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This scholarly discussion of bisexuality in ancient Greece and Rome will be found instructive by psychoanalysts and sexologists alike. Eva Cantarella, the author, is professor in the Institute of Roman Law at the University of Milan. The translator, a lecturer in Italian at Trinity College, Dublin, has obviously done justice to the author's intentions. Bisexuality in the Ancient World is cogent, lucid, and well organized.
The book is full of information and sound thinking about sexuality. A historical perspective is particularly helpful for clinicians working in the field of sexual orientation, because it helps clarify the extent to which sociocultural factors influence ideas about psychopathology and treatment. For example, Aristotle endorsed matrimony and condemned homosexuality, considering it a manifestation of a “morbid” disposition. And, of course, Aristotle was not aware of basic facts about reproductive physiology. He believed that the semen plus menstrual blood worked together to create an embryo. The role of the semen was active, and that of the menstrual blood was entirely passive. Aristotle apparently approved of the decision made by the gods to acquit Orestes of matricide on the grounds that the mother was not actually a “parent” in the full sense of the term, but merely a passive receptacle of the father's vital fluids. It is striking that as influential a figure as Aristotle based his sexual values on such erroneous beliefs about the “natural world.”
A critical look at contrasting ideas about what has been considered to be “natural” sexual behavior at different times and in different places is provided by Cantarella in a helpful and thought- provoking fashion. Extremely informative is her discussion of how differently homosexuality was viewed in Greece and in Rome. The history of pederasty in Greece, for example, with its courtly rituals and its emphases on initiation into manhood and education of the young, is contrasted with the aggressive stance take