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Eros The Man, Eros The Woman: Conflicting Identities And Gender Construction In The Catullan Corpus, Rebecca F. Boylan

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

The Catullan corpus is filled with widely varying and often incompatible constructions of gender. These contradictions reveal latent tensions between the poet’s masculine persona and personal pleasure, the latter of which often results in feminine modes of expression. Catullus’ poetic voice frequently transgresses traditional Roman boundaries between gender spheres, emphasizing the nebulous nature of ancient sexuality. Through an analysis of the gendered paradigms that inform the Catullan corpus, this paper examines these tensions between traditional masculine and feminine roles and ways in which these roles are reversed, especially in Catullus’ relationship with Lesbia. This paper analyzes Sapphic influences in Catullus …