Greek Love, Roman Vice: The Mediterranean in the queer imagination
A talk by Professor Alastair Blanshard | Thursday 5 November 2025 | 6:00–7:15pm
Since the 19th century, the sunny climes of the Mediterranean have been a haven for gay men and lesbians. Fantasies about the cultures of Greece and Rome offered a form of escapism from the moral oppression that many experienced, while the prestige accorded to classical civilisation provided ammunition against those who treated homosexuality as a crime or a form of medical disorder.
This lecture explores the queer passion for the classical, focusing on the ways that specific figures and motifs from antiquity were cherished and imitated. In the lives and stories of Nero, Narcissus, Ganymede, Sappho, and Antinous, people found their ancestors and patterns to emulate in their own lives. Greco-Roman visual arts enthralled them. Like Pygmalion, they melted the coldness of the marble with the heat of their desire and found in forms of the ancient world, real, fleshy figures to love and inspire them.
About the Speaker
Alastair Blanshard is the Paul Eliadis Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland, and Director of the Univeristy’s RD Milns Antiquities Museum. He is the author of a number of works on Greek homosexuality and its afterlife. He recently edited a collection of essays titled Oscar Wilde and Classical Antiquity.
This event is proudly presented by David Roche Gallery as a part of Feast Festival 2025
DETAILS
When:
Wednesday 5 November 2025 | 6:00–7:15pm
Cost:
General: $24.00 (incl. booking fee)
Concession: $21.40 (incl. booking fee)
DRG Member: $21.40 (incl. booking fee)
Limited parking available on-site.
Wheelchair accessible.
Link Image: Adolf Joseph Grass (France 1813–1902), Narcissus 1866–67, oil on canvas. The David Roche Collection.