Love It or Leave It: The Concept of Same-Sex Intercourse in Ancient Rome

My name is Caecilius and I guess if you are looking at male to male sexuality in Ancient Rome, I would fulfill the passive role. Though some people jump between fulfilling the passive role and the active role, it is more standard for us to choose a role and then stay there. Yepp, you read correctly, I choose to take the passive role and for that people call me a cinaedus. Many mean it in a derogatory manner, but some say it just as a categorization. Many people do not understand why we choose the passive life style. We are looked down upon both by the people and the government. If someone chooses to live the passive lifestyle, there are fines placed upon them by the government because it is considered to be illegal. For that reason, there is typically anonymity among those who choose to live a passive lifestyle. There are many of us which is why the Molly-Houses exist. At a Molly-House, we males who enjoy the passive role in sex are free to be who we are and we can enjoy sex as we choose. I am lucky to live in a large city like Rome because some of the smaller towns on the outskirts of the city do not have Molly-Houses.

Living the passive lifestyle requires following a certain code. Many nonpassives think that all effeminates act as passives in male to male sexual intercourse, but that is not necessarily true. The outsiders think it is inherent in them since they have a lot of the same characteristics as the rest of us, but it is not necessarily true. If you do identify as someone who enjoys the passive role in sex, a way that you know someone is soliciting sex from you is if they curiously scratch their head with one finger. Of course, this would typically happen at a Molly House. Also the look of a passive is a bit distinctive. Typically a Roman male who enjoys the passive role will have a lisping speech and place his hand on his hip. He also wears make-up and likes to wear the colors light green and sky blue. Though these are all simply the stereotypical attributes of a male who enjoys the passive role in sex with other Roman men, it could really be anybody. The passive role is not bad. It is even said that Caesar partook in the passive role in sex for some time and if Caesar did it, then clearly it is not a bad thing.

Caesar

While many of us choose to fulfill the passive role, there are many who choose not to like slaves or younger males. Since it is illegal the empire tends to use penetration as a punishment. As someone who enjoys penetration, I think that it is a silly punishment, but who am I to tell the empire what to do?

I guess you can see that I am a pretty huge supporter of the passive role in male to male sexual intercourse. I am not alone in my support even though society may think that I am wrong, but I will keep doing what I am doing. 

What a "Real" Man Thinks

My name is Hortensius and if you look at my sexual relations with men, I would be considered an active male. In Ancient Rome, a lot can be said about a man through his preference of position in sex. To be considered a real, true man, a man must be seen as impenetrable. This means that he would never be seen as someone who would have the passive role in sex. Come on Caecilius, don’t you want society to at least see you as a man. While you continue playing around letting men penetrate you that will never happen. I just don’t understand you. You know that if the officials find out that you choose to be the passive partner that they will fine you and you will lose any sort of societal respect. I am living during the high empire and those of us who tamper with the most obvious parts of masculinity in the presentation of ourselves are asking for moral criticism because we are messing with the privilege of being a male. Haven’t you seen what Cato and Domitian have done to the free men who allowed themselves to be penetrated? Cato ridiculed men who took the passive role publicly and Domitian expelled any senators for acting as effeminates. At least you guys stay in the Molly Houses. All of us normal men don’t understand your impure lifestyle so at least you all hang out together. My piece here is short, but remember, to be a respected man in Roman society, you don’t let yourself get penetrated by another man. You just don’t do it. While people like Caecilius exist, society does not accept them because being a free man and playing the passive role is just unacceptable. Besides, there are plenty of slaves to go around anyway and you may as well just use one of those.

I even think this is inappropriate

A Boy's Perspective

My name is Marcus and I am a young male in Ancient Rome. Sexuality in Rome is complicated for us young males. In the elite class, we have slaves that play the passive role in sex with us. They have clean shaven bodies and we call them cinaedi. This is what you were referring to Caecilius in your post, but the reason we don’t understand the free men that take a passive role is because they are doing something that only a slave is good for.  Everybody knows that we young males engage in sex with a cinaedus as the active partner, but the adults turn a blind eye. I think they do so because there is no harm done in penetrating a slave since the slave will always be passive. Other than that, adults do not want us having sex because they think that excessive stimulation will hasten our maturity and they think it is unhealthy and enervating. The adults are also worried that we will be pushed into taking the passive role in sex which will disgrace us and turn us into viri. That being said, sexual activity makes us more admirable to some of the older males in society– especially those of us who are well endowed. If a young male is well endowed, sometimes he will skip the sex with his slave and will test his luck at the baths because he knows everyone will be admiring him. This is pretty typical since Roman men often find themselves attracted to not only women, but also young males. Since sex is discouraged for young males, but it is clearly available to them, there are many rules that exist to control it. As a school boy, I am not to trust my male teachers and my parents want me to be chaste. As I said before these rules exist throughout our boyhood until we become men to protect our honor. In Ancient Rome, there is a firm line drawn between the status of being a boy and being a man. To become a man, a boy’s genitalia are inspected among other things. If he passes the tests of manhood, he turns in his bulla and gets a toga. Also, by the time a boy has become a man and gets married, he ditches his clean shaven slave boy for his wife. I am excited for that day to come, but until then I will have to have sex with my cinaedus.

A Slave's Opinion

My name is Blasius and I am a slave in Ancient Rome. While the rest of Rome seems to think that male to male sexuality is inappropriate, many people do not practice what they preach. My response to Caecilius is just because you like taking the passive role, it does not mean that other people should have to as well. Quite honestly, I don’t want to be a passive male and I hate being used by people like Marcus and Hortensius. To be clear, Roman society looks down upon the passive male because he is being penetrated meaning he is having the experience of a woman or of a slave which is where I come in. As a slave in Ancient Rome, I am subjected to the more horrendous parts of male to male sexuality. If I were to do something unthinkably illegal, I would be punished through penetration. Also, free males are allowed to penetrate me at will which is simply violating and sadly unavoidable. However, I hold myself to a higher standard than some slaves. At times, I have heard some of the other slaves talking about allowing themselves to be penetrated by a freeman so that their life will be a little easier. Others even prostitute themselves out. Those slaves are called scorta and they are typically older. Regardless of who you are in the slave world, you are so sexually vulnerable that you are called puer for your entire life. This goes from me, the slave who avoids sexual penetration at all costs to the scorta who will accept money to be penetrated. Sure, we are the lowest of the low in society. I understand that and I know that what I have to say does not really make a difference, but male to male sexuality is incredibly harmful to slaves. Perhaps that is why the upper class enjoys it so much, but who knows.

What the Law Has to Say about All of This

Though the law does not have a human voice or a human personality, it may be helpful to see what it had to say regarding male to male sexuality in Ancient Rome.

* Keep in mind that in Ancient Rome the police force was not strong and most regulation of rules was done by family and an honor code.

The Roman Law infamia regulated passive actions during sexual intercourse between two males in Ancient Rome. Breaking this law by taking the passive role in sexual intercourse with another man could cause a man to be taken off the census list. Other punishments include exile, fines, floggings, or execution in very serious cases. This law treated males who enjoyed the passive roles as people whose activities needed to be stopped and their human rights were therefore based on their sexual choices.

Cato also installed laws to take away the civil status of those who hire themselves out as pimps and those who take money for sexual services. If someone was even labeled as passive, Cato took away his civil status.

Rape and intercourse with a freeborn male were subject to public and private sanctions during the time of the Republic and the Empire.

During the time of Marcianus, rape of boy, woman, or anyone was punished under the lex Julia de vi publica.

The voluntary act of passive homosexuality by a free man of any age was in itself liable to be punished and common law punishes all homosexual activity indiscriminately regardless of consent.

Lex Scantina made sexual relations between males illegal.