Naked Truths

Naked Truths explores how sexual difference is communicated symbolically in Greco- Roman art and architecture. Highlighting the visual mechanisms that regulated and reinforced gender roles, this volume demonstrates the application of feminist approaches to a diverse repertory of classical art and, offering both topical and controversial readings of the subjects. Among the topics discussed are the dynamics of female beauty and male violence in early Italian society; portrayals of nursing mothers in Etruscan and Greek art; the divested breast in classical art; a feminist reading of the nude cult status of the Knidian Aphrodite; Clytemnestra and the iconography of transgression; images of Sappho in Greek vase painting; mortal and divine sexuality in the Parthenon frieze; voyeuristic intercations inspired by the figure of the hermaphrodite; and the role of desire and desirability in shaping a nuanced understanding of sex and gender in the ancient world.