Sex in the Greek treatments of rhetoric and literary criticism in the Imperial Age

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the presence of sex and sexuality in the rhetorical and literary criticism treatises of Greek literature in the Imperial Age: several rhetorical treatises by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, On the Sublime by Pseudo-Longinus and On Style by Pseudo-Demetrius. The sexual theme appears poorly in the different literary examples that these authors provide throughout their works. This is a taboo theme because it is not worthy of imitation or appropriate for a high or sublime style. The three authors approach it in different ways (Pseudo-Demetrio is the one that less practices self-censorship). Mentions of this subject (and their absences) are significant, as well as the use of euphemisms, metaphors and words with double meaning.