Russell Spitler

Elizabeth Seif

Michael Ide

Kat McLarn

Laura Efron

Love is a force, a feeling, and an indefinable occurrence that has been present in societies from Ancient Greece and Rome to the present. It pervades our entire culture and individual lives, weaving its way into our spirituality and even our politics. This journal analyzes the faces love has in ancient times, and in doing so, brings out some major themes. The first major similarity among the Greek and Roman texts was the duality of love; it was a source of both creation and destruction, with the destructive aspects dominating. Love also emerged as a force entangled with the gender roles of the time. Although the journal only focuses on love within two ancient cultures, these observations provide a basis that we can compare our culture’s notions of love to, and ultimately help us develop a better understanding of love in our own lives.

In dealing with love, the ancients rarely overlooked its double nature. Within our five papers, both the destructive and creative powers of love emerge. However, the destructive aspect is more prevalent in our research. In Russell Spitler’s paper, for example, he references the tragedy Hippolytus, in which several major characters die on account of love. Elizabeth Seif discusses how jealousy, a consequence of love, provokes violence and suicide. Kat McLarn’s paper describes how Love is destructive even in the divine realm with its creation of deadly monsters. The only mention of love as a creative, or positive, force is in Laura Efron’s paper. She describes how the Greeks based their medical and healing practices in the power of love and sex.

The duality of Love also appears in the Roman texts. In Roman society, even more so than in Greek society, the destructive powers of Love were far more prevalent than its creative powers. Love’s destructive power shows up in the story of Antony and Cleopatra. Antony’s love for Cleopatra ultimately causes his personal downfall and political turmoil in Egypt and Rome. Both characters commit suicide as a result of their love. The Aeneid shows a similar situation with Dido taking her own life upon Aeneas’s departure. The love that overpowers Dido is her demise.

One of the specific dualities of love is "Celestial" versus "Common" described in Plato’s Symposium. Many of the Greek texts address a love that fits into one of these two categories. An interesting phenomenon that occurs in many of the Greek texts, however, is the association of "Common" love with women. Both Russell Spitler’s and Michael Ide’s paper explore the connection between "Common" love and gender roles. When Russell defines "Common" love in his paper, a primary requirement for this type of Love is the participation of a woman. Michael also draws the distinction of Common versus Celestial love based on the gender of the partners involved. In both papers, it is clear that Celestial love is only possible between two men.

The Romans also explore the connection between gender and love. In the story of Daphnis and Chloe, the two children are innocent; they remain untainted by the gender roles society inflicted on people. The two children explore their love for each other without the dynamic of a pursuer/pursued relationship. Only when they grow up and learn of social constructs and gender roles does Daphnis take on the dominating role and Chloe the passive role, as society dictates. Therefore, the Romans address the idea of love as partly a natural occurrence, partly a social construct.

The idea that love might be a natural or cultural occurrence is at the core of the discussions in this journal. In comparing these two ancient cultures, we discovered some distinct similarities between them, suggesting that love is a constant natural force. On the other hand, the gender roles affected their definitions of love, proving that love was also a social construct. While these studies have helped us come to some understanding of what love is, it is obvious that this complex force cannot be defined based on two or three societies. It is through continued study of love, comparing the similarities and differences of love across temporal and cultural contexts, that we can come closer to finding love’s true nature.