This book investigates an area of Greek and Roman life which was an embarrassment to the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scholars discovering 'obscene' objects in their classical collections. At a time of increasing sexual prudery, such material was considered unsuitable for serious study and removed from public display.Catherine Johns shows that while overt sexual representations were common in painting, sculpture, pottery, jewellery and other minor arts, not all the objects which shocked the Victorians had an erotic purpose. Many, the author demonstrates, had a religious and apotropaic function, as well as reflecting the classical delight in erotic art for its own sake. They also shed light on the social mores of the time, in particular the wide range of sexual behavior acceptable in classical antiquity. Read Less