Glen Warren Bowersock (born January 12, 1936, in Providence, Rhode Island) is a historian of ancient Greece, Rome and the Near East, and former chairman of Harvard’s classics department.[1][2]
Many are convinced that there is a correlation between the advance of pornography and the decline of a society. But the historical evidence for making such a connection is thin. Thus, for example, compared with what went on in ancient Greece, says Chairman Glen Bowersock of Harvard's classics department, the U.S. hasn't seen anything. Classical pornography was largely created, he says, by the most intelligent, erudite and cultured people in the society and was a source of pleasure and lively delight. Unlike American porn, it was not cheaply and badly done, solely to make a buck. And, argues Bowersock, contrary to popular legend, pornography did no harm whatever to the culture of ancient Greece.