Thephantomprincess
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Roman Sexuality
Well, I wanted to give you a glimpse of what I do as a student in IRL. i spent all last night writing this for a summer class. I think y'all would be quite interested!
A Comparison Between Ancient Roman and Modern Sexuality:
The Erotic, The Outlawed, The Sensual, and The Shocking
Every social convention in our society has a history. Some of our customs date back to the times of Adam and Eve. Others can be traced for only a generation or two. Nonetheless, there have been several constants in human society since it all began: Food, Shelter, Money, and Sex. Sexuality is something man has always been fascinated with. This act, which takes place between two people, is one of the most intimate relations individuals can share. What are the origins of human sexuality? Has it changed over the years? Let’s focus on Ancient Roman civilization in comparison to our modern day sex lives. How sophisticated was Roman sexuality?
For Romans, age of your life partner was very important, as it continues to be today. Girls were often engaged at age twelve and married off at age thirteen (Shelton, 19). That does seem relatively young to us, but one has to recall that the life expectancy in Roman society was a whole lot shorter. We tend to believe that marriage at age eighteen, when it is first legal without parent’s consent is still too young, especially with the current trend of people marrying later on in life to accumulate wealth. It was not uncommon for a Roman girl’s husband to be at least several years her elder, and had some time to accumulate wealth as well as the dowry given to him by the girl’s family (Shelton, 43). The circumstances of coming of age as a purely sexual partner were relatively different. Many a Roman man took great pride in deflowering virgins, although it would make a decent Roman girl very unsuitable for marriage if anyone in or around her family found her out. The poet Ovid in his poem For The Men in the collection Erotic Technique 1.753-68, 2.663-733 <Tr. H. Gregory> speaks about sexual age preference:
“After a woman passes thirty-five, Her gifts are ripe, for Nature has endowed her, with skills unknown to girls of seventeen. Let the impatient drink the new-made wine; I’ll take deep draughts from rich and well-stocked cellars……….If you desire beauties at their best, Seasoned and ripe, show yourself a man, Your victories are those of love in glory. You need not fear to win your just rewards” (Wills, 154).
Ovid advises men to wait a woman has much life experience before welcoming her into his bedroom. He implies that a real man will want to bed a real woman, and not a teenager. His Advice on the ripening sexual appetite of women as they age, turns out to be true, as we know it. The Romans had a good idea when it came to the age of one’s bedfellow.
Why do humans engage in so much sex? Most animals do not procreate all year long, or as frequently as the human race does. All our frenzied reproductive activity is mostly due to the fact that we receive physical pleasure out of the sex act. The roman definitely realized this. Hippocrates attempts to explain the human physical pleasure peak of orgasm in his work On the Generating Seed and the Nature of the Child 4 Littre. <Tr. I.M. Lonie. G>:
“In the case of women, it is my contention that when during intercourse the vagina is rubbed and the womb is disturbed, an irritation is set up in the womb which produced pleasure and heat in the rest of the body, sometimes into the womb, which becomes moist, and sometimes externally as well, if the womb is open wider than normal. Once intercourse has begun, she experiences pleasure throughout the whole time, until the man ejaculates. If her desire for intercourse is excited, she emits before the man, and for the remainder of time does not feel pleasure to the same extent; but if he is not in a state of excitement, then her pleasure terminates along with that of the man… the man’s sperm arriving in the womb extinguishes both the heat and the pleasure of the woman. Both the pleasure and the heat reach their peak simultaneously with the arrival of the sperm in the womb, and then they cease…the woman’s heat flares up in response to the man’s sperm, and then dies away. The pleasure experienced by the woman during intercourse is considerable less than the man’s although it lasts longer. The reason that the man feels more pleasure is that the secretion from the bodily fluid in his case occurs suddenly, and as a result of a more violent disturbance than in the woman’s case” (Wills, 230-1).
We know currently that a woman does not need to be penetrated in order to achieve orgasm. Hippocrates did seem to comprehend that the body does go through a series of systematic responses throughout the sexual process, but our modern day version differs greatly from his. Hippocrates seems to be the Masters and Johnson of Roman times, giving us great detail about the human sexual response.
No one can be for certain whom experiences greater pleasure during intercourse, but both parties involved generally have an overall good time. If a woman was unable to enjoy sex or achieve orgasm, Ovid the Jerry Springer of Ancient Rome, has this advice to dispense in his poem For the Girls in his collection Erotic Technique 3.129-92, 771-808 <Tr. Horace Gregory>:
“O poor unhappy girl if her sweet cunt – That place where men and women find their haven – should not respond to love, pretend it does. Don’t let him think you’re lying: spread your legs; or moan or sigh and lure him with your eyes girl, that place is waiting, ready-it speaks a secret language, all its own” (Wills P. 159).
Ovid’s advice seems rather scandalous, even today. Back then, it was seen as more pornographic that the most banned adult movie. For Ovid to talk about this in public was quite absurd to the Romans. Today, this line of conversation is fairly commonplace for most liberal people, but is still restricted to late night television and radio. Women’s magazines cover topics that are far more scandalous and eye catching. Overall, one can surmise that Ovid was a sexual revolutionary during Roman times. He pulled Roman sexuality out from behind closed doors and darkness into the public sphere of thinking.
If a woman of Rome had trouble achieving orgasm, one must think that the man suffered some sort of sexual problems. Horace, in his Intermittent Metres 12 <Tr. Nicholas Kilme> describes a man’s troubles with erectile dysfunction and his lover’s frustration of being greatly unsatisfied, in this case from too many romps with another lover. “She humps herself with ertlrssly prick to reach her rabidity. The seething body sweatly stinks and drools off her complexion wetly: chalk and crap of crocodiles. She rips orgasmic the sheets and tumbling mattress hardly up. Then with tough words my limpid worker: You’re not so soft with Minnie as with me You spit tri-nightly Minnie but you’re slug abed along with me…O, I’m so unfulfilled” (Wills P. 182).
For many Roman’s having sex was quite enjoyable. It was the potential consequences that were not appealing. Believe or not, the Romans were more advanced when it came to contraception than one could imagine. Many different scholars had recommendations for what women should do not to get pregnant. Hippocrates, in his work On the Generating Seed and the Nature of the Child 5 Littre. < Tr. I.M. Lonie. G> Recommends: “when a woman has intercourse, if she is not going to conceive, then it is her practice to expel the sperm produced by both partners whenever she wishes to do so” (Wills, 230-1). Our modern gynecological experts would probably indicate the muscles used in this method are the Kegels. Most would also question the accuracy of this method. He also states in his work Nature of Women 98 – VII.414 Littre. G that
“If a woman does not want to become pregnant, make as thick of a mixture of beans and water as you can, make her drink it, and she will not become pregnant for a year. (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 233) This must have been some sort of attempt to coat the Uterus internally through consumption, or an assumption that this particular food mixture would alter a woman’s body chemistry to make her temporarily infertile. Perhaps this was the world’s first type of hormonal birth control. Hippocrates was not the only gynecological advisor during Roman times, and he did not have knowledge of every method of contraception. Soranus, in his work entitled Gynecology 1.60.4, 1.61-3 explains:
“One must avoid intercourse at those times which we said were favorable for conception…it also helps to smear the entrance to the uterus with old olive oil or honey or sap from a cedar or balsam tree, alone or mixed with white lead…. One might also add a clump of fine spun wool…. things such as these which are astringent, cause clogging and have a cooling effect, cause the entrance of the uterus to close before the time of coitus, and do not allow the sperm to pass through” (Shelton P. 26-7).
Soranus had the rhythm method down to a science. Although not a very effective method of birth control, the rhythm method gave women the opportunity of a sure thing. That is that they knew about what time their menstrual cycle would arrive every month, and they were able to plan to have sex around it accordingly. He also describes some of the first diaphragms and spermicidal ointments, which are still used today, with a much higher preventative rate due to the technological advances of latex and nonynyl-9. One has to wonder why there is no mention of a type of prophylactics available to Roman men. Sadly, the task of contraception fell and still does fall mostly upon a woman’s shoulders.
If a Roman woman had tried one or more of the above methods available to her, and still gotten pregnant, there was always abortion. Hippocrates, in writing On the Generating Seed and the Nature of the Child 13 Littre. <Tr. I.M. Lonie. G> retells this incident:
“When a women is going to conceive, the seed remains inside her and does not fall out…One day she noticed that the seed had not come out again. She told her mistress, and the story came to me. When I heard it, I told her to jump up and down, touching her buttocks with her heels at each leap. After she had done this no more than seven times, there was a noise, the seed feel out on the ground…”(Lefkowitz & Rant P. 232).
Abortion usually took place in secret, as it does today. However, there seemed to be less controversy over it in Roman times. There were many reasons to use contraceptives and/or have an abortion in Roman times, especially if you were an Aristocrat who was concerned about the expense of raising a child.
Getting pregnant was not the only thing Romans had to worry about when having sex. There were sexual transmitted diseases about, even among the aristocrats. Catullus, in his work of Poems 93, 57 describes the one and only Julius Caesar and a general from Gaul being alike in that “they have both been stained with an equal number of blotches which cannot be washed away”(Shelton P. 233). Was it herpes? Genital warts? One can be for certain the invisible killer of venereal disease has definitely followed humans on their sex escapades through the centuries.
Roman society, just like ours today had its fair share of sexual fetishes, fantasies and perversions. Here is evidence of Sadomasochism and Bondage and Dominance in Roman Society as related to us by Ausonius, in his work Epigrams 88 <Tr. Jack Lindsay>:
“Here’s the mistress that I choose. Careless brawls she won’t refuse, And bawdy words she’ll often use; Lovely, lively, loose in act, She’ll smack and let herself be smacked, And smacked will snuggle to a kiss. But if she’s not at all like this
And lives a chastely straitened life- I tremble: she will be my wife” (Wills P. 160).
A Roman man expected his wife to be clean and pure. He went elsewhere to satisfy his more risqué sexual behaviors. Today, the Internet serves this purpose for millions of people all over the world. There were sex toys in Roman society, but one tends to wonder how the Sapphic Romans would approach the contraptions we have created for sexual pleasure. Romans also engaged in oral sex as told in this harsh poem by Martial, Epigrams 4.84 “Men flock to Thais, From north and south; Yet she’s a virgin-, All but her mouth” <G.W.> (Wills P. 164). There seemed to be an outlet for every niche of sexuality in Roman society, as there is today.
Homophobia was rampant in Roman society, much like it is today. There were however subtle differences. Lesbians were thought to have magical sorceress like powers, as further explained by Artemidorus, in his On the Interpretation of Dreams 1.80 G:
“If (in a dream) a woman penetrates another woman, she will share her secrets with the woman she has penetrated. If she does not know the woman she has penetrated, she will attempt futile actions. If a woman is penetrated by another woman, she will be divorced from her husband or become a widow. Nonetheless, she will learn the secrets of the woman with whom she had sexual intercourse” (Lefkowitz & Rant p. 175).
A Lesbian was indeed considered a threat to Roman society, and went totally against the grain of cultural norms. Homosexuality in males was a different story altogether. It was the males in the Senate creating policy that forbid male homosexuality, but it was they, themselves who were partaking in it in the greatest quantities. Catullus, in his work Poems 93, 57 comments harshly about Caesar and his General Mamurra from Gaul:
“They suit one another well, these two lewd leachers, Mamurra and Caesar with his unnatural lusts…both renowned for their adulterous appetites, friendly rivals also of young girls” (Shelton P. 233). To be a womanizer was also equal to being a homosexual, because those who partook in one usually dabbled in the other. There was a semi hedonistic approach to sexual pleasure in Roman society.
Surprisingly, incest was not as taboo as it is in our society today. Inscribed on a Berlin papyrus 1210 Tr. J.G. Winter. G) Is the standard for relative marriage:
“It is not permitted to Romans to marry their sisters or their aunts; it is permitted in the case of daughters or brothers” (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 119). Any such law today would cause outrage, since we tend not to marry relatives until they are third cousins or more distant.
As in today’s society, there was rape and sodomy in Roman times. Justinian, in Codex 9.9.20.L describes the difference between a harlot and a rape victim:
“The laws punish the detestable wickedness of women who prostitute their chastity to the lusts of others, but do not hold those liable who are violated by force against their will. And, moreover, it has very properly been decided that their reputations are not lost, and that their marriage with others should not be prohibited on this account. (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 119)
What is astounding is that the Romans provided in their law code for rape victims to keep their good reputation, and to have a secondary virginity of sorts. Perhaps the Romans were more feminist than we had once imagined.
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There were brothels and whorehouses in Roman society. Most of the people involved with servicing customers could not be implicated in adultery for following orders. The owner of the place could, however be sought after legally with harsh reprimand. Justinian, in Codex 9.9.22, 28.L explain this theory further:
“It should be ascertained whether the woman who committed adultery was the owner of the inn, or only a servant; and as if by employing herself in servile duties (which frequently happens) she gave occasion to intemperance, since if she was the mistress of the inn, she would not be exempt from the liability of the law. Where however she served liquor to the men who were drinking, she would not be liable to accusations of having committed the offense, on account of her inferior rank and freemen who have been accused should be discharged, since chastity is expected only of those women who are in a lawful relationship and count as matrons, while the rest are ammune from the severity of the law, since their lowly way of life does not call for them to observe the requirements of the law….” (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 117).
So, there were some exceptions to the strict Augustan laws prohibiting adultery. Prostitution was also a source of commerce for women in Rome. This one account as retold by Aulus Gellius, in his work Attic Nights 4.14 demonstrates how even prostitutes; some of the lowest of the low in Roman society were given rights and fair treatment:
“Aulus Hostiliuus Mancinus was a cruel Aedile. He brought before the “people” an accusation against the prostitute Manilia because (he claimed) he had been hit by a stone thrown from her apartment at night. He even showed the wound made by the stone. Manilia appealed to the tribunes of the plebs. She told them Mancinus had come to her home wearing his party clothes. It was not, however convenient for her to let him in. When he tried to force his way in, she drove him off with stones. The tribunes decided the Aedile had been rightly refused admittance to a place, which it was unseemly from him to enter with a garland on his head. And so the tribunes forbade the Aedile to bring this accusation before the “people”” (Shelton P. 214).
If one was caught in the middle of an adulterous relationship, there were severe consequences to follow. Paul, in his work Opinions 2.26.1,5,11.L describes some of the circumstances for adultery:
“In the second chapter of the lex Julia concerning Adultery, either an adoptive or a natural father is permitted to kill with his own hands an adulterer caught in the act with his daughter in his own house or in that of his son-in-law, no matter what his rank may be…It has been decided that a husband who kills his wife when caught with an adulterer should be punished more leniently, for the reason that he committed the act through impatience caused by just suffering…. It has been decided that Adultery cannot be committed with women who have charge of any business or shop. (Lefkowitz & Rant, 104-5)
It is interesting how a man can get a very easy sentence for killing his wife for committing adultery, much like the men in Afghanistan who do not get punished for the Honor Killings of their wives and female relatives. There are many parallels between the way the Muslim religious sect that currently rules that country and the Romans deal with adultery.
Consequences of Adultery For Slaves were even worse than that of their masters and mistresses. Again, Paul’s Opinions 2.2.64.L and 2.26.16. Serve as authority on the gruesome fate of slaves who have committed adultery with their masters or other freedmen:
“A husband cannot kill anyone taken in adultery except persons who are infamous, and those who sell their bodies for grain, as well as slaves….
Sexual Intercourse with female slaves, unless they have deteriorated in value or an attempt is made against their mistress through them, is not considered an injury” (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 105).
Justinian also weighs in on this topic in Codex 9.11.1pr.L: “When a woman is convicted of having secretly had sexual intercourse with her slave, she shall be sentenced to death, and the rascally slave shall perish by fire” (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 118). Slaves were treated as objects, rather than people, available at all times for their master’s pleasure. Some even knew how to manipulate their place sexually to get ahead. Petronius, in Satyricon 76.1-9 tells how he was able to further his position in the household:
‘When I was 14, I became my master’s ‘favorite.’ I mean, what’s wrong with doing what your master wants? Of course, I was doing it for my mistress, too. You catch my meaning?” (Shelton P. 194).
Not all slaves were as cunning. Some had the sole purpose of caring for their master in all states of consciousness. Seneca The Younger, Letters 47 describes a servant form a friend’s household: “He is awake all night, dividing his time between his master’s drunkenness and sexual desires. In the bedroom he is a man; at the dinner table he is a boy” (Shelton P. 182). In the realm of Roman sexuality, the slaves lost out the most. They were not able to marry whom they chose, never mind sleep around, unless it was for a fee or a prize from the master. Slaves got the least amount of freedom, being so low on the chain of command in Roman society. Before we abolished slavery, we were not as cruel as the Romans were to their slaves. We did try and keep families together, and there was not as widespread rape and sodomy of slaves.
Roman Society was overall very sexually advanced and sophisticated. There was more widespread tolerance of a wide range of sexual behaviors then there is today. It is striking to see the similarities between Roman and Modern sexuality in the areas of contraception, rape, and homosexuality. It is also fruitful to realize how far we’ve come from the Romans, and not to take our medical technological advances for granted. Imagine what we would have to resort to without them. One can wonder what a student in the Twenty-Second Century will have to compare when researching our modern day sexuality as apposed to his or her own.
Works Cited
Lefkowitz, Mary R. and. Fant, Maureen B. Woman’s life in Greece and Rome –
A Source Book in Translation. Baltimore, Maryland: John Hopkins University Press, 1992.
Roman Culture Weapons and the Man Ed. Gary Wills. Toronto,
Canada. Ambassador Books, LTD. 1982.
Shelton, Jo-Ann. As The Romans Did A Source Book in Roman Social History.
New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988
Well, I wanted to give you a glimpse of what I do as a student in IRL. i spent all last night writing this for a summer class. I think y'all would be quite interested!
A Comparison Between Ancient Roman and Modern Sexuality:
The Erotic, The Outlawed, The Sensual, and The Shocking
Every social convention in our society has a history. Some of our customs date back to the times of Adam and Eve. Others can be traced for only a generation or two. Nonetheless, there have been several constants in human society since it all began: Food, Shelter, Money, and Sex. Sexuality is something man has always been fascinated with. This act, which takes place between two people, is one of the most intimate relations individuals can share. What are the origins of human sexuality? Has it changed over the years? Let’s focus on Ancient Roman civilization in comparison to our modern day sex lives. How sophisticated was Roman sexuality?
For Romans, age of your life partner was very important, as it continues to be today. Girls were often engaged at age twelve and married off at age thirteen (Shelton, 19). That does seem relatively young to us, but one has to recall that the life expectancy in Roman society was a whole lot shorter. We tend to believe that marriage at age eighteen, when it is first legal without parent’s consent is still too young, especially with the current trend of people marrying later on in life to accumulate wealth. It was not uncommon for a Roman girl’s husband to be at least several years her elder, and had some time to accumulate wealth as well as the dowry given to him by the girl’s family (Shelton, 43). The circumstances of coming of age as a purely sexual partner were relatively different. Many a Roman man took great pride in deflowering virgins, although it would make a decent Roman girl very unsuitable for marriage if anyone in or around her family found her out. The poet Ovid in his poem For The Men in the collection Erotic Technique 1.753-68, 2.663-733 <Tr. H. Gregory> speaks about sexual age preference:
“After a woman passes thirty-five, Her gifts are ripe, for Nature has endowed her, with skills unknown to girls of seventeen. Let the impatient drink the new-made wine; I’ll take deep draughts from rich and well-stocked cellars……….If you desire beauties at their best, Seasoned and ripe, show yourself a man, Your victories are those of love in glory. You need not fear to win your just rewards” (Wills, 154).
Ovid advises men to wait a woman has much life experience before welcoming her into his bedroom. He implies that a real man will want to bed a real woman, and not a teenager. His Advice on the ripening sexual appetite of women as they age, turns out to be true, as we know it. The Romans had a good idea when it came to the age of one’s bedfellow.
Why do humans engage in so much sex? Most animals do not procreate all year long, or as frequently as the human race does. All our frenzied reproductive activity is mostly due to the fact that we receive physical pleasure out of the sex act. The roman definitely realized this. Hippocrates attempts to explain the human physical pleasure peak of orgasm in his work On the Generating Seed and the Nature of the Child 4 Littre. <Tr. I.M. Lonie. G>:
“In the case of women, it is my contention that when during intercourse the vagina is rubbed and the womb is disturbed, an irritation is set up in the womb which produced pleasure and heat in the rest of the body, sometimes into the womb, which becomes moist, and sometimes externally as well, if the womb is open wider than normal. Once intercourse has begun, she experiences pleasure throughout the whole time, until the man ejaculates. If her desire for intercourse is excited, she emits before the man, and for the remainder of time does not feel pleasure to the same extent; but if he is not in a state of excitement, then her pleasure terminates along with that of the man… the man’s sperm arriving in the womb extinguishes both the heat and the pleasure of the woman. Both the pleasure and the heat reach their peak simultaneously with the arrival of the sperm in the womb, and then they cease…the woman’s heat flares up in response to the man’s sperm, and then dies away. The pleasure experienced by the woman during intercourse is considerable less than the man’s although it lasts longer. The reason that the man feels more pleasure is that the secretion from the bodily fluid in his case occurs suddenly, and as a result of a more violent disturbance than in the woman’s case” (Wills, 230-1).
We know currently that a woman does not need to be penetrated in order to achieve orgasm. Hippocrates did seem to comprehend that the body does go through a series of systematic responses throughout the sexual process, but our modern day version differs greatly from his. Hippocrates seems to be the Masters and Johnson of Roman times, giving us great detail about the human sexual response.
No one can be for certain whom experiences greater pleasure during intercourse, but both parties involved generally have an overall good time. If a woman was unable to enjoy sex or achieve orgasm, Ovid the Jerry Springer of Ancient Rome, has this advice to dispense in his poem For the Girls in his collection Erotic Technique 3.129-92, 771-808 <Tr. Horace Gregory>:
“O poor unhappy girl if her sweet cunt – That place where men and women find their haven – should not respond to love, pretend it does. Don’t let him think you’re lying: spread your legs; or moan or sigh and lure him with your eyes girl, that place is waiting, ready-it speaks a secret language, all its own” (Wills P. 159).
Ovid’s advice seems rather scandalous, even today. Back then, it was seen as more pornographic that the most banned adult movie. For Ovid to talk about this in public was quite absurd to the Romans. Today, this line of conversation is fairly commonplace for most liberal people, but is still restricted to late night television and radio. Women’s magazines cover topics that are far more scandalous and eye catching. Overall, one can surmise that Ovid was a sexual revolutionary during Roman times. He pulled Roman sexuality out from behind closed doors and darkness into the public sphere of thinking.
If a woman of Rome had trouble achieving orgasm, one must think that the man suffered some sort of sexual problems. Horace, in his Intermittent Metres 12 <Tr. Nicholas Kilme> describes a man’s troubles with erectile dysfunction and his lover’s frustration of being greatly unsatisfied, in this case from too many romps with another lover. “She humps herself with ertlrssly prick to reach her rabidity. The seething body sweatly stinks and drools off her complexion wetly: chalk and crap of crocodiles. She rips orgasmic the sheets and tumbling mattress hardly up. Then with tough words my limpid worker: You’re not so soft with Minnie as with me You spit tri-nightly Minnie but you’re slug abed along with me…O, I’m so unfulfilled” (Wills P. 182).
For many Roman’s having sex was quite enjoyable. It was the potential consequences that were not appealing. Believe or not, the Romans were more advanced when it came to contraception than one could imagine. Many different scholars had recommendations for what women should do not to get pregnant. Hippocrates, in his work On the Generating Seed and the Nature of the Child 5 Littre. < Tr. I.M. Lonie. G> Recommends: “when a woman has intercourse, if she is not going to conceive, then it is her practice to expel the sperm produced by both partners whenever she wishes to do so” (Wills, 230-1). Our modern gynecological experts would probably indicate the muscles used in this method are the Kegels. Most would also question the accuracy of this method. He also states in his work Nature of Women 98 – VII.414 Littre. G that
“If a woman does not want to become pregnant, make as thick of a mixture of beans and water as you can, make her drink it, and she will not become pregnant for a year. (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 233) This must have been some sort of attempt to coat the Uterus internally through consumption, or an assumption that this particular food mixture would alter a woman’s body chemistry to make her temporarily infertile. Perhaps this was the world’s first type of hormonal birth control. Hippocrates was not the only gynecological advisor during Roman times, and he did not have knowledge of every method of contraception. Soranus, in his work entitled Gynecology 1.60.4, 1.61-3 explains:
“One must avoid intercourse at those times which we said were favorable for conception…it also helps to smear the entrance to the uterus with old olive oil or honey or sap from a cedar or balsam tree, alone or mixed with white lead…. One might also add a clump of fine spun wool…. things such as these which are astringent, cause clogging and have a cooling effect, cause the entrance of the uterus to close before the time of coitus, and do not allow the sperm to pass through” (Shelton P. 26-7).
Soranus had the rhythm method down to a science. Although not a very effective method of birth control, the rhythm method gave women the opportunity of a sure thing. That is that they knew about what time their menstrual cycle would arrive every month, and they were able to plan to have sex around it accordingly. He also describes some of the first diaphragms and spermicidal ointments, which are still used today, with a much higher preventative rate due to the technological advances of latex and nonynyl-9. One has to wonder why there is no mention of a type of prophylactics available to Roman men. Sadly, the task of contraception fell and still does fall mostly upon a woman’s shoulders.
If a Roman woman had tried one or more of the above methods available to her, and still gotten pregnant, there was always abortion. Hippocrates, in writing On the Generating Seed and the Nature of the Child 13 Littre. <Tr. I.M. Lonie. G> retells this incident:
“When a women is going to conceive, the seed remains inside her and does not fall out…One day she noticed that the seed had not come out again. She told her mistress, and the story came to me. When I heard it, I told her to jump up and down, touching her buttocks with her heels at each leap. After she had done this no more than seven times, there was a noise, the seed feel out on the ground…”(Lefkowitz & Rant P. 232).
Abortion usually took place in secret, as it does today. However, there seemed to be less controversy over it in Roman times. There were many reasons to use contraceptives and/or have an abortion in Roman times, especially if you were an Aristocrat who was concerned about the expense of raising a child.
Getting pregnant was not the only thing Romans had to worry about when having sex. There were sexual transmitted diseases about, even among the aristocrats. Catullus, in his work of Poems 93, 57 describes the one and only Julius Caesar and a general from Gaul being alike in that “they have both been stained with an equal number of blotches which cannot be washed away”(Shelton P. 233). Was it herpes? Genital warts? One can be for certain the invisible killer of venereal disease has definitely followed humans on their sex escapades through the centuries.
Roman society, just like ours today had its fair share of sexual fetishes, fantasies and perversions. Here is evidence of Sadomasochism and Bondage and Dominance in Roman Society as related to us by Ausonius, in his work Epigrams 88 <Tr. Jack Lindsay>:
“Here’s the mistress that I choose. Careless brawls she won’t refuse, And bawdy words she’ll often use; Lovely, lively, loose in act, She’ll smack and let herself be smacked, And smacked will snuggle to a kiss. But if she’s not at all like this
And lives a chastely straitened life- I tremble: she will be my wife” (Wills P. 160).
A Roman man expected his wife to be clean and pure. He went elsewhere to satisfy his more risqué sexual behaviors. Today, the Internet serves this purpose for millions of people all over the world. There were sex toys in Roman society, but one tends to wonder how the Sapphic Romans would approach the contraptions we have created for sexual pleasure. Romans also engaged in oral sex as told in this harsh poem by Martial, Epigrams 4.84 “Men flock to Thais, From north and south; Yet she’s a virgin-, All but her mouth” <G.W.> (Wills P. 164). There seemed to be an outlet for every niche of sexuality in Roman society, as there is today.
Homophobia was rampant in Roman society, much like it is today. There were however subtle differences. Lesbians were thought to have magical sorceress like powers, as further explained by Artemidorus, in his On the Interpretation of Dreams 1.80 G:
“If (in a dream) a woman penetrates another woman, she will share her secrets with the woman she has penetrated. If she does not know the woman she has penetrated, she will attempt futile actions. If a woman is penetrated by another woman, she will be divorced from her husband or become a widow. Nonetheless, she will learn the secrets of the woman with whom she had sexual intercourse” (Lefkowitz & Rant p. 175).
A Lesbian was indeed considered a threat to Roman society, and went totally against the grain of cultural norms. Homosexuality in males was a different story altogether. It was the males in the Senate creating policy that forbid male homosexuality, but it was they, themselves who were partaking in it in the greatest quantities. Catullus, in his work Poems 93, 57 comments harshly about Caesar and his General Mamurra from Gaul:
“They suit one another well, these two lewd leachers, Mamurra and Caesar with his unnatural lusts…both renowned for their adulterous appetites, friendly rivals also of young girls” (Shelton P. 233). To be a womanizer was also equal to being a homosexual, because those who partook in one usually dabbled in the other. There was a semi hedonistic approach to sexual pleasure in Roman society.
Surprisingly, incest was not as taboo as it is in our society today. Inscribed on a Berlin papyrus 1210 Tr. J.G. Winter. G) Is the standard for relative marriage:
“It is not permitted to Romans to marry their sisters or their aunts; it is permitted in the case of daughters or brothers” (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 119). Any such law today would cause outrage, since we tend not to marry relatives until they are third cousins or more distant.
As in today’s society, there was rape and sodomy in Roman times. Justinian, in Codex 9.9.20.L describes the difference between a harlot and a rape victim:
“The laws punish the detestable wickedness of women who prostitute their chastity to the lusts of others, but do not hold those liable who are violated by force against their will. And, moreover, it has very properly been decided that their reputations are not lost, and that their marriage with others should not be prohibited on this account. (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 119)
What is astounding is that the Romans provided in their law code for rape victims to keep their good reputation, and to have a secondary virginity of sorts. Perhaps the Romans were more feminist than we had once imagined.
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There were brothels and whorehouses in Roman society. Most of the people involved with servicing customers could not be implicated in adultery for following orders. The owner of the place could, however be sought after legally with harsh reprimand. Justinian, in Codex 9.9.22, 28.L explain this theory further:
“It should be ascertained whether the woman who committed adultery was the owner of the inn, or only a servant; and as if by employing herself in servile duties (which frequently happens) she gave occasion to intemperance, since if she was the mistress of the inn, she would not be exempt from the liability of the law. Where however she served liquor to the men who were drinking, she would not be liable to accusations of having committed the offense, on account of her inferior rank and freemen who have been accused should be discharged, since chastity is expected only of those women who are in a lawful relationship and count as matrons, while the rest are ammune from the severity of the law, since their lowly way of life does not call for them to observe the requirements of the law….” (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 117).
So, there were some exceptions to the strict Augustan laws prohibiting adultery. Prostitution was also a source of commerce for women in Rome. This one account as retold by Aulus Gellius, in his work Attic Nights 4.14 demonstrates how even prostitutes; some of the lowest of the low in Roman society were given rights and fair treatment:
“Aulus Hostiliuus Mancinus was a cruel Aedile. He brought before the “people” an accusation against the prostitute Manilia because (he claimed) he had been hit by a stone thrown from her apartment at night. He even showed the wound made by the stone. Manilia appealed to the tribunes of the plebs. She told them Mancinus had come to her home wearing his party clothes. It was not, however convenient for her to let him in. When he tried to force his way in, she drove him off with stones. The tribunes decided the Aedile had been rightly refused admittance to a place, which it was unseemly from him to enter with a garland on his head. And so the tribunes forbade the Aedile to bring this accusation before the “people”” (Shelton P. 214).
If one was caught in the middle of an adulterous relationship, there were severe consequences to follow. Paul, in his work Opinions 2.26.1,5,11.L describes some of the circumstances for adultery:
“In the second chapter of the lex Julia concerning Adultery, either an adoptive or a natural father is permitted to kill with his own hands an adulterer caught in the act with his daughter in his own house or in that of his son-in-law, no matter what his rank may be…It has been decided that a husband who kills his wife when caught with an adulterer should be punished more leniently, for the reason that he committed the act through impatience caused by just suffering…. It has been decided that Adultery cannot be committed with women who have charge of any business or shop. (Lefkowitz & Rant, 104-5)
It is interesting how a man can get a very easy sentence for killing his wife for committing adultery, much like the men in Afghanistan who do not get punished for the Honor Killings of their wives and female relatives. There are many parallels between the way the Muslim religious sect that currently rules that country and the Romans deal with adultery.
Consequences of Adultery For Slaves were even worse than that of their masters and mistresses. Again, Paul’s Opinions 2.2.64.L and 2.26.16. Serve as authority on the gruesome fate of slaves who have committed adultery with their masters or other freedmen:
“A husband cannot kill anyone taken in adultery except persons who are infamous, and those who sell their bodies for grain, as well as slaves….
Sexual Intercourse with female slaves, unless they have deteriorated in value or an attempt is made against their mistress through them, is not considered an injury” (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 105).
Justinian also weighs in on this topic in Codex 9.11.1pr.L: “When a woman is convicted of having secretly had sexual intercourse with her slave, she shall be sentenced to death, and the rascally slave shall perish by fire” (Lefkowitz & Rant P. 118). Slaves were treated as objects, rather than people, available at all times for their master’s pleasure. Some even knew how to manipulate their place sexually to get ahead. Petronius, in Satyricon 76.1-9 tells how he was able to further his position in the household:
‘When I was 14, I became my master’s ‘favorite.’ I mean, what’s wrong with doing what your master wants? Of course, I was doing it for my mistress, too. You catch my meaning?” (Shelton P. 194).
Not all slaves were as cunning. Some had the sole purpose of caring for their master in all states of consciousness. Seneca The Younger, Letters 47 describes a servant form a friend’s household: “He is awake all night, dividing his time between his master’s drunkenness and sexual desires. In the bedroom he is a man; at the dinner table he is a boy” (Shelton P. 182). In the realm of Roman sexuality, the slaves lost out the most. They were not able to marry whom they chose, never mind sleep around, unless it was for a fee or a prize from the master. Slaves got the least amount of freedom, being so low on the chain of command in Roman society. Before we abolished slavery, we were not as cruel as the Romans were to their slaves. We did try and keep families together, and there was not as widespread rape and sodomy of slaves.
Roman Society was overall very sexually advanced and sophisticated. There was more widespread tolerance of a wide range of sexual behaviors then there is today. It is striking to see the similarities between Roman and Modern sexuality in the areas of contraception, rape, and homosexuality. It is also fruitful to realize how far we’ve come from the Romans, and not to take our medical technological advances for granted. Imagine what we would have to resort to without them. One can wonder what a student in the Twenty-Second Century will have to compare when researching our modern day sexuality as apposed to his or her own.
Works Cited
Lefkowitz, Mary R. and. Fant, Maureen B. Woman’s life in Greece and Rome –
A Source Book in Translation. Baltimore, Maryland: John Hopkins University Press, 1992.
Roman Culture Weapons and the Man Ed. Gary Wills. Toronto,
Canada. Ambassador Books, LTD. 1982.
Shelton, Jo-Ann. As The Romans Did A Source Book in Roman Social History.
New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988
So now what? I start work tomorow 
