Love Conquers All: Visualizing Love in Ancient Art

The Augustan poet Virgil claims, "Love conquers all" in his tenth Eclogue. This is no small boast in the Roman world where warfare was commonplace. In ancient Greece and Rome, a goddess ruled over matters of love and sexuality, and representations of Aphrodite/Venus and her retinue were popular in art. Love dominates ancient culture, from romantic poetry and magical love spells to erotic paintings and commemorative inscriptions. In myth-history, longing for Helen prompts the Trojan War. Achilles' love for Patroclus consumes the Iliad.

While scholars have acknowledged the impulse of love as central to religion, literature, and myth-history, there is more we can learn from representations of love in ancient art. Images reveal new manifestations of this most human emotion for historical people. This session invites papers that explore how works of art create meaning around the concept of love. Especially welcome are papers that expand our understanding of the multifaceted aspects of love in the ancient world. Topics may include new interpretations of familiar works, identifying new representations of love, and analysis through interdisciplinary approaches. A broad understanding of "love" might include papers that discuss familial love, patriotism, romantic love, sexuality, erotica, same-sex love, marriage, and friendship.

Papers may examine the visualization of love in ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian, Aegean, Greek, Etruscan, or Roman art. We hope that this session will contribute to a reassessment of love in antiquity. By examining the materialization of love in art, we can understand more fully how ancient people experienced and expressed love.