PDF Ebook Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical AthensBy James N. Davidson
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Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical AthensBy James N. Davidson
PDF Ebook Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical AthensBy James N. Davidson
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As any reader of the Symposium knows, the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates conversed over lavish banquets, kept watch on who was eating too much fish, and imbibed liberally without ever getting drunk. In other words, James Davidson writes, he reflected the culture of ancient Greece in which he lived, a culture of passions and pleasures, of food, drink, and sex before—and in concert with—politics and principles. Athenians, the richest and most powerful of the Greeks, were as skilled at consuming as their playwrights were at devising tragedies. Weaving together Greek texts, critical theory, and witty anecdotes, this compelling and accessible study teaches the reader a great deal, not only about the banquets and temptations of ancient Athens, but also about how to read Greek comedy and history.
- Sales Rank: #1002442 in Books
- Published on: 2011-06-30
- Released on: 2011-06-30
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .90" w x 6.00" l, 1.20 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 400 pages
Amazon.com Review
Desire is a dangerous thing, and the relationship between the citizens of ancient Athens and their desires was a complex and troubled one. James Davidson's Courtesans and Fishcakes is a brilliant and kaleidoscopic examination of daily life in classical Athens, and the life he reveals is simultaneously more alien and more familiar than we might have imagined. From fish-guzzling gourmands to the ambiguous eroticism of vase paintings, the cradle of Western culture is artfully, and frequently amusingly, anatomized. Davidson believes that many historians, under the influence of Foucault, are guilty of imposing modern views of desire, and particularly sexuality, on Greek culture, resulting in a simplistic interpretation of what was an extremely complicated issue. He refutes the prevailing opinion that sex in Athens was a simple binary opposition of penetrator and penetrated, drawing on a remarkable number of sources to show how sexuality was a slippery commodity rooted in intricate social negotiations, a characteristic shared with many other objects of desire, from eels to undiluted wine. Davidson sometimes assumes a little too much knowledge on the part of his audience--some basic information about the size of the Athenian population would have been helpful--but in spite of this Courtesans and Fishcakes is both accessible and provocative, offering a fascinating portrait of the private and public lives of ancient Athenians. --Simon Leake
From Publishers Weekly
British historian Davidson takes us inside classical Greece's brothels, bedrooms, drinking parties and banquets in this rarefied scholarly inquiry. His aim is not merely to depict Athenians as pleasure seekers but to overturn the current notion, purveyed by Michel Foucault and others, that Athens was a "phallocratic" society permeated with an ethos of penetration and domination, a homosexual-leaning culture polarized between adult male citizens and all others?slaves, women, boys, foreigners. He largely succeeds on all counts, bringing to convivial life a predominantly heterosexual society where classes mingled easily; cultured courtesans bedded leading figures like Pericles and Alcibiades; and wives participated fully in sexual pleasures. Drawing on ancient treatises, pamphlets, comic plays, poems and speeches, Davidson investigates the classical Greeks' indulgences, including their mania for eating fish?a luxury viewed as hedonistic?and their tolerance for booze and sex (though sex addicts were considered to have a lower capacity to resist the natural pleasures). His intriguing study serves up a banquet of arcane lore. Illustrations.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Eating, drinking, and sex: the three consuming passions delineated by Plato and Aristotle are the focuses of British historian Davidson's work. The ancient Athenians, he regrets, have been given little credit for the depth of their decadence in these three areas. Davidson's research into the cultural role of fish and fishmongers is a fascinating theme. He explores the absence of fish in sacrifices (and in the Iliad) and contrasts it with the unchallenged importance of fish in the Greek diet. Also significant is the archaeology of the drinking cup, in conjunction with what Davidson calls the axis of drinking and how depth (both of the cup and the drinker's appetite) was key to the drinking ritual. This work probes the mysteries of sexual desire in Athens and discusses the various terms for women outside the domestic sphere. Davidson tries to define their cultural roles and here and elsewhere challenges even Foucault and Freud. Highly recommended for academic collections and large public libraries.?Claibourne G. Williams, Ferris State Univ., Big Rapids, MI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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