2016: Oxford Classical Dictionary

masturbation , Oxford Classical Dictionary masturbation , Kelly L. Wrenhaven Subject: Gender Studies, Greek History and Historiography, Greek Literature, Greek Material Culture: Classical and Hellenistic, Roman History and Historiography Online Publication Date: Jul 2016 DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8091 In ancient Greece and Rome, masturbation was viewed with good-humored disdain. Although it was not apparently subject to the same kinds of scathing attacks that Greek comedy makes on male same-sex activity, it was certainly connected with a lack of sophistication. In line with sexual subjects in general, references are found primarily in Greek comedy and sympotic art of the Archaic and Classical periods, where it is typically associated with BARBARIANS, slaves, and satyrs, all of whom fall into the category of the “Other,” or the anti-ideal. All were deemed lacking in sophrosyne (“moderation”) and enkratia (“self-control”) and were associated with uncivilized behavior. The Greeks had a varied terminology for masturbation. The most commonly found verb is dephesthai (“to soften”), but several other words and euphemisms were used (e.g. cheirourgon, “selfstimulation”).1 The comedies of ARISTOPHANES (1) provide the majority of references to masturbation and largely associate it with slaves. The lengthiest reference is a joke that occurs near the beginning of Knights, when Slave B tells Slave A to masturbate in order to give himself courage. After an extended masturbation scene, which must have made splendid use of the large phallus that was part of the comic costume (assuming the characters wore the grotesque costume depicted on vases), Slave A complains that he has damaged his foreskin by rubbing it too vigorously (24–29). The idea of the skin “coming off,” which is the meaning here of the verb aperchetai, is probably also a reference to the lesions slaves suffered when flogged, a punishment slaves might also suffer if caught masturbating (e.g., as implied in Aristophanes’ Frogs 542–548).2 Masturbation was less often associated with free persons. The most famous example is the rustic Athenian Strepsiades in Aristophanes’s play Clouds, when he tells Socrates that he has failed to grasp anything except the “cock in my right hand” (734). The character Dionysus in Aristophanes’s Frogs provides another example when he imagines that he is masturbating while watching his slave Xanthias dance with a female slave (542–548). Part of the humor of Frogs, however, is in the role reversal between Xanthias and the god Dionysus, the latter of whom displays a variety of slavish behavior during the first part of the play. A later example, this time involving an actual historical figure, is the Hellenistic Page 1 of 5 PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLASSICS (classics.oxfordre.com). (c) Oxford University Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please see applicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 14 July 2016 masturbation , philosopher and cynic DIOGENES (2) of Sinope, who is said to have masturbated in public whenever he had the urge (DIOGENES (6) LAERTIUS 6.69). In Diogenes’s case, however, the act was not due to a lack of sophrosyne. Rather, the sage was using his body to teach his students about the cynic’s “rejection of social conventions.”3 He also argued that physis (here, “natural impulse”) should be ranked above nomos (“custom”). Although not its purpose, this anecdote implies that such sexual acts were typically considered shameful and against social convention, especially when done in public. Greek art furnishes a number of examples of masturbation, where it is depicted primarily on pottery used in symposia (Greek drinking parties). These types of vessels show an assortment of sexual imagery, which may or may not illustrate activities that took place at actual symposia. In line with the literary examples, in Greek art masturbation is typically treated as something humorous and is associated with anti-ideal subjects, primarily satyrs, whose names themselves sometimes refer to masturbation or male genitalia (e.g. a 6th-century Attic black-figure aryballos shows masturbating satyrs with the names Dophios, the noun form of the verb dephesthai, and Phsolas, a noun used for the erect penis).4 In fact, masturbation was one of the most popular ways to illustrate the satyr’s permanent state of sexual excitement and bestial sexuality. Satyrs are shown using their hands, as well as inanimate objects such as the necks of amphorae, to achieve sexual satisfaction.5 The satyr’s exaggerated penis draws a striking contrast with the comparatively modest-sized penis of the ideal Greek man, who is conversely associated with sophrosyne.6 There are also a few sympotic vessels that might show youths masturbating, but it is often unclear if this is what is actually taking place and also whether the subjects are free or slave.7 Masturbation was also associated with women, who were similarly considered prone to non-ideal behavior, not least stemming from their perceived lack of sophrosyne (typically considered a male virtue). In Greek literature and art, women are frequently depicted as sex-crazed and willing to use means other than men to satisfy their desires. Since the scenes often have elements of unrealism, it is likely that they are more reflective of male fantasy than of actual practice.8 Dildos, though not commonly shown in Greek imagery, are almost exclusively associated with women and, if we are to believe the literary and artistic references, were popular amongst wives and prostitutes.9 In Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, the women initially reject Lysistrata’s request that they withhold sex from their husbands in order to force the men to end the war. One of the women’s complaints, however, is that the war has caused the Milesians to stop exporting olisboi (“dildos”), thereby denying women even that pleasure (108–110). Similarly, Mimes 6 and 7 of the Hellenistic poet HERODAS depict women discussing and lending to each other a red leather baubon (a euphemism for “dildo”), which was made by a shoemaker whose skills were apparently much in demand. There are also several images on pots showing women with Page 2 of 5 PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLASSICS (classics.oxfordre.com). (c) Oxford University Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please see applicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 14 July 2016 masturbation , or near olisboi. One image even shows a woman hovering above the convex base of a pot.10 There is comparatively little reference to masturbation in sources from the Roman period, and most of these are found in the works of Greek writers. Judging by the few references to it, however, it continued to be viewed as uncivilized, even bizarre, behavior. The eastern Greek rhetorician and satirist LUCIAN, who was active in the 2nd century CE, refers to masturbation in a derogatory way when he calls Dion a “wanker” (Lexiphanes 12). Lucian also claims that the cynic philosopher PEREGRINUS engaged in public masturbation in defiance of popular opinion against such acts (Peregrinus 17). A parallel might be drawn here between the behavior of Peregrinus and the earlier cynic Diogenes of Sinope, described above. Another 2nd-century CE eastern Greek, ARTEMIDORUS (3), defines what he calls “oral masturbation” as something unnatural and classifies it alongside female homosexuality and sex with gods, animals, and the dead (5.13.80).11 Although Artemidorus does not refer to masturbation in the strictest sense (since oral assumes a partner), this passage recalls Plato’s Laws, when the Athenian speaker proposes that masturbation, along with any kind of sexual act not leading to procreation, should be aligned with incest in the laws (8.839a). . Bibliography Dover, Kenneth James. Greek Homosexuality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989. Dutsch, Dora. “Dog-Love-Dog: Kynogamia and Cynic Sexual Ethics.” In Sex in Antiquity: Exploring Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World. Edited by Mark Masterson, Nancy S. Rabinowitz, and James Robson, 246–248. London and New York: Routledge, 2015. Hedreen, Guy. “‘I Let Go My Force Just Touching Her Hair’: Male Sexuality in Athenian Vase-Paintings of Silens and Iambic Poetry,” Classical Antiquity 25 (2006): 277–325. Hubbard, Thomas K. A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities. Chichester, U.K.: John Wiley, 2014. Kampen, Natalie, and Bettina A. Bergmann, eds. Sexuality in Ancient Art: Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Kilmer, Martin F. Greek Erotica on Attic Red-Figure Vases. London: Duckworth, 1993. Page 3 of 5 PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLASSICS (classics.oxfordre.com). (c) Oxford University Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please see applicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 14 July 2016 masturbation , Larson, Jennifer. Greek and Roman Sexualities: A Sourcebook. London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2012. Lissarrague, François. “The Sexual Life of Satyrs.” In Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World. Edited by David M. Halperin, John J. Winkler, and Froma I. Zeitlin, 53–82. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990. McClure, Laura. Sexuality and Gender in the Classical World: Readings and Sources. Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2002. Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin. “Excavating Women’s Homoeroticism in Ancient Greece: The Evidence from Attic Vase Painting.” In Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World. Edited by Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger, 106–166. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. Sissa, Giulia. Sex and Sensuality in the Ancient World. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008. Skinner, Marilyn B. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture. Chichester, U.K.: WileyBlackwell, 2014. Stafford, Emma. “Clutching the Chickpea: Private Pleasures of the Bad Boyfriend.” In Sociable Man: Essays on Ancient Greek Social Behaviour in Honour of Nick Fisher. Edited by S. D. Lambert, 338–343. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales, 2011. Notes: (1.) For a discussion of the vocabulary, see Emma Stafford, “Clutching the Chickpea: Private Pleasures of the Bad Boyfriend,” in Sociable Man: Essays on Ancient Greek Social Behaviour in Honour of Nick Fisher, ed. S. D. Lambert (Swansea: Classical Press of Wales, 2011), 338–343. (2.) For a discussion of an image that might show a male slave being struck for masturbating see Stafford, “Clutching the Chickpea,” 349–350. (3.) For a discussion of the purpose of such “performances,” see Dora Dutsch, “Dog-LoveDog: Kynogamia and Cynic Sexual Ethics,” in Sex in Antiquity: Exploring Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World, ed. Mark Masterson, Nancy S. Rabinowitz, and James Robson (London and New York: Routledge, 2015), 246–248. (4.) See Stafford, “Clutching the Chickpea,” 344, Fig. 1. See also BAPD 300770. Page 4 of 5 PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLASSICS (classics.oxfordre.com). (c) Oxford University Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please see applicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 14 July 2016 masturbation , (5.) Guy Hedreen, “‘I Let Go My Force Just Touching Her Hair’: Male Sexuality in Athenian Vase-Paintings of Silens and Iambic Poetry,” Classical Antiquity 25 (2006): 278. (6.) Stafford, “Clutching the Chickpea,” 346. For a detailed study of the “sex life” of satyrs, see Hedreen, “I Let Go My Force,” 277–325. (7.) Stafford, “Clutching the Chickpea,” 346–354. (8.) Martin F. Kilmer, Greek Erotica on Attic Red-Figure Vases (London: Duckworth, 1993), 100; Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, “Excavating Women’s Homoeroticism in Ancient Greece: The Evidence from Attic Vase Painting,” in Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World, ed. Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz and Lisa Auanger (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002), 145. (9.) For a discussion of the images, see Kilmer, Greek Erotica, 99–101. (10.) For these and further examples see Kenneth James Dover, Greek Homosexuality (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989). (11.) See Jennifer Larson, Greek and Roman Sexualities: A Sourcebook (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2012), 136. Page 5 of 5 PRINTED FROM the OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, CLASSICS (classics.oxfordre.com). (c) Oxford University Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Personal use only; commercial use is strictly prohibited. Please see applicable Privacy Policy and Legal Notice (for details see Privacy Policy). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 14 July 2016