Sex in the Greek treatments of rhetoric and literary criticism in the Imperial Age
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7764/onomazein.50.07Keywords:
sex, euphemism, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Pseudo-Longinus, Pseudo-DemetriusAbstract
In this paper, we analyze the presence of sex and sexuality in the rhetorical and literary criticism treatises of Greek literature in the Imperial Age: several rhetorical treatises by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, On the Sublime by Pseudo-Longinus and On Style by Pseudo-Demetrius. The sexual theme appears poorly in the different literary examples that these authors provide throughout their works. This is a taboo theme because it is not worthy of imitation or appropriate for a high or sublime style. The three authors approach it in different ways (Pseudo-Demetrio is the one that less practices self-censorship). Mentions of this subject (and their absences) are significant, as well as the use of euphemisms, metaphors and words with double meaning.