{"collection":"Classics","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/cla/aph/index.htm","path":"cla/aph/index.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/cla/aph/index.htm","text":"On the heels of Bilitis,\nPierre Louys published his first novel,\nAphrodite (M\u0153urs Antiques) in 1896.\nIt was a bestseller, selling 350,000 copies, sealing Louys' reputation\nas a popular author of erotic literature.\nSet in Ptolemaic Alexandria, at a much later date than Bilitis,\nAphrodite is as much a love story as a crime story.\nLouys' decadent, sensual vision of Egypt in classical times\nis a jeweled setting for a story of transgressive love.\nThe sculptor Demetrios, the favorite of Queen Berenice,\nfalls for a well-to-do courtesan, Chrysis.\nMuch of the story is set in the world of the courtesans, a realm of\nbeauty, luxury, sapphic indulgence, and some dark shadows as well.\nPRODUCTION NOTES:\nThere were at least three English translations of this work published\nprior to 1963; of these, this was the only one which had an expired\ncopyright.","title":"Aphrodite Index","type":"page"}