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Abstract
This chapter explores the phenomenon of statue-love by considering how ancient texts portray instances of erotic desire for, or even sexual intercourse with, works of art. Offering a taxonomy of agalmatophilia tales, it traces the origins of the motif, identifies typical narrative patterns and investigates how the sexual allure of statuary is conceptualised in Greco-Roman literature. While all anecdotes concerning sexual interaction with existing (as opposed to poetically fabricated) statues involve a male lover (in line with ancient gender stereotypes that assign the active role to men), some texts and visual representations also toy with the idea of female agalmatophiliacs.