Olympia, by Édouard Manet, 1863. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.

Eros

Volume II, Number 1 | winter 2009

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The Toilette of Venus (detail), by François Boucher, 1751.

Preamble

Transits of Venus

By Lewis H. Lapham

The commodification of sex and love has shaped our attitudes toward both over the past half century, but eros is more than just dollars and cents.

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Empress Theodora and retinue, mosaic panel from the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, sixth century.

Affairs of State

By William Rosen

How the improbable marriage of an actress, courtesan, and daughter of an animal trainer to a Byzantine emperor dramatically changed the course of European history.

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Map

The Grand Tour

Sexual hazards from around the world and throughout time.

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1528 | London

Royal Ardor

Henry VIII sends a love letter. More

1856 | Brooklyn

I Dare Not Withdraw

Walt Whitman’s amorous side. More

c. 1919 | Paris

The Bread of Angels

Edith Wharton gets comfortable. More

Charts & Graphs

Carnal Knowledge

A global survey of sex.

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King of England Henry VIII.

Engraving of Greek satirist Lucian.

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Photograph of American novelist and writer Flannery O’Connor.

Italian poet Dante Alighieri.

Black and white photograph of German novelist and essayist Thomas Mann.

Love is giving something you haven’t got to someone who doesn’t exist.

—Jacques Lacan

black and white pencil drawing of Moliere in an ornate frame

Black and white photograph of French novelist, essayist, and playwright Albert Camus.

Molière & Albert Camus

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Lapham’sDaily

Roundtable

Lapham’s Quarterly Is on Hiatus

By Lapham’s Quarterly

But the American Agora Foundation is already planning for the future. More

The Colosseum, attributed to Robert Eaton, c. 1855.

DÉjÀ Vu

Monumental Mistakes

2023:

Fitness instructor carves his girlfriend’s name into the Colosseum.

c. 1850:

Thompson of Sunderland makes his mark on Pompey’s pillar.

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Terracotta funerary plaque, Greek, Attic, c. 520 BC.

The World in Time

Robert D. Kaplan

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the author of The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, and the Burden of Power. More

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