was considered an integral component of health in Greco-Roman medicine. Moreover, I show that imperial authors devoted considerable attention to sexual diseases, infertility, genital dysfunction, and the use of materia medica to enhance sexual performance. These underexplored topics are dealt with at length in their respective chapters.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Chapter
Carlo Gelmetti;
(2015)
La dermatologia e la venereologia nell'età classica
(/isis/citation/CBB716625014/)
Book
Jessieca Leo;
(2011)
Sex in the Yellow Emperor's Basic Questions
(/isis/citation/CBB693561550/)
Chapter
Carlo Gelmetti;
(2015)
La sifilide: una storia intrigante
(/isis/citation/CBB036079552/)
Chapter
Carlo Gelmetti;
(2015)
Il Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia
(/isis/citation/CBB251878874/)
Chapter
Roberto Davalli;
Giovanni Lo Scocco;
(2015)
Girolamo Fracastoro
(/isis/citation/CBB516328756/)
Chapter
Carlo Gelmetti;
(2015)
La dermatologia e la venereologia nel Medioevo
(/isis/citation/CBB558309619/)
Chapter
Carlo Gelmetti;
(2015)
La dermatologia e la venereologia dal Rinascimento al XVIII secolo
(/isis/citation/CBB383272190/)
Chapter
Carlo Gelmetti;
(2015)
La dermatologia e la venereologia dal XIX al XX secolo
(/isis/citation/CBB922945850/)
Chapter
Carlo Gelmetti;
(2015)
La dermatologia e la venereologia del secolo XVIII
(/isis/citation/CBB177441456/)
Book
Carlo Gelmetti;
(2015)
Storia della dermatologia e della venereologia in Italia
(/isis/citation/CBB368948533/)
Article
DeRogatis, Amy;
(2009)
“Born Again Is a Sexual Term”: Demons, STDs, and God's Healing Sperm
(/isis/citation/CBB001030736/)
Article
Tsampiras, Carla;
(2014)
Two Tales about Illness, Ideologies, and Intimate Identities: Sexuality Politics and AIDS in South Africa, 1980--95
(/isis/citation/CBB001422142/)
Article
Harper, Kyle;
(2013)
Culture, Nature, and History: The Case of Ancient Sexuality
(/isis/citation/CBB001201850/)
Article
Hubbard, Thomas K.;
(2008-9)
The Paradox of “Natural” Heterosexuality with “Unnatural” Women
(/isis/citation/CBB001032469/)
Article
Nolte, Karen;
(2008)
Carcinoma Uteri and “Sexual Debauchery”---Morality, Cancer and Gender in the Nineteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000774299/)
Article
Carton, Benedict;
(2006)
“We Are Made Quiet by This Annihilation”: Historicizing Concepts of Bodily Pollution and Dangerous Sexuality in South Africa
(/isis/citation/CBB001031167/)
Chapter
Lorenzo Marri-Malacrida;
Emiliano Panconesi;
(2015)
Vincenzio Chiarugi. Il primo cattedratico di dermatologia
(/isis/citation/CBB666415502/)
Chapter
Luca Muscardin;
(2015)
Il primo ospedale dermatologico del mondo: l’Ospedale San Gallicano dall’origine (1725) fino all’inizio del XXI secolo
(/isis/citation/CBB634953076/)
Chapter
Franco Rongioletti;
Stefania Paolino;
(2015)
Le più note sindromi e malattie eponimiche originate da dermatologi italiani
(/isis/citation/CBB103943240/)
Chapter
Sauerteig, Lutz D. H.;
(2001)
“The fatherland is in danger, save the fatherland!”: Venereal disease, sexuality and gender in Imperial and Weimar Germany
(/isis/citation/CBB000102667/)
Be the first to comment!