This book is about love in the classical world -- not erotic passion but the love that binds together intimate members of a family and close friends, but may also include a wider range of individuals for whom we care deeply. Among the topics discussed are friendship, loyalty, gratitude, grief, and civic solidarity.

CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Love and Friendship Chapter 2: Loyalty: The Missing Virtue Chapter 3: Gratitude and Liberality Chapter 4: Grief and the Self Chapter 5: Love and the State Conclusion Bibliography

"Konstan (classics, New York Univ.) provides original insights into love in ancient times... Though brief, the book challenges traditional belief on ancient love and theoretical compensation in a concise and clear wayâ. Relationships today are perceived quite differently than they were by the ancient Romans and Greeks, for whom love was much more subtle. These subtleties are the backbone of Konstan's study. Highly Recommended." -- CHOICE "The tension between altruism and reciprocity runs through the entire work, without Konstan falling into the trap of anachronism ... This book clearly shows that Greek and Roman writers (especially philosophers) -- among others -- have elaborated what we now define as altruistic views of love and friendship." -- Doralice Fabiano, Emotions: History, Culture, Society "The book provides a welcome extension to currently available studies on love in the classical world, drawing as it does on a broader canvas and providing a refreshing reminder that other forms of love rather than the erotic were just as prominent and just as socially, politically and philosophically relevant. In so doing the author sheds light on some hitherto obscure features not just of ancient life but of modern life as well." -- Paul Chrystal, Classics for all "In this elegant and entertaining book David Konstan probes the affective, ethical, and social dimensions of love and friendship in ancient Greece and Rome. Ranging widely over literary and philosophical sources, Konstan deftly explores issues of selfhood, identity, and other-concern that are as relevant today as they were for the ancients." --Douglas Cairns, University of Edinburgh "For a long time David Konstan has been our leading interpreter of Greek and Roman friendly love. In this masterful new book, he achieves yet deeper insights, showing how an ideal of disinterested love informs a wider set of values: loyalty, gratitude, grief, and political solidarity. Written with Konstan's sui generis combination of insight, scholarship, philosophical rigor, and grace, In the Orbit of Love simultaneously illuminates and charms." --Martha C. Nussbaum, University of Chicago

Selling point: Challenges dominant interpretations of classical social relations and stresses the feelings and behaviors prompted by love Selling point: Examines altruism and love in intimate and wider social relations, particularly the contrast between loyalty and love Selling point: Discusses the ways in which human relationships have changed over the course of time

David Konstan is Professor of Classics at New York University. Among his books are Pity Transformed (2001); The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks (2006); Before Forgiveness: The Origins of a Moral Idea (2010); and Beauty: The Fortunes of an Ancient Greek Idea (2014). He is a past president of the American Philological Association, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an honorary fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Selling point: Challenges dominant interpretations of classical social relations and stresses the feelings and behaviors prompted by love Selling point: Examines altruism and love in intimate and wider social relations, particularly the contrast between loyalty and love Selling point: Discusses the ways in which human relationships have changed over the course of time