Post by decadence on Dec 24, 2005 17:08:51 GMT -5
personal.monm.edu/RBAY/homosexuality_in_rome.htm
Homosexuality in Rome is not what homosexuality is thought of today. In ancient Rome homosexuality is thought to be just an option. Just as a man would choose between a blond or brunette today, a roman man could choose between his wife or a slave boy in the ancient world. Roman men were not allowed to have pedicare (anal sex) with other roman men, unless of course they were slaves. Viri, real roman men, choose pedicare with slaves quite often. Not only did they choose male slaves, but young male slaves. In Horace’s Satires, he describes a situation of why slaves are the best source for a master to have pedicare.1 He also makes a clear distinction between slave boys and slave girls: “…When your crotch is throbbing and there is a slave girl or slave boy ready at hand, whom you could jump right away, you don’t prefer to burst with your hard on, do you? I certainly don’t. I like sex that is easy and obtainable.” With this exertion from Horace’s Satires, one could get a basic understanding of what homosexuality was like in ancient Rome. The way I see it is if it is there, take it when you want it. As long as you did not touch a freedman, which happened often, pedicare was there for your personal pleasure. I do not believe viri made the distinction we do today about homosexuality. For Roman men, it was not who you did but how it was done. The real man, vir, would be the one on top and the slave would be the one receiving this action. This concept shows that the one on top is the master while the one on the bottom is the submissive one. Two examples of this can be found in Seneca’s Controversiae and Seutonius. Seneca wrote, “a man in the bedroom, a boy in the dining room”.2 This pertains to the actions of a slave. Seneca is saying that the slave is submissive to his master at all times outside the bedroom but in the bedroom, the master is the one receiving the penetration (cevere). In ancient Rome, this was a laughing matter. If a vir was ever caught in submission to another in the act of pedicare, then he would be laughed at for the rest of his days. An example of this can be found in Seutonius. He wrote of a time when Julius Caesar had submitted himself to King Necomedes of Bithynia. Caeser had been called such things as the “queen of Bithynia” and “Octavius referred to Caesar as a queen just as Pompey was a king”.3 One thing to notice about this is no one ever made fun of Caesar for having pedicare with King Necomedes but only made fun of the way in which he did it. By this context one could surly determine that homosexuality in Rome was a natural thing.
Slaves being used for sexual pleasure in ancient Rome seemed to pretty common in Rome. On a man's wedding night, male concubines would be given to him as gifts.4 A boy-slave could even act as a safe passage for an adulterer. Valerius Maximus wrote a story about a man who had been caught in another man's house with his life, but the adulterer said he was there for the male slave. 5 One of the most famous poets to talk about boy-slaves is Martial. Martial always seemed to write about his wanting of beautiful young slaves but he never had the money to do so. 6
1.Horace Satires 1.2.114-9
2.Seneca Controversiae 4 pr. 10
3.Seutonius Jul. 49
4.Martial 3.71,8.44
5.Valerius Maximus 8.1
6.Martial 1.58, 4.13
Homosexuality in Rome is not what homosexuality is thought of today. In ancient Rome homosexuality is thought to be just an option. Just as a man would choose between a blond or brunette today, a roman man could choose between his wife or a slave boy in the ancient world. Roman men were not allowed to have pedicare (anal sex) with other roman men, unless of course they were slaves. Viri, real roman men, choose pedicare with slaves quite often. Not only did they choose male slaves, but young male slaves. In Horace’s Satires, he describes a situation of why slaves are the best source for a master to have pedicare.1 He also makes a clear distinction between slave boys and slave girls: “…When your crotch is throbbing and there is a slave girl or slave boy ready at hand, whom you could jump right away, you don’t prefer to burst with your hard on, do you? I certainly don’t. I like sex that is easy and obtainable.” With this exertion from Horace’s Satires, one could get a basic understanding of what homosexuality was like in ancient Rome. The way I see it is if it is there, take it when you want it. As long as you did not touch a freedman, which happened often, pedicare was there for your personal pleasure. I do not believe viri made the distinction we do today about homosexuality. For Roman men, it was not who you did but how it was done. The real man, vir, would be the one on top and the slave would be the one receiving this action. This concept shows that the one on top is the master while the one on the bottom is the submissive one. Two examples of this can be found in Seneca’s Controversiae and Seutonius. Seneca wrote, “a man in the bedroom, a boy in the dining room”.2 This pertains to the actions of a slave. Seneca is saying that the slave is submissive to his master at all times outside the bedroom but in the bedroom, the master is the one receiving the penetration (cevere). In ancient Rome, this was a laughing matter. If a vir was ever caught in submission to another in the act of pedicare, then he would be laughed at for the rest of his days. An example of this can be found in Seutonius. He wrote of a time when Julius Caesar had submitted himself to King Necomedes of Bithynia. Caeser had been called such things as the “queen of Bithynia” and “Octavius referred to Caesar as a queen just as Pompey was a king”.3 One thing to notice about this is no one ever made fun of Caesar for having pedicare with King Necomedes but only made fun of the way in which he did it. By this context one could surly determine that homosexuality in Rome was a natural thing.
Slaves being used for sexual pleasure in ancient Rome seemed to pretty common in Rome. On a man's wedding night, male concubines would be given to him as gifts.4 A boy-slave could even act as a safe passage for an adulterer. Valerius Maximus wrote a story about a man who had been caught in another man's house with his life, but the adulterer said he was there for the male slave. 5 One of the most famous poets to talk about boy-slaves is Martial. Martial always seemed to write about his wanting of beautiful young slaves but he never had the money to do so. 6
1.Horace Satires 1.2.114-9
2.Seneca Controversiae 4 pr. 10
3.Seutonius Jul. 49
4.Martial 3.71,8.44
5.Valerius Maximus 8.1
6.Martial 1.58, 4.13