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Games of Venus
Recent attacks on contemporary art have portrayed the erotic content of works by Robert Mapplethorpe and others as if it were a deviation from the Western artistic tradition. On the contrary, there is a rich tradition of eroticism in the arts beginning with the erotic verse of ancient Greek and Roman poets.
Games of Venus , the first comprehensive anthology in English of ancient Greek and Roman erotic verse, revives this tradition for the modern reader.
Games of Venus presents the whole spectrum of erotic poetry from Sappho to Ovid in translations which evoke the full range of styles and tones present in the original Greek and Latin.
Brief biographical sketches accompany the work of each poet as do notes referring to the myths, geography, historical events, personages, and sexual and social customs mentioned in the verse.
Games of Venus , the first comprehensive anthology in English of ancient Greek and Roman erotic verse, revives this tradition for the modern reader.
Games of Venus presents the whole spectrum of erotic poetry from Sappho to Ovid in translations which evoke the full range of styles and tones present in the original Greek and Latin.
Brief biographical sketches accompany the work of each poet as do notes referring to the myths, geography, historical events, personages, and sexual and social customs mentioned in the verse.
279 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 1993
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About the author
Peter Bing
11 books1 followerSamuel Candler Dobbs Professor of the
Classics at Emory University. His books include The Well-Read Muse: Present and Past in Callimachus and the Hellenistic Poets (Michigan Classics Press).
Classics at Emory University. His books include The Well-Read Muse: Present and Past in Callimachus and the Hellenistic Poets (Michigan Classics Press).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 8, 2026
I know, you charmer, why you run away:
because a shaggy brow spans my whole forehead
one vast brow from ear to ear,
with a single eye beneath, a broad nose over the lip.
Yet, though this is how I am, I tend a thousand head
and milking them, I drink the finest milk.
neither summer nor fall do I lack cheese
nor at winter's end—my racks are loaded down.
And I can pipe like no one among the Cyclopes,
singing of you, my honeybunch, and me
often in the dead of night. And I’m rearing eleven fawns for
you,
all with collars, and also four little bears.
Just come to me—you won't be the worse for it—
and let the foam-grey wave beat against the shore.
Beside me in the cave you'll spend a sweeter night.
There are bays there, there are slender cypresses,
there is dark ivy, there’s the grape-vine sweet at harvest,
there is icy water that densely wooded Aetna
sends me from the white snow, an immortal drink.
Who would take the sea and waves over these?
And if I seem to you too shaggy,
well, I have oak logs and a sleepless fire beneath the ash,
and I'd even let you burn my soul
and my one eye, sweetest thing of all to me.
O why didn’t my mother bear me with gills
so I could have dived down to you and kissed your hand,
if you won't let me kiss your mouth, and brought you white
lilies
or soft poppy with its scarlet petals.
But one grows in summer, the other in winter,
so I couldn’t bring you both at once.
But now, little girl, right now, I'll still learn to swim,
if only some stranger come sailing here in his ship,
so I can see how sweetly you live in the depths.
because a shaggy brow spans my whole forehead
one vast brow from ear to ear,
with a single eye beneath, a broad nose over the lip.
Yet, though this is how I am, I tend a thousand head
and milking them, I drink the finest milk.
neither summer nor fall do I lack cheese
nor at winter's end—my racks are loaded down.
And I can pipe like no one among the Cyclopes,
singing of you, my honeybunch, and me
often in the dead of night. And I’m rearing eleven fawns for
you,
all with collars, and also four little bears.
Just come to me—you won't be the worse for it—
and let the foam-grey wave beat against the shore.
Beside me in the cave you'll spend a sweeter night.
There are bays there, there are slender cypresses,
there is dark ivy, there’s the grape-vine sweet at harvest,
there is icy water that densely wooded Aetna
sends me from the white snow, an immortal drink.
Who would take the sea and waves over these?
And if I seem to you too shaggy,
well, I have oak logs and a sleepless fire beneath the ash,
and I'd even let you burn my soul
and my one eye, sweetest thing of all to me.
O why didn’t my mother bear me with gills
so I could have dived down to you and kissed your hand,
if you won't let me kiss your mouth, and brought you white
lilies
or soft poppy with its scarlet petals.
But one grows in summer, the other in winter,
so I couldn’t bring you both at once.
But now, little girl, right now, I'll still learn to swim,
if only some stranger come sailing here in his ship,
so I can see how sweetly you live in the depths.
April 24, 2022
A really amazing collection on ancient erotic verse. Some beautiful, some disturbing, and some outright hilarious. This is a fantastic book if you want to know more about how the people of ancient Greece and Rome saw love and intimacy. It is also amusing if you want to get a laugh while also learning something ( a lot of the poetry is *very* raunchy). The book highlights a lot of our similarities and differences , and largely breaks down many of the pretensionsyear people have while viewing the ancient world. Great for academics but would also be entertaining and enlightening to the general reader.
"What is life, what is joy, without golden Aphrodite?
May I die when these things no longer move me,
a secret love, soothing gifts, the bed,
those tempting flowers of youth there to be plucked"
—Mimnermos, Nanno.
"What is life, what is joy, without golden Aphrodite?
May I die when these things no longer move me,
a secret love, soothing gifts, the bed,
those tempting flowers of youth there to be plucked"
—Mimnermos, Nanno.
September 1, 2012
The highlight for me was the selection of Vergil's pastoral verses. Worth checking out if you are a serious student of Classical literature.
March 6, 2023
on a few occasions the translations fell a bit flat compared to other translations of the verse and I would have loved to see the original greek for structural comparison and pronunciation (a huge element of lyric verse) but the poems are excellent and it’s incredible we even have access to them (i am not ignorant of how flat and absent of tone this review is)
January 18, 2022
Amazing collection of ancient verse. Read the Sappho and it does not get any better, but it does stay at the highest levels of verse. So you will not want to put the book down.
December 27, 2024
Had to read for class but surprisingly enjoyed…
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews