Romans were gay
Everything You Need To Perceive About Homosexuality In Ancient Rome
Since we’re heading to Rome on a swanky, culture-rich tour of Italy, you may be wondering about homosexuality in ancient Rome and how lgbtq+ the Empire really was? As it turns out, super gay. But it’s complicated.
You Weren’t Gay or Straight. But Top or Bottom. With Consequence.
The biggest thing about sexuality in ancient Rome was that they didn’t concern themselves with who, but rather how, you boinked. They didn’t even have a word for homosexuality, but the empire was obsessed with conquest, and that mindset pervaded everything including sex. All that mattered was who’s on foremost. Alas, if you were a man, to be penetrated was to be conquered, thus weak and less worthy.
Furthermore, sexual partners weren’t chosen by gender, but class. Married men would continue to cavort with other fellows, so long as that loved one was beneath them both sexually and societally. This could entail prostitutes, the enslaved, and the infamia (those disgraced by community such as gladiators, actors, dancers and anybody else who ‘gave up’ their body for public display).
Gay Marriage was a Thing.
Even without a word fo
A Brief History of Homosexuality in Italy from Ancient Rome to Today
Postwar Italy, politically dominated by the country’s Catholic party, didn’t do much against the diffused homophobia of those years. Society cared about gay people only for the wrong reasons, as it happened in 1960 when an investigation on the “homosexual scene” in the northern town of Brescia turned into a massive media case with endless plot twists and unfounded accusations (which included one of human trafficking). When the so-called “Scandalo dei Balletti Verdi ” (“Green Ballets Scandal”) reached TV personalities like Mike Bongiorno, the entire land turned its morbose attention to it.
In 1971, Fuori! (Out!), the first gay organization in Italy, was founded. Mario Mieli, the most famous Italian Gay activist, took part in the movement before founding his own organization. A year later, a collective of gay people publicly demonstrated for their rights for the first period in the history of the country.
Since then, the Italian queer community has been keeping an active role in manifesting and demanding rights. Little by little, and always at a much slower pace than most other European countries, It
Queer Romans
Queer lives have always been part of history! For the last day of Pride Month 2021, Victoria Vening-Richards who is one of our Amgueddfa Cymru Producers has written an investigation of queer lives in ancient Rome. With thanks to Mark Lewis at the National Roman Legion Museum in Carleon for sharing his knowledge.
Queer Romans
Homosexuality within the Roman world is a much debated topic. Over the years scholars have come to varying conclusions; some suggest lgbtq+ relations were freely practiced in the Roman nature, others argue they were both legally and socially condemned. However, neither argument has been able to reach a definitive finding. This blog will consider the use of the label homosexual, the social attitude towards same-sex relationships, and same-sex relationships within a military context.
1. The use of the label 'homosexual'
Recent studies on Roman society have argued that the term 'homosexual', sense someone who has a sexual orientation towards someone of the same gender, did not exist linguistically, within the Latin language, and socially, within Roman society. This is because male Roman citizens are assumed to h
In honour of LGBTQIA+ history month, Ancient History alumni Ollie Burns takes a closer look at the social, political, and cultural implications of homosexuality in ancient Rome.
Trigger Warning: sexual violence, homophobia, paedophilia, nudity.
The presentation and perception of homosexuality in the Roman world was vastly alternative than how it is today, and gives us an example of how homosexuality has been indelibly linked with communications of power and authority in antiquity. The Latin language has no word for either heterosexual or queer, and instead partners in a sexual relationship would be presented as either active, synonymous with masculinity, or passive and therefore, feminine, regardless of the gender of the individuals involved. Freeborn male Romans had the civil liberty to do as they pleased when it came to sexual activity, and as such, the principle of a Roman male engaging in homosexual sex was in no way controversial or taboo to the Romans, as elongated as it fell within certain parameters.
Rome was a deeply militarised state, with conquest and dominance deeply ingrained as desirable masculine traits. As a fallout of this, men were free to engage in
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