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2 - Sex in Rome in the First Century bce and the First Century ce

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2024

By
Aven McMaster
Edited by
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks  and
Mathew Kuefler
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Mathew Kuefler
Affiliation:
San Diego State University
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Summary

This chapter describes the current scholarly view of the dominant ideologies surrounding sexuality in the Roman world of the late Republic and early Empire (c. 100 BCE to 100 CE) and also outlines the fragmentary glimpses we have of the lived experiences of people of the time, including those from marginalized or oppressed groups. It covers the normative expectations of sexual practice, the ‘penetrative’ model and its problems, labels, and terminology used at the time and by modern scholars including the debate around the use of ‘homosexuality’ and ‘heterosexuality’ to describe the ancient world, the place of sexuality in the private and public realms, the relation between sex and gender, legal, moral, and social constraints on sex and sexual violence, and the intersection of status and sexuality. The chapter draws on Latin poetry, legal and historical texts, art, and material remains to provide evidence and examples of Roman sexual practices and attitudes towards sex.

Keywords

Romewomen’s sexualitygendermasculinityhomosexualityancient Mediterraneanmarriage
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History of Sexualities , pp. 27 - 46
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Further Reading

Blondell, Ruby, and Ormand, Kirk, eds. Ancient Sex. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2015.Google Scholar
Bradley, Mark, Leonard, Victoria, and Totelin, Laurence, eds. Bodily Fluids in Antiquity. New York: Routledge, 2021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, Jessica Elizabeth. ‘The Language of Adultery’. PhD thesis, University of Manchester, 2012.Google Scholar
Edmondson, Jonathan, and Keith, Alison, eds. Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flemming, Rebecca. ‘Fertility Control in Ancient Rome’. Women’s History Review 30, no. 6 (2021): 896–914.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Golden, Mark, and Toohey, Peter, eds. Sex and Difference in Ancient Greece and Rome. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Grubbs, Judith Evans. Women and the Law in the Roman Empire. New York: Routledge, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallett, Judith P., and Skinner, Marilyn B., eds. Roman Sexualities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Hubbard, Thomas K., ed. A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014.Google Scholar
Ivleva, Tatiana, and Collins, Rob, eds. Un-Roman Sex: Gender, Sexuality, and Lovemaking in the Roman Provinces and Frontiers. New York: Routledge, 2020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamen, Deborah, and Marshall, C. W., eds. Slavery and Sexuality in Classical Antiquity. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masterson, Mark. Man to Man: Desire, Homosociality, and Authority in Late-Roman Manhood. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Masterson, Mark, Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin, and Robson, James, eds. Sex in Antiquity: Exploring Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World. London: Routledge, 2014.Google Scholar
Ormand, Kirk. Controlling Desires: Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome, 2nd ed. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2018.Google Scholar
Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin, ed. Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Racette-Campbell, Melanie. The Crisis of Masculinity in the Age of Augustus. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2023.Google Scholar
Richlin, Amy. ‘Sexuality’. In Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. Whitmarsh, Tim. Online ed. Oxford University Press, 7 March 2016. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5896.Google Scholar
Richlin, Amy.The Garden of Priapus: Sexuality and Aggression in Roman Humor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sapsford, Tom. Performing the Kinaidos: Unmanly Men in Ancient Mediterranean Cultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Trafford, L. J. Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword, 2021.Google Scholar
Treggiari, Susan. Roman Marriage: ‘Iusti Coniuges’ from the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Craig A. Roman Homosexuality, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Young, Elizabeth Marie. ‘The Touch of the “Cinaedus”: Unmanly Sensations in the “Carmina Priapea”’, Classical Antiquity 34, no. 1 (2015): 183–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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