Homosexuality in ancient Rome

(left) Busts of the Roman emperor Hadrian (left) and his male lover Antinous, now at the British Museum (right) Roman mosaic from Susa, Libya, depicting the myth of Zeus in the form of an eagle abducting the boy Ganymede

Homosexuality in ancient Rome often differs markedly from the contemporary West. Latin lacks words that would precisely translate "homosexual" and "heterosexual".^[1] The primary dichotomy of ancient Roman sexuality was active / dominant / masculine and passive / submissive / feminine. Roman society was patriarchal, and the freeborn male citizen possessed political liberty (libertas) and the right to rule both himself and his household (familia). "Virtue" (virtus) was seen as an active quality through which a man (vir) defined himself. The conquest mentality and "cult of virility" shaped same-sex relations. Roman men were free to enjoy sex with other males without a perceived loss of masculinity or social status as long as they took the dominant or penetrative role. Acceptable male partners were slaves and former slaves, prostitutes, and entertainers, whose lifestyle placed them in the nebulous social realm of infamia, so they were excluded from the normal protections accorded to a citizen even if they were technically free. Freeborn male minors were off limits at certain periods in Rome.

Same-sex relations among women are far less documented^[2] and, if Roman writers are to be trusted, female homoeroticism may have been very rare, to the point that Ovid, in the Augustine era describes it as "unheard-of".^[3] However, there is scattered evidence—for example, a couple of spells in the Greek Magical Papyri—which attests to the existence of individual women in Roman-ruled provinces in the later Imperial period who fell in love with members of the same sex.^[4]

^ Craig Williams, Roman Homosexuality (Oxford University Press, 1999, 2010), p. 304, citing Saara Lilja, Homosexuality in Republican and Augustan Rome (Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 1983), p. 122.
^ Kristina Minor (2014). Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii. Oxford University Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0199684618. Despite the best efforts of scholars, we have essentially no direct evidence of female homoerotic love in Rome: the best we can do is a collection of hostile literary and technical treatments ranging from Phaedrus to Juvenal to the medical writers and Church fathers, all of which condemn sex between women as low-class, immoral, barbarous, and disgusting.
^ Skinner, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture, p. 69
^ Christopher A. Faraone (2001). Ancient Greek Love Magic. Harvard University Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-0674006966.

[1] Craig Williams, Roman Homosexuality (Oxford University Press, 1999, 2010), p. 304, citing Saara Lilja, Homosexuality in Republican and Augustan Rome (Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 1983), p. 122.

[2] Kristina Minor (2014). Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii. Oxford University Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0199684618. Despite the best efforts of scholars, we have essentially no direct evidence of female homoerotic love in Rome: the best we can do is a collection of hostile literary and technical treatments ranging from Phaedrus to Juvenal to the medical writers and Church fathers, all of which condemn sex between women as low-class, immoral, barbarous, and disgusting.

[3] Skinner, Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture, p. 69

[4] Christopher A. Faraone (2001). Ancient Greek Love Magic. Harvard University Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-0674006966.

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