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The dissertation examines the growth of eroticism in Constantin Cavafy’s poetry. Beyond its mere thematic expression, eroticism turns out to be the core of the demiurgic process and forms the mainstay of his writings: in other words, it is on behalf of eroticism and on account of it that Cavafy fleshes out his art. Grounded on a wide array of pieces that include the canonical poems, this inquiry hinges on a diachronic as well as a thematic examination to which are appended elements of comparative study looking into cavafian eroticism in the wider context of European and Greek literary history. The chronological approach complies with the threefold dimension in the growth of the poet’s mind. Following an introductory chapter devoted to the very beginnings and to the emergence of love as a theme in compositions prior to 1891, the first part of the study, dealing with the poet’s formative years, focuses primarily on uncovering the sources of eroticism. This opening period, marked by an aesthetics of avoidance, leads to a moment of crisis for the Alexandrine, “the great crisis of libidinousness”, which will be soothed through the legitimate use of eroticism and its literary elaboration. The third part of the study, “The love that dare speak its name”, deals with the mature writings: eroticism becomes a system, now necessarily linked to modernity and transgression.