Post by account_disabled on Mar 10, 2024 22:46:38 GMT -6
Largely due to a too literal reading of the sources, but also to the use that has been made of these texts in art and contemporary popular culture, especially in cinema . The works referring to the lives of the emperors, from Suetonius to Tacitus, Cassius Dion or the authors of the Historia Augusta , tell us about sexual excesses in the imperial court . Thus, we can see the “little fishes”, very young children trained to be used sexually by Tiberius in the bath, Caligula committing incest with his sister or Nero with his mother, the wives of senators being forced at banquets (see « The Roman banquet and its excesses» in Archeology and History No. : Rich in Rome ) by the emperors or brothels filled with female citizens and set up for the imperial festivals. The famous ships on Lake Nemi have been associated, precisely, with Caligula's parties, abundant in alcohol and sex. Nero is also described dressed as an animal, sexually abusing and biting the genitals of young men tied to posts. This extended, in Latin works, to criticism of other characters, such as Hostio Cuadra, mentioned by Seneca , for organizing orgies and covering the rooms with curved mirrors to see the increased size of the genitals.
The same is perceived in the works of Juvenal or Catullus , in which sexually active and drunk women, men who seduced the wives of others, or who dressed in transparent silks, are censored. This perception is increased by the enormous visibility of sexuality and genitality in the Roman world, with sexual scenes on skylights and other objects (such as the well-known Warren Cup), amulet necklaces in the shape of a phallus, tintinnabuli (bells) with the same shape, spintriae or B2B Email List tokens with sexual iconography and debated function or the presence of penises on the walls, whether they were signs for brothels or that functioned as talismans (see "Graffiti and graffiti. Social networks in Pompeii" in Archeology and History #: The Last Days of Pompeii The well-known mural paintings of Pompeii, both in the brothel and in the baths, depicting sex scenes, have been repeated over and over again. tintinabulum pompeii museum naples Tintinabulum , bronze phallic amulet in the shape of a quadruped bird found in Pompeii, st century AD. C.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. In the Roman world it was thought that this type of phallic representations attracted good luck and scared away evil spirits. © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY But we must ask ourselves how much truth there is in these stories , generally constructed a posteriori and after the death of said emperors, by writers who wrote from a moralizing point of view and who saw imperial power as a danger to senatorial authority. Likewise, philosophical currents such as Stoicism (which would strongly influence both Christianity and favor its acceptance among the Roman elite), which emphasized temperance and containment of passions, as well as the rejection of pleasures. worldly, found a very convenient commonplace in the criticism of exuberant sexuality. Sex in Rome, a question of gender or power? Furthermore, we must take into account, as a starting point, that Roman sexuality cannot be understood within the current categories of sexual orientation. There was no concept of heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality as there is today, but rather a hierarchy, which conditioned the acceptability of activity or passivity.
The same is perceived in the works of Juvenal or Catullus , in which sexually active and drunk women, men who seduced the wives of others, or who dressed in transparent silks, are censored. This perception is increased by the enormous visibility of sexuality and genitality in the Roman world, with sexual scenes on skylights and other objects (such as the well-known Warren Cup), amulet necklaces in the shape of a phallus, tintinnabuli (bells) with the same shape, spintriae or B2B Email List tokens with sexual iconography and debated function or the presence of penises on the walls, whether they were signs for brothels or that functioned as talismans (see "Graffiti and graffiti. Social networks in Pompeii" in Archeology and History #: The Last Days of Pompeii The well-known mural paintings of Pompeii, both in the brothel and in the baths, depicting sex scenes, have been repeated over and over again. tintinabulum pompeii museum naples Tintinabulum , bronze phallic amulet in the shape of a quadruped bird found in Pompeii, st century AD. C.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. In the Roman world it was thought that this type of phallic representations attracted good luck and scared away evil spirits. © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY But we must ask ourselves how much truth there is in these stories , generally constructed a posteriori and after the death of said emperors, by writers who wrote from a moralizing point of view and who saw imperial power as a danger to senatorial authority. Likewise, philosophical currents such as Stoicism (which would strongly influence both Christianity and favor its acceptance among the Roman elite), which emphasized temperance and containment of passions, as well as the rejection of pleasures. worldly, found a very convenient commonplace in the criticism of exuberant sexuality. Sex in Rome, a question of gender or power? Furthermore, we must take into account, as a starting point, that Roman sexuality cannot be understood within the current categories of sexual orientation. There was no concept of heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality as there is today, but rather a hierarchy, which conditioned the acceptability of activity or passivity.