Sexuality in ancient Rome
Rome was truly one of the greatest ancient empires in the world. The architecture, the education, the conquest into foreign lands, and the culture made it so that the fallen empire still has an undeniable influence on modern society. And just like the modern people of today, the ancient Romans also express their sexuality in different ways.
If you were a man in Roman society, then congratulations, you hit the jackpot. You are the alpha male your home; you are free to have sex with whoever you wish as long as you were the one was doing the penetration, and you can participate in politics. If you are a woman in Roman society, then you must have done something terrible in one of your past lives to deserve this kind of treatment. Women were practically chattel in Roman society. Their lineages and family records were not kept. They were seen as a burden to their families because they required a dowry, and, if your father wished to, he could have you killed just for being a baby girl. And that's the general theme of sexuality in ancient Rome. It is very favorable to men and absolutely scathing to women. But not if you were someone who was royalty or a ruler!
Rules of sexuality in ancient Rome
Women were supposed to be chaste, no matter if their husbands were virgins or not. Their chastity status directly affected her family’s standing in society. They were not to take lovers or have a boyfriend while they were married. When it came to actual sexual pleasure, it was the duty of a woman to have sex so that she could give birth. It was the duty of a man to get her pregnant, but he was also allowed to make his pleasure a priority. A woman should not expect to be pleasured during sex at all. She even had to turn a blind eye from her husband's extramarital affairs, no matter if they were other women or boys of an older age.
Prostitution was not only legal but very popular among men. Married men and unmarried men like frequently visited prostitutes and brothels. They were allowed to have as much sex as they wished as long as they kept their familial duties.
Read also: Perverse sexual practices in ancient Rome
When a group of soldiers sacked a village or town, Roman law made it legal for the soldiers to carry off all fertile women in the area and take them back to Rome to become surrogates and wives. This law had to be in place because Rome openly practiced female infanticide, and there were not enough wives for the men of Rome.
Kissing has always existed, but no society practiced it more at the time than the Romans. They spread the act of kissing while conquesting through different lands. The Romans also started the tradition of kissing in front of a group of people when you got married.
Gay men and lesbians
Ancient Rome was a very pro-male society, and the stigma against gay sex that is usually apparent in many other ancient civilizations did not exist, as long as the Roman man was the top, or the one who performed the penetration. If a Roman man had a slave, he was free to have sex with his male slaves and still be seen as the ruler of the household. Roman men were also allowed to have sex with male prostitutes and entertainment and still retain their role. These slaves, prostitutes, and entertainers were okay to perform sex with because they didn’t have a role in Roman society. The Romans referred to these types of people as infamia, or without role. If one of these types of people were made to be sexually available to Roman men, they were usually between the age of 12 to 20, although they could be older.
Rape was regarded as a crime that was punishable by death, but only to those who were Roman citizens. A slave, prostitute, or entertainer legally could not be raped since they were not a person by legal standards.
Because ancient Rome was so pro-male, this meant that lesbian relationships and sex were not even regarded. If a man wasn’t involved, then it was not deemed correct in Roman society. There are a few tales and stories about lesbians and lesbian love, but nowhere near the same amount as male love.
In fact, female love was so disregarded and perplexing to Roman men that they believed women who had sex with other women had extremely large clitorises so that they could penetrate the other woman.
Rome’s Wild Rulers
Being a Roman ruler, man, or woman, was something else. You were at the top of the government and the top society and could get away with exercising more sexual rights. Just try not to push your acts too far, or you could be banished or killed.
Valeria Messalina was one of the wives of the Emporer Claudius. She was also a true nymphomaniac who loved getting as much sex as possible. There's a story about her sneaking into a local brothel and challenging a prostitute to a sex-off. She won her own contest, as she slept with 25 male patrons in a single day.
Nero was batshit crazy and downright cruel to many people for no reason. After his wife died because he kicked her to death, Nero missed her and decided to make a male slave his stand-in wife. The slave was castrated and forced to wear women's clothing.
The emperor Tiberius was very fond of orgies, full of both men and women. He often hired people to be in his orgies that were sexual experts. He even had a library full of sexual acts so he could quickly pick out what activities he wanted to do.
Conclusion
The civilization of Rome was truly something else. There are few civilizations in history that was as sexually charged as Rome. Many sexual practices still amaze and baffle historians for their ridiculousness and depravity. But the women of Rome were not very often pleasured or respected, just like most other societies, except the Vikings.
