Roman Sex: 100 B.C. to A.D. 250

Roman Sex: 100 B.C. to A.D. 250 by John Clarke. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780810942639.

Roman Sex provides a fresh and provocative account of ancient Roman sexual practices. It explains, for the first time, a wealth of newly discovered sexual art, as well as the many paintings, sculptures, and vases hidden away until recently in the worlds "secret museums." Many of the works shown here have been photographed in color especially for this lavishly illustrated book and a number have never before been published. Roman sex was sex before Christianity and Puritan guilt. Romans, both rich and poor, proudly displayed images in their homes that we would hide away. Clarke takes the reader into a society markedly different from ours in its attitudes toward sex. With all its quirks, it was a sexually tolerant society that encouraged the creation and open display of erotic art. Roman Sex will appeal to any reader who wants to understand this culture, which was in other ways so much the forerunner of our own.