Thread by @Hestia_BU

Welcome to a special Hestia live tweet of @harvardclassics's GLassics workshop (2nd meeting), set up to create a safe space to discuss LGBTQ+ identity in classical texts. Today's workshop will focus on gay reception.

First up is Chris Cochran, who will be discussing "The Gay Reception of Petronius in the #metoo Era" #teachancient #glassics #phdchat

(Chris' introductory slide features the Norman Lindsay's "The Catamite" [1922])

C starts with the scholarly reception of sexuality in Petronius. At the time, Sullivan 1968 seems to give "frank" discussion of bisexuality, 1 year before Stonewall and 10 years before Dover. Today, scholarship suffers from linguistic issues (e.g.: terms such as homosexuality,

bisexuality, etc. don't apply) & weird characterizations (e.g.: Encolpius' "aggressive bisexuality" - he /murders/ people). C: "Sullivan seems to have written book in a way to distance himself from any homosexual endorsement."

Marginalia: "Even today, in Greece and Italy, most of men are bisexually oriented and sodomy is not a sin in these countries." (Who is this person? Why did they come to Sullivan? Indication of frustration regarding Sullivan's interpretation?)

C: Homosexual conduct continues to affect reception of the text. cf. Richardson 1993: Vatican Lat. 11428 indicates author is avid reader of Petronius personally (not professionally). Richardson suggests it's bc he's "twice-charged with homosexuality." Too dangerous to be seen

working on Petronius. Scholars are "uniquely reluctant to sign their names on conjectures of Petronius." Can tie this in more generally to sodomy convictions in Europe - sodomy illegal in early-modern period of Europe. Late 19th c is the turning point for reading of Petronius --

emergence of "gay culture" (i.e.: study of way of life of homosexual individuals). C: "Oscar Wilde famously cites the Symposium in his own trial." Shows how classical texts are received in "gay culture" & what it means to be gay. cf. E.M. Forster 1971, _Maurice_, ch. 7:

"I knew you read the Symposium in the vac," he said in a low voice.
Maurice felt uneasy.
"Then you understand-without me saying more-"
"How do you mean?"
Durham could not wait. People were all around them, but with eyes that had gone intensely blue he whispered, "I love you"

C: "Fast-forward to the 1960s, which is the crucial period for the reception of Petronius in the gay community." In 1961, the "Krewe of Petronius" was created - quickly became the biggest Mardi Gras celebration in the city. (Legal loophole: put a "k" in the name and it's legal!"

Two very different Petroniuses emerging in 1960s: the academic Petronius (e.g.: Federico Fellini's "Satyricon" in 1968) and the "gay Petronius" (e.g.: "Satyricon: Memoirs of a Lusty Roman" published in Playboy 1966)

C: The Gay Classics still serve as a space for young gay men to articulate their identity. But censorship of the book also continues - e.g.: M.G. Balme's 1974 "The Millionaire's Dinner Party." Students were surprised it was an abridgment.

C: "Not even the monks of Ozare (sp?) had managed to so thoroughly unqueer Petronius."

Helen Morales (2008) also concerned with (homo)sexuality in Petronius: "It stages a plurality of pleasures (and more often pains), but is far from a celebration of male sexuality.

In fact, the phallus in the Satyrica is more often flaccid than erect; sex interrupted more frequently than enjoyed." C interested in sexuality in Petronius from a different perspective: could not find a single sex scene that did not involve violence

C focuses on the cinaedus passage (Satyrica 23-24): any interpretation of the cinaedus' "enjoyment" of rape undermined by the Latin (cf. "omni vi detexit recusantem" and "non tenui ego diutius lacrimas, sed ad ultimam perductus tristitiam"). The cinaedus is also punished for not

sexually satisfying Circe. But what about Encolpius and his boyfriend? Ascyltos and Encolpius have a very troubled sexual relationship w a great deal of domestic violence (cf. "sed lorum de pera solvit et me coepit non perfunctorie verberare") - and in the middle is Giton

We are told (by Encolpius) that Giton occasionally enjoys sex - but Giton is ultimately a sex slave (cf. Sat. 91: ubi arma non sunt libere loquor" and "cum duos armatos viderem, ad fortiorem confugi"). Final takeaway: the #MeToo movement turns the reading back on the reader --

"Why do I find that rape joke funny? What does this say about me?" C: "I am increasingly convinced that this text is meant to project outwardly on Rome -- and inwardly on the reader."