This book looks at a contemporary concept
toxic masculinity
and considers its usefulness for understanding the ancient Mediterranean world. By concentrating on the particular elements that make up this form of masculine behaviour and identity, briefly defined as a performance of masculinity that is harmful to people who should be protected, to one's community, or to oneself, we illuminate tensions and contradictions within Greek and Roman conceptions of gender, while tracing some origins of modern gender roles. This book also highlights the ways that texts and events from the ancient world are invoked in the construction of toxic masculinity today. Covering Athenian oratory and drama, Roman poetry and history, curse tablets, early Christian writing, Italian cinema, US politics, and more, this collection brings together the ancient and modern to ask what shapes a culture's understanding of masculinity and how to identify the aspects of that understanding that can cause harm.
AcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsAbbreviations Preface - Donna Zuckerberg Introduction: Toxic Masculinity and Classics - Melanie Racette-Campbell and Aven McMaster I: Violence against Others and Self 1. Plutarch and Punishment: Slavery and Toxic Masculinity in Aulus Gellius 1.26 - Tristan K. Husby 2. Attempted Rape as Rite of Passage: Constructing the Christian Feminine Ideal - Kim Passaro and Brian P. Sowers 3. Engendering Justice in a Gendered World: The Case of Thucydides’ Athenians - Jessica Penny Evans 4. Manliness as Motive for Action: A Discussion of (Toxic) Masculinity in the Antigone and the Lysistrata - Davide Morassi 5. Toxic Masculinity as a Lens for Middle Byzantium: The Case of Nikephoros II Phokas - Mark Masterson 6. Boy Toys: A Ciceronian Invective - Joanna Kenty 7. There’s No Crying in Government: Romulus, Brutus, and the Toxic Suppression of Grief - Jaclyn Neel II: Ancient Critique 8. Toxic Masculinity in Petronius’ Satyrica - Jordan D. G. Mitchell 9. Real Roman Men and the Greeks Who Hate Them: Disciplina, Cato the Elder, and Plutarch - Elizabeth Manwell 10. (Toxic) Masculinity between Hegemony and Precariousness: Alternatives to Heteronormativity in Briseis’ Portrait of Achilles (Ov. Her. 3) - Simona Martorana 11. ‘Angry, Reckless, Savage’: Problematising the Hypermasculine Germani - Rhiannon Evans 12. Toxic Masculinity in Xenophon’s Account of the Trial of Sphodrias - Kendell Heydon 13. Criticism of Roman Men and the Conspicuously Moral Masculinity of Scipio Aemilianus - Charles Goldberg III: Ancient Meets Modern 14. Scipio Africanus and the Construction of Fascist Italian Masculinities - Samuel Agbamu 15. Insult to Injury: Senecan Stoicism, Misogyny, and the Semantics of ‘Special Snowflake’ - Michael Goyette 16. Toxic Manhood Acts and the ‘Nice Guy’ Phenomenon in Ovid - Melissa Marturano 17. Violence, Victimhood, and the Rhetoric of Erotic Curses - Britta Ager 18. ‘Legitimate Rape’ and Toxic Masculinity from Todd Akin to Soranus - T.H.M. Gellar-Goad 19. Toxic Masculinity in the First-Year Classics Classroom - Jayne Knight and Jonathan Wallis BibliographyIndex LocorumIndex
Melanie Racette-Campbell, Assistant Professor of Classics, University of Winnipeg. Aven McMaster, Professor Emerita for Ancient Studies, Thorneloe University.
Reviews for Toxic Masculinity in the Ancient World
The volume deservedly shows that the concept of toxic masculinity is a useful theoretical tool in studying the ancient gender system. In this attempt the book succeeds excellently; thus I highly recommend it to everyone interested in premodern masculinities. -- Jaakkojuhani Peltonen, Tampere University * The Classical Review * Through a creative use of the modern concept of ‘toxic masculinity’, this book explores ancient concepts and performances of the masculine. Its extensive range of studies shed light on the cultural specificity of both the ancient and modern ways in which masculinity can be abusive and hurtful to others and the self. -- Ineke Sluiter, Leiden University
