Homosexuality in the Roman Empire

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eros and a Silenus embrace each other. Terracotta relief , early 1st century

Sources on male homosexuality in the Roman Empire and ancient Rome are abundant. There are literary works, poems, graffiti and comments on the sexual preferences of individual emperors. In contrast to classical Greece, pictorial representations are rarer. Although there is no doubt about it, much less has been passed on about female homosexuality. Attitudes towards homosexuality changed over time and from context to context. It was certainly also dictated by the cultural conditions of the respective provinces.

Theoretical foundations of historical research

Current classical studies point out that the idea of ​​predisposed homosexuality as a phenomenological characteristic of the identity of a group of people in the sense of the modern theoretical context of the 19th to 21st centuries was alien to the order of sex life in antiquity , as the sexual, medical and sexual science underlying this concept psychological insights - developed in Europe and North America since the 19th century - were still unknown in ancient times. It is true that some classical Greek or Hellenistic-Greek philosophers from the fourth to the first century BC know Chr. ( Plato , Aristotle , Pseudo-Aristotle , Ptolemy ) the idea of ​​a possibly natural-based inclination of people towards persons of their own gender, but this notion can by no means be completely compatible with the modern conception of homosexuality in the sense of the sexological-psychological theory of the 19th century. Century. In addition, these “Platonic-Aristotelian” sexual ideas, which, in contrast to the modern concept of homosexuality in the above-mentioned philosophers, do not target all manifestations of same-sex behavior, but only apply to Greek pederasty, are rarely recognizable in the Roman body of sources. In the Roman sources, different terms and patterns of representation are usually used.

The social conceptual framework in which the order of sex life was embedded in Rome is shaped by the categories of activity versus passivity or freedom (Roman citizens, free provincials) versus bondage (slaves, freedmen): “The central difference that affects the entire sex life definite - at least in its discursive representation - is therefore that between domination and submission, power and powerlessness, activity and passivity. This difference is more important to the Roman mentality than the gender difference. All slaves of both sexes, the younger, the poorer and the one who can be paid, appear passively. "

Roman conceptions of sex and roles in same-sex relationships

During the early archaic phase of Roman history, as well as at the time of the Etruscan royal rule and in the epoch of the early patrician aristocratic republic (7th century BC - 4th century BC), same-sex sexual behavior among males appears within the early Roman culture to have been frowned upon. Boy love in particular was not particularly valued in archaic and early republican Rome; possibly it was also rejected because the ancient Roman upper class regarded it as a foreign, i.e. “Hellenic” cultural element that apparently contradicted the Roman virtus . Same-sex sexual contacts were tolerated - presumably also under Hellenistic influence - from the time of the Middle Republic (from around the 3rd century BC), provided that these were pederastic relationships between adult Roman citizens or, later, also freeborn ones Provincials on the one hand and adolescent or ephebe-like slaves on the other. According to the ancient Roman sexual ethics, the free Roman man had to assume the active, virile role in the context of such sexual relationships. Since this Roman Italic manifestation of the love of boys that so typical of pederasty in ancient Greece feature of the acquisition of arete (= the ancient Greek concept of "manliness") by the (in the case of classical Greek pederasty freeborn) eromenos was missing, but this ancient Italian Boy love in its socially tolerated form was aimed exclusively at sexual intercourse with slave boys , it is also referred to in research as Roman-priapic pederasty . This Roman-priapic configuration of pederasty was tolerated in the Roman Empire during the late republic and the imperial era, even if it did not enjoy any particular ethical appreciation in contrast to other forms of sexual life - such as the various forms of Roman marriage. As a rule, it was about sexual relations with young slaves who belonged to the domus of the respective masters.

On the other hand, passive sexual behavior by Roman citizens or personally free male residents of the Roman provinces was sharply rejected by society, as this violated the socially required primacy of virility and was therefore classified as "unmanly". In ancient body of source material are sexually passive behaving free men often in this sense with the ethically negative judgmental terms cinaedi ( Kinäden ) pathici or effeminati designated; in Tacitus the term corpore infamis is also attested in this regard . This fact also has to do with the fact that sexual relations between free-born Romans were classified within the ancient culture in the area of stuprum , that is, of "fornication". This applies both to sexual contacts between adult Roman citizens and to pederasty with free Roman boys. Likewise, it was socially not welcomed when free Romans or free peregrini had sexual contact with slaves who had outgrown youth. These adult slave favorites were called exoleti ; Such relationships were considered disreputable, but in contrast to sexual contacts between adult Roman citizens or pederasty with free boys, they were not punishable and were probably tacitly tolerated. The popular politician Publius Clodius Pulcher , who worked in the first century BC, is said to have surrounded himself, according to historical tradition, with a whole host of such exoleti .

In addition, the Roman-priapic pederasty was often closely connected with same-sex prostitution, i. This means that, as a rule, free brothel owners personally left enslaved teenagers Ephebe to other Roman citizens or free provincials for “sexual services” in return for payment. It is also conceivable that parallel to this there were also forms of same-sex prostitution that occurred independently of pederasty and that thus took place between adult men. Nevertheless, most of these adult male prostitutes of the Roman Empire were slaves or freedmen.

While it therefore corresponded to the understanding of roles in ancient Rome that the younger partner was the passive and the older the active, there is also evidence from the Roman Empire that older men preferred the passive role. Martial , for example, describes the case of an older man who had a younger slave who took the active role. It was often assumed that only the active part enjoyed sex. In general, however, the passive role was equated with the role of women and was therefore rated rather low. Suetonius reports from Emperor Nero that he imitated the screams and whimpers of a virgin during passive sexual intercourse with the freed man Doryphorus . Passive men have often been blamed for caring too much about their appearance to please potential active partners. These men are usually portrayed in a negative light. The term kinaidos / cinaedus was used for them, but it could also refer to eunuchs .

But there are other examples as well. Again Suetonius reports that Emperor Galba was more attracted to strong and experienced men. More than once it is reported that soldiers were harassed by senior officers.

In addition to the repeatedly described anal intercourse, there is also ample evidence that oral intercourse was common. Especially Pompeian graffiti leaves nothing to be desired in terms of clarity: "Secundus is a cocksucker with a unique ability" ( Secundus fellator rarus ). In contrast to ancient Greece, a large link was considered attractive. In Petronius there is a description of how a man with such a person caused a sensation in a public bath. Several emperors are reported to have surrounded themselves with men with large genitals, apparently to portray them in a negative light.

subculture

There are at least indications that approaches of something like a homosexual subculture developed in ancient Rome, although one certainly cannot compare this with modern subcultures. In Rome it is said to have been around 200 BC. BC have given a street in which male prostitutes were preferred, who specialized in either the passive or active role. Other men sought the presence of sailors in districts near the Tiber. Public baths are also mentioned as a place to find sex partners. Juvenal describes how men scratch their heads with a finger to identify themselves.

Legal treatment and moral evaluations

Two men and one woman having sex; Pompeian wall painting, suburban thermal baths, south wall of the dressing room, around 79 BC Chr.

Although the fundamental condemnation of same-sex sexuality among free members of the res publica dates back to early Roman times, concrete criminal law provisions regarding same-sex sexual behavior did not exist until the 2nd century BC. Demonstrable. A Lex Scantinia from 149 BC. BC “forbade pederastic relationships with free-born boys, perhaps also same-sex sexual contacts between adult Roman citizens, but probably passive sexual behavior of personally free men, and stipulated a fine of 10,000 sesterces for a crime in their interest. The term for this offense was stuprum cum masculo. The earliest recorded case of criminal prosecution regarding same-sex sexual behavior relates to a Roman named Scantinius, who lived in 226 BC. He had made a sexually connotated motion to the son of Claudius Marcellus and was therefore accused by him. In 108 BC Fabius Maximus even killed a son because he had a same-sex relationship with another citizen; on the other hand, L. Flamininus took 192 BC. BC on his Greek mission one, presumably unfree, ie belonging to the social group of slaves, pleasure boy with. As Polybius reports in his book Istorikon Pemptä, male-male sexual contacts among soldiers in the Roman army were punished by the supplicium fustuarium during the Republic , a flogging that often ended with the death of the punished person. " Martial and Plautus describe a large one Range of homosexual behaviors, sometimes make fun of how they make fun of other small deviations from the norm without being really moralizing. On the other hand, there is also an accusation from the year 108 AD against C. Vibius Maximus , a Roman officer in Egypt , that he had a sexual relationship with a young nobleman.

Juvenal condemns numerous forms of male homosexuality and particularly accuses Roman men of high birth who outwardly act morally, but who reveal feminine behavior in secret. He finds men who openly display feminine behavior to be pitiful, but more honest and in the end praises that of a man for a boy as really true love. Public speaking usually condemns all forms of homosexuality among Roman citizens or freeborn men. When Julius Caesar was in Bithynia , he was said to have had a relationship with the local king Nicomedes , which earned him a bad reputation, but apparently had no legal consequences. Emperor Hadrian had a relationship with the younger Antinous without further criticism.

Since the turn of the 2nd to the 3rd century AD, under the influence of the younger Stoa and Platonism on pre-Christian-Roman sexual ethics, forms of same-sex sexuality that had previously been tolerated were increasingly taboo the Roman-Priapic pederasty; an effect that intensified in the course of the Christianization that became more and more prevalent from the late 3rd century onwards (especially in the east of the Roman Empire ). "Since the Severan times, the various manifestations of male, same-sex behavior among free men in the Roman Empire were generally illegal." Under the influence of the early church sexual ethics, laws were passed in the 4th and 5th centuries that now make same-sex sexual contacts in general and independent of the social status of persons involved in it criminalized, thus also the hitherto tolerated, albeit increasingly ethically discredited sexual relations with young slaves. In 390 AD the first law was passed, which forbade same-sex love in a generalized way and punished it with death. Analogous to this, the late antique Codex Thedosianus also provided for the death penalty by public burning for passive same-sex behavior. Within research, however, it is controversial to what extent these late antique legal provisions were actually implemented across the board. For the 4th and 5th centuries it can be said that the persecution of same-sex residents of the late Roman Empire was still limited, especially after 395 AD in the Eastern Roman Empire.

The circumstances surrounding the massacre in Thessaloniki at the end of the fourth century AD, for example, provide an indication that homosexuality was still accepted in large parts of the population even in Christian times, while it was officially persecuted. A popular charioteer was charged with sexually molesting a servant or army master of the emperor. The charioteer was captured, but riots broke out as the townspeople demanded his release. The charioteer was very popular despite his homosexuality.

Female homosexuality

With the first century AD, sources appeared for the first time on a larger scale on same-sex love between women. Even Ovid denied the possibility that there is such a thing. The later remarks are decidedly hostile and extend to the husband's killing of the woman. Even Martial, who was rather amused by deviations of all kinds, was extremely negative about lesbian love. In Egypt there were at least some love spells written in Greek that clearly had the purpose of winning one woman's heart for another. This not only proves female homosexuality in Rome, nor does it portray it in such a negative light.

See also

literature

  • Michael Brinkschröder: Sodom as a symptom. Same-sex sexuality in the Christian imaginary - a history of religion. Berlin / New York 2006.
  • Hubert Cancik: On the origin of Christian sexual morality. In: Andreas Karsten Siems (ed.): Sexuality and eroticism in antiquity. ( Ways of Research , Vol. 605), Darmstadt 1994, pp. 347-374.
  • John R. Clarke: Looking at Lovemaking. Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art 100 BC − AD 250 , University of California Press, Berkeley 2001, ISBN 978-0520229044
  • Elke Hartmann : Art. Homosexuality , in: Der Neue Pauly. Encyclopedia of Antiquity , Vol. 5, Stuttgart / Weimar 1998, Sp. 703–707.
  • Karl Hoheisel : Art. Homosexuality. In: Real Lexicon for Antiquity and Christianity . Vol. 16, Stuttgart 1994, Col. 335-350.
  • Thomas K. Hubbard : Homosexuality in Greece and Rome, a Sourcebook of Basic Documents. Los Angeles / London 2003. ISBN 0-520-23430-8 The book online
  • Otto Kiefer: Cultural history of Rome with special consideration of the Roman customs. Berlin 1933.
  • Werner Krenkel: Male prostitution in antiquity. In: Andreas Karsten Siems (ed.): Sexuality and eroticism in antiquity (Paths of Research, Vol. 605). Darmstadt 1994, pp. 613-618.
  • Wilhelm Kroll: Roman eroticism. In: Andreas Karsten Siems (ed.): Sexuality and eroticism in antiquity. (Paths of Research, Vol. 605). Darmstadt 1994, pp. 70-117.
  • Eckhard Meyer-Zwiffelhoffer: Under the sign of the phallus. The order of sexual life in ancient Rome. Frankfurt am Main / New York 1995.
  • Andreas Mohr: Spouses, male societies, cult transvestites. On the gender history of Germanic speaking gentes from the first to the seventh centuries. (European University Theses, Series III, Vol. 1064), Berlin / Bern / Frankfurt am Main / New York 2009.
  • Theodor Mommsen: Roman criminal law. (Systematic Handbook of German Law, Section 1, Part 4), 2nd Nd. of the edition Leipzig 1899, Aalen 1990.
  • Hans Peter Obermayer: Martial and the discourse on male “homosexuality” in the literature of the early imperial era (= Classica Monacensia Vol. 18), Gunter Narr Verlag, Tübingen 1998; ( Review (PDF; 46 kB) by Farouk Grewing )
  • William Armstrong Percy : The Age of Marriage in Ancient Rome. The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston / New York 2003 (in collaboration with Arnold Lelis and Beert Verstraete)
  • Andreas Karsten Siems (ed.): Sexuality and eroticism in antiquity. (Paths of Research, Vol. 605), Darmstadt 1994.
  • Alfons Städele: Cornelius Tacitus. Agricola. Germania. (Tusculum Collection), Munich / Zurich 1991.
  • Thomas Späth: Masculinity and Femininity in Tacitus. On the construction of the sexes in the Roman Empire. Frankfurt am Main / New York 1994.
  • Bettina Eva Stumpp: Prostitution in Roman antiquity. Berlin 1998.
  • Craig Williams : Roman Homosexuality, Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity. In: Oxford University Press (ed.): Ideologies of Desire. Oxford 1999

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Elke Hartmann: Art. Homosexuality , in: Der Neue Pauly. Enzyklopädie der Antike , Vol. 5, 1998, Col. 703-707: The term homosexuality to denote physical love directed at partners of the same sex is not ancient. It misses the typical features of ancient sex life in that it defines an individual characteristic. In antiquity, however, a person's sexual behavior was determined less by his individual inclinations than by his social position as a free and unfree person, as a young or old person, as a man or woman. In antiquity, the idea that sexuality refers to a single gender was largely alien.
  2. ^ Karl Hoheisel : Art. Homosexuality . In: Real Lexicon for Antiquity and Christianity . Vol. 16, 1994, Col. 338.
  3. ↑ Eckhard Meyer-Zwiffelhoffer: In the sign of the phallus , pp. 68–70.
  4. ↑ a b Wilhelm Kroll: Römische Erotik , pp. 70–117.
  5. ↑ a b Eckhard Meyer-Zwiffelhoffer: In the sign of the phallus , pp. 80–84.
  6. ↑ Michael Brinkschröder: Sodom as a symptom , p. 323 f.
  7. ↑ Eckhard Meyer-Zwiffelhoffer: In the sign of the phallus , pp. 88–95.
  8. ↑ Alfons Städele: Cornelius Tacitus , p. 334.
  9. ↑ a b c Wilhelm Kroll: Römische Erotik , p. 86 ff.
  10. ↑ Bettina Eva Stumpp: Prostitution in Roman antiquity. Berlin 1998
  11. ↑ Martial, 3, 71
  12. ^ Suetonius, Nero, 29
  13. ^ Suetonius, Galba, 22
  14. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus : Roman Antiquities , April 16
  15. ↑ CIL 4, 9027
  16. ↑ Craig A. Williams: Roman Homosexuality: Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 2009 [1]
  17. ↑ Aelius Lampridius: Scripta Historia Augusta, Commodus , 10.9
  18. ↑ Plautus, Curculio , 482-84
  19. ^ Pseudo-Virgil: Catalepton , 13
  20. ↑ Andreas Mohr: Married couple, male associations, cult transvestites , pp. 68–69.
  21. ↑ Juvenal: Satire 2
  22. ^ Suetonius: Gaius Iulius Caesar , 2
  23. ↑ Hubert Cancik: On the emergence of Christian sexual morality , in: Andreas Karsten Siems (Ed.): Sexuality and Erotik in der Antike (Ways of Research, Vol. 605), Darmstadt 1994, pp. 347–374.
  24. ↑ a b Andreas Mohr: married couples, male associations, cult transvestites , p. 70.
  25. ↑ Mosaicarum et Romanarum legum collatio 5,3,1–2; Moses Hyamson (ed.): Mosaicarum et romanarum legum collatio. London 1913 (reprint Buffalo, 1997), pp. 82-83 ( digitized ).
  26. ↑ Ovid: Metamorphoses , 9669-797
  27. ↑ Seneca : Controversies , 1.2.23
  28. ↑ Martial, 1.90