Oscula iungit nec moderata satis nec sic a virgine danda

Ovid’s Callisto Episode, Female Homoeroticism, and the Study of Ancient Sexuality

Bibliographic Data

ID9359113
AuthorsJen H Oliver (corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume136
Issue2
Pages281-312
Publication date2015-06-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe American Journal of Philology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9475 • E-ISSN: 1086-3168
PublisherJohns Hopkins University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/ajp.2015.0024
OpenAlexW2214837643
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited24

This article examines a neglected ancient source for desire between women that nonetheless has a rich reception history in the context of female homoeroticism: the Callisto episode in Ovid’s Metamorphoses . The article argues that the relationship between Diana and her hunting companion Callisto can be read as homoerotic and that, unlike many ancient accounts of female-female eroticism, neither character is represented as a tribas (a gender-deviant “woman” with a masculinized body, who seeks to penetrate other women). The Callisto episode is therefore an invaluable piece of evidence for ancient discourses on sexuality exceeding the bounds of the active/passive model

Archaeology · Art · Character (mathematics · Context (archaeology · Eroticism · Human sexuality · Literature · Sociology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Gender Studies · History

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