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Pleasure
The nature and desirability of pleasure (hedone in Greek, voluptas in Latin) was a key question in ancient ethics and one that had important political and social implications. Bodily pleasures in particular were frequently felt to require strict control by the individual. At the same time, the provision of access to pleasure also functioned as an instrument of social control.
The imaginary society depicted in the Homeric epics (composed around 700 BCE) placed a high value on the sensual pleasures of life, on sex, baths, food, the last two being offered to guests as part of the rituals of hospitality. Such pleasures were, however, only fleetingly available to the warrior heroes as a result of their efforts in battle. Even here, however, certain pleasures may prove ...
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