| This dissertation examines erotic imagery of the Roman Empire and organizes it by medium and compositional type. This dissertation shows that erotic imagery from Rome is a highly conventionalized, repetitive, and imitative art form, copied over and over and used for the decoration of homes and household objects. It argues that as a result of its conventionality and standardization, the corpus of erotic imagery cannot be used to make generalizations about the reality of Roman sexual behavior. Instead, this dissertation explores a variety of possible influences upon the conventions of Roman erotic imagery. These include Greek and Hellenistic art, the means by which it might have evolved and been transmitted chronologically, socially, and geographically from the Greek world through the Republic and Empire, and its functions. It also includes Roman attitudes towards certain types of sexual behavior as reflected in literary texts and graffiti or Roman senses of propriety. Finally, this thesis examines the few exceptions to the traditional iconography of Roman erotic art, most of which are controversial and which may shed further light upon the factors that helped shape Roman taste for erotic imagery. |
