Resumen
Resumen de Manual de erotología clásica (De Figuris Veneris)
Go deeper: the whole of Manual de erotología clásica (De Figuris Veneris)
About 3 h 10 min to read.Para quién es
Readers who love classical literature, the history of manners and the byways of scholarship, and anyone curious how Martial, Juvenal and Suetonius spoke about the private life of Rome and Greece.
De qué trata este libro
Manual of Classical Erotology is a frank scholarly catalogue of the ways the ancient world wrote about physical love. It was compiled by Friedrich Karl Forberg, a German classical scholar of the early nineteenth century who lived in Coburg. He wrote it in Latin for educated men, and he says plainly that books are his only authorities. He does not recount his own adventures. His aim is to explain the outspoken passages that school editors passed over in silence.
The book works like a reference chapter by chapter. Forberg takes each kind of act in turn and gathers a wide range of ancient sources: epigrams by Martial, satires by Juvenal, comedies by Aristophanes, lives of the emperors by Suetonius, and a long dialogue by Nicolas Chorier under the name Aloysia Sigaea. He adds word histories, jokes, medical notions and gossip. You get a tour of Roman and Greek manners, vocabulary and prejudice as much as of the subject itself. The first key point is how Forberg frames his task and the writers who came before him.
En este resumen
- 1A bookman explains the silent passagesFree
- 2Copulation as a catalogue of positions
- 3Pedication and the world of grooming
- 4Mouth and hand in ancient comedy and satire
- 5Women who love women and the tongue
- 6Beasts, chains and a numbered list
Idea clave 1 de 6
A bookman explains the silent passages
Forberg opens by saying what he will and will not do. He cannot list the thousand forms that desire invents, so he sorts the main kinds into a clear scheme. He is not boasting of adventures. He says he is a bookman who seldom spends time with other people, and books are his only authorities.
He gives two motives. Philosophy, the field where he hoped to settle, seems to him in disorder, with new systems dying almost daily. And readers are often puzzled by the frankness of ancient authors while commentators say nothing, because they wrote for the young.
He then names his predecessors. These include Astyanassa and Philaenis of Samos, said to have written on erotic postures, Elephantis, whose writings the emperor Tiberius kept by his bed, and the poet Sotades. Among later writers come Pietro Aretino, Lorenzo Veniero and the French lawyer Nicolas Chorier, who wrote under the name Aloysia Sigaea.
Forberg says his book is for men who hold that in love, as in all things, the middle course is best. He ends the introduction with a simple frame. The work of Venus can be done with the male organ or without it, and he will take each way in turn.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Go deeper: the whole of Manual de erotología clásica (De Figuris Veneris)
About 3 h 10 min to read.Questions about Manual de erotología clásica (De Figuris Veneris)
What is Manual of Classical Erotology about?
It is a scholarly catalogue of ancient Greek and Roman writing on sexual practice. Forberg sorts the material by kind of act and draws on quotations from poets, satirists, historians and the dialogue published under Aloysia Sigaea's name.
Who was Friedrich Karl Forberg?
He was a German classical scholar of the early nineteenth century who lived in Coburg. He also edited the Latin epigrams of Antonius Panormitanus, and he wrote this manual for educated male readers of Latin.
Who is Aloysia Sigaea in this book?
Aloysia Sigaea is the name under which the French lawyer Nicolas Chorier published a Latin dialogue in the seventeenth century. Forberg quotes it often as his lively Renaissance guide to the subject.
Which ancient authors does Forberg quote most?
Martial supplies the most epigrams. Juvenal, Ovid, Suetonius, Aristophanes, Catullus, Lucian and Ausonius appear often, so the book works as a tour of classical wit, gossip and satire as well.
Is this book a true account of ancient life?
It is a compilation of what ancient writers said, including jokes, rumor and satire. Forberg reports sources faithfully but those sources are often exaggerated, so it shows ancient attitudes better than daily fact.