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The earliest Greeks were a loose band of rural tribes who eventually settled into small enclaves known as city-states. The practice of overt homosexuality was already widespread in the Greek city-states by the early part of the sixth century BC and became an integral part of the Greek archaic and classical traditions. Male homosexuality, or rather pederasty, was linked with military training and the initiation of young boys into citizenship. Most of our information about Greek homosexuality is based on the art, literature, and mythology from the city-state of Athens. Exactly why the Athenians of the fourth century BC accepted homosexuality and conformed so readily to a homoerotic ethos is a question difficult to answer. Although each city-state imposed distinct laws and practised different mores, Sparta, Thebes, Crete, Corinth and others all bear visual and literary evidence of homosexual interests and practices. The earliest evidence of homoerotic relations in ancient Greece comes from a fragment written by the historian Ephorus of Kyme (c.405–330 BC) telling the story of an ancient ritual that took place on Dorian Crete in the seventh century BC in which older men initiated younger men into manly pursuits like hunting, feasting, and presumably, sexual relationships as well (Lambert in Haggerty, p.80).

The extent to which homosexuality in the ancient world was a significant aspect of Greek culture can be found in their myths, rites and rituals, legends, art and literature, and in the customs of society as a whole. The major artistic and literary sources on Greek homosexuality are found in late archaic and early classical poetry, the comedic plays of Aristophanes and others such as Euripedes, Aeschylus, and Sophocles; the dialogues of Plato, and paintings on Greek vases (Dover, p.9). It was in the writings of Plato (c.429–347 BC) above all where the topic of homosexual love was debated most vigorously. In his dialogues, Plato focused on male homosexuality, seeing it as a higher spiritual goal than heterosexual physical contact and procreation. The three famous dialogues of Plato – the Lysis, Phaedrus, and Symposium – narrate imaginary and sometimes ironic conversations about male sexual and erotic relations (Jordan in Haggerty, p.695). Many of the passages in these dialogues describe male love as paiderasteia (pederasty) – that is, the erotic, active love of an adult man for a beautiful, passive adolescent [the word paiderasteia is derived from pais (boy) and eran (to love)]. In the Lysis and Symposium, Socrates (a protagonist in the dialogues) is characterised as the active pursuer of adolescent male beauty. For Socrates, (homo) eros was the search for noble aims in thought and in action. Exactly how the practice of pederasty developed in ancient Greece is disputed, but the surviving mythology from antiquity suggests that Minos, the king of Crete, introduced it to avoid overpopulation of his island.

Athenian society viewed paiderasteia as a principal means of education and socialisation of young free-born boys into manhood and citizenship. As an institution, it served as a complement, not a rival, to heterosexual marriage.

Although the term ‘pederast’ is today pejorative and refers primarily to sexual predators, in ancient Greece the term carried no such negative connotation and was employed in the context of the erastes-eromenos relationship. In this relationship, an older man (the erastes or lover [‘inspirer’ in Sparta]), usually bearded and of high social rank, was expected to actively seek out, then win over a youth (an eromenos, or the beloved [the ‘hearer’ in Sparta]) and instil in him an understanding and respect for the masculine virtues of courage and honour. Such attributes would, of course, not only become useful to Greek social stability, but would also help guarantee acts of bravery and loyalty when asked to defend the city-state on the battlefield.

It is in Plato’s Symposium where homosexual love is expressed and praised at length between an older, bearded lover (erastes) and a younger, hairless beloved youth (eromenos: aged from puberty to seventeen years old). The Symposium is part of what is called ‘banquet literature’ or a collection of informal discussions on various topics, including the philosophical and moral merits of love and the delights of young men and boys. There are many vase paintings illustrating what went on at these banquets or symposia in which young boys often served as cupbearers for invited guests.

Plato’s Symposium describes the strict rules of courtship and love governing the erastes and eromenos relationship. There were many taboos. For example, under no circumstances was a boy allowed to take the role of aggressor, pursuer, or penetrator. Also discouraged was the courtship or sexual activity between two boys or men of the same age or social rank. Intergenerational and correct class courtship was the expectation.

The majority of our primary visual information on the customs and habits of homosexual courtship and sexual practices in ancient Greece comes to us from vase paintings. Greek vases, used for carrying water, storing wine and olive oil, and serving food and drink, were produced in large quantities by local craftsmen and exported all over the Mediterranean region. Many were sold to middle- and upper-class clientele and often carried hand-painted scenes of gods, myths, heroic deeds, or images of everyday life. Many vases, dating from the sixth and fifth centuries BC, show older males conversing with younger males, offering gifts, touching their genitals, or embracing. Also commonly depicted were vignettes of males engaged in athleticism, courtship and graphic sexual acts. Quite often, an erastes would have a vase made specifically for his eromenos to be presented to him along with other courting gifts such as a hare, a cockerel, or a stag. These offerings were standard and associated with the hunt, further underscoring the function of pederastic courtship as a rite of passage. Sometimes, short inscriptions were applied or the word ‘kalos’ (is beautiful) would appear preceded by the name of a favourite boy or adolescent youth.

08. Brygos Painter, Erastes Soliciting an Eromenos, c. 500–480 BC.

Attican cup. The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

09. Man and Ephebe, end of 6^th Century BC.

Attic vase. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

10. Pan Pursuing a Young Shepherd, c. 470 BC.

Ceramic. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

11. Apollodoros, Two Hetaerae, c. 500 BC.

Attic red-figure cup. Archaeological Museum, Tarquinia.

12. Men Courting a Youth, c. 6^th century BC.

Staatlichen Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich.

At around age eighteen, an eromenos became an erastes and was expected to marry, father children, and take an active role in the pursuit of younger men. However, the imposing of such strict social rules often invited transgressions. These were sometimes depicted on vase paintings and could be linked with Plato’s frequent admonitions and warnings against sexual overindulgence by Athenian males. Although of concern to the ancients, these transgressions were minor compared with the gravest taboos of all – oral and anal sex. These activities were regarded as beneath the dignity of the Athenian male citizen and were reserved for women, male and female prostitutes, foreigners (called barbarians by the Greeks), and slaves. Along with female passivity, anal penetration and oral sex were associated with bestial activity commonly represented on vases showing satyrs or other mythological creatures. Satyrs (mythological beings who are half-man, half-goat) are symbols of the conflict between civilised man and his uncontrollable animal passions and desires. Their virility was insatiable and they are typically shown inebriated, with enormous genitals, copulating, or masturbating.

Despite the social and moral prohibition against oral and anal sex between same-sex partners, these activities did indeed occur in private. So, although scenes of anal sex between men and boys are relatively rare in Greek art, they are not entirely non-existent. On the other hand, scenes of men and women performing anal sex are quite common. Most Athenian vase paintings of homosexual courtship show erastai [plural of erastes] fondling the genitals of eromenoi [plural of eromenos] or the accepted standing position, face-to-face intercrural intercourse (mutual masturbation in which the erect penis is thrust between the partner’s thighs).

Anal sex was lampooned by many playwrights, who used it as a gauge by which to judge a person’s morality. The ambivalent social and sexual roles played out between erastai and eromenoi in courtship is implied in some of the comedies of Aristophanes, where the anally penetrated man becomes a target of ridicule and abuse. There are corresponding images on vases in which the anus becomes the site for launching insults or jokes. To be passive and penetrated was a mark of shame and immoral behaviour. Although young boys and men practised homosexuality as a form of initiation into the privileged status of citizenship, the prevailing concept of an active and dominant masculinity had to be maintained. Giving in too quickly to advances was viewed as a sign of weakness and made one ineligible as an upstanding citizen and warrior. It is partly for this reason why many vase paintings show youths rebuking or resisting the advances of their older suitors.

13. Euaichme Painter, Man Offering a Gift to a Youth, c. 530–430 BC.

Athenian red-figure vase. The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

14. Satyrs’ Orgy with Balancing Act, c. 500–470 BC.

Wine-Cooler.

15. The Kissing Competition, c. 510 BC.

Attic red-figure dish. Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.

16a. Men and Youths Engaged in Oral and Anal Sex, 6^th century BC.

Attic red-figure. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

16b. Men and Youths Engaged in Oral and Anal Sex, 6^th century BC.

Attic red-figure. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

17. Satyrs Masturbating.

Antique Greek vase. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Comrades in Arms and the Body Beautiful

Ancient Greek culture was male-centred. Men and boys held privileged status over women and girls. The correct education of boys was of primary concern, for the future of the city-state was at stake. The aim of the Greek educational system – called the paideia – was to attain male perfection by attending to the cultivation of the male body, mind, and soul. Pederasty, and its purpose of promoting the erotic love between men and youths, was seen as an effective way of fostering this ideal. The education of youths took place in the gymnasium. The gymnasium was not a single building, but rather a complex of structures situated in the centre of every Greek city-state. Here, men, boys and ephebes (adolescents aged eighteen to twenty-five) spent many hours per day engaged in physical and intellectual exercises. Also present were philosophers, poets, and artists of various ages, all gathered in an all-male environment to discuss, debate, and contemplate the moral and philosophical virtues of the male form and character.

The gymnasium literally became “an epicentre of erotic energy”. Bronze statues of athletes, gods, heroes, and warriors (such as Hermes, Apollo, Herakles, and Eros) were set up in various locations throughout the gymnasium complex. Daily exposure to these artistic displays of male bodily perfection was intended to instil in young viewers the desire to attain such perfection.

Two types of subjects abounded in Greek male statues (known today from later Roman marble copies of Greek bronze originals) within the gymnasium – warriors and athletes. The Doryphoros (Spear Carrier) by the Greek sculptor Polykleitos is a prime example of the Greek worship of the male nude body. The Doryphoros represents an ephebe who, although beardless, is on the transitional border from eromenos into erastes. At the gymnasium, he trains for superior strength, agility, bravery, and skill (Saslow, p.31). With this statue, male beauty is elevated to nearly divine status. Because the Greeks saw the male nude form as the outward sign of perfection, they customarily exercised and fought battles in the nude. Nudity itself carried with it a metaphysical significance. Physical perfection on the exterior was matched with spiritual and moral perfection within.

One of the practical advantages of the Greek system of pederasty was its military usefulness. The Greeks of several city-states often went into battle in erastes-eromenos pairs. The bravery of pederastic couples, such as that of the 150 pairs of lovers called the Sacred Band of Thebes, was renowned throughout ancient Greece and was an important factor in boosting morale for Greek victory over their enemies. Couples often fought in the nude, for the ability to see metaphysical worth in nudity was what the Greeks believed separated them from uncivilised foreigners or barbarians. Some of these warrior couples became known as tyrannicides (killers of tyrants). The best known of such couples is Harmodius and Aristogeiton.

In interpreting the images on vase paintings, some knowledge of Greek mythology is indispensable. Greek mythology was, as was Greek society in general, extremely anthropocentric or man-centred. It was through myths that the ancient Greeks linked themselves with the cycles and seasons of nature and rationalised the world of emotion and sensation. Greek myths usually focus on the powerful, heroic, and grandiose aspects of the gods. But they also address the sexual appetites of the gods and their union with heroes and mortals. Greek gods were personifications of nature and often engaged in various sexual adventures – homosexual, heterosexual, intergenerational, and bestial. Myths of ill-fated love between gods, heroes, and handsome youths abound on vase paintings, statuary, and wall frescos. The myths that most commonly address the theme of Greek pederasty and homosexuality include Zeus and Ganymede, Apollo and Hyacinth, Apollo and Zephyr, and Achilles and Patroclus.

The story of Zeus and Ganymede is perhaps the most frequently-depicted scene of homosexual desire on vases, floor mosaics, and in statuary. The myth exemplifies one of several divine courtships extolled by the Greeks as explanation for the origins of the cosmos and the workings of nature. With this myth, the gap in age and status between the god and his young minion reflects the inequalities in the hierarchical and rigidly structured relationship between erastes and eromenos in classical Athenian society.

In the eighth-century-BC epic verse of Homer called the Iliad, we find the most celebrated of all male-male unions in the comradeship of Achilles and Patroclus during the Trojan War. In the story, Homer glorifies the friendship between the two but does not mention that they were lovers. The classical Greeks themselves interpreted Homer as referencing their own social practice of pederasty and claimed Achilles and Patroclus as a pederastic pair. Achilles, a young warrior described as the most handsome and noblest of the Greeks, fell into profound grief when his companion Patroclus was slain by Hector, son of the Trojan king Priam. Achilles and Patroclus first appear in art toward the end of the sixth century BC on Athenian black-figure vase paintings (Saslow, p.16). Several red-figure vases from the late sixth century BC to the fourth century BC show the loving bond between the two warriors.

18. Warren Cup, 1st century AD, Augustan period.

Silver. The British Museum, London.

19. Warren Cup, 1st century AD, Augustan period.

Silver. The British Museum, London.

20. Euphronios, Ephebes at the Bath, c. 500–505 BC.

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.

21. Scene of Coupling with a Horse, 6^th century BC.

Greek vase. The British Museum, London.

The Hellenistic Period: The Age of Dionysos

Given the Greek structure of initiation into citizenship and the world of warriors, it should come as no surprise that many Greek military commanders were notorious for their sexual and erotic desires for other men. The most famous was Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) who made no secret of his intense love for a young commander named Hephaestion. It was Alexander the Great who ushered in the Hellenistic period. Both before and during Alexander’s reign, Greek influence spread far and wide through trade and foreign conquest. As Greek culture came more and more into contact with other peoples, its own ways of thinking and doing things began to show signs of foreign influence. A change in social conditions, coupled with the influence of Eastern philosophies and religious practices, resulted in changed attitudes towards sexuality. In this period, pederasty was still practised, but its importance as a social institution for grooming boys to become citizens had waned. Instead, a growing hedonism and tendency toward materialism and excess developed. Physical pleasure was enjoyed for its own sake and bisexuality reigned. Hellenistic sensibilities toward sex were to later influence Roman culture which was, during this same period, expanding militarily and advancing into Greek territory. By the beginning of the Hellenistic period, the production of Greek vases and vase paintings had already declined significantly. The Hellenistic Greeks turned their attention to the creation of statues of marble and bronze in which the physicality and pleasurable experiences of the body were of primary focus. During the classical period, the Greeks had been renowned for the celebration of male physical beauty, an aesthetic which held a fundamental position in educational thinking of the period.

Unlike classical Greek statuary in which the quiet contemplation of male physical beauty was paramount, most sculpture from the Hellenistic period is turbulent and trivial, often requiring that the viewer psychologically and physically participate in the activities presented. One such statue is The Sleeping Hermaphrodite. The image of the hermaphrodite became very popular in Hellenistic times and was the outgrowth of the period’s tolerance and experimentation with sexual variations that deviated from the standard. Hermaphroditus was a minor deity, an offspring of the gods Aphrodite and Hermes, who exhibited characteristics of both sexes. In the Hellenistic period, the hermaphrodite was worshipped as an embodiment of bisexuality and as a god of marriage (Saslow, p.41).

The Sleeping Hermaphrodite is only vaguely part of what is called Dionysian art (see R. R. R. Smith), which refers to art produced during the Hellenistic period that has as its subject a variety of mythological creatures such as satyrs, fauns, female bacchants, centaurs, nymphs, and Pan. Besides the fact that these personages are all followers of Dionysos (Bacchus to the Romans), god of agriculture and wine, what most of them have in common is that they are wild, frolic outdoors in wooded areas, and have a lustful nature. Like Dionysos, they are associated with drunken abandon and orgiastic release. Their sexuality was oftentimes excessive and sometimes ambiguous. These Dionysian characteristics carry over into the Roman period and are particularly visible in the art discovered at Pompeii (Saslow, p.38).

22. Berlin Painter, Men and Boys, c. 540 BC.

Attic black-figure vase. The British Museum, London.

23. Doryphoros (Spear-Carrier), c. 440 BC. Marble, h: 196 cm.

Copy after a Greek original by Polykleitos.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis.

24. Circle of the Nikosthenes Painter, Satyr Scene, c. 5^th century BC.

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.

Greek Influence Abroad

The Greeks were avid traders, explorers, and conquerors. For centuries before and after the classical period (fifth century BC), the Greeks imported their ideas and experiences to other countries and cultures. When they arrived in what is now Italy, they encountered the native Etruscans who had occupied the central and northern areas of that land between the ninth and third centuries BC. Our knowledge of the art and origins of the Etruscans is very limited, but what is certain is that they practised very different customs from the Greeks and held specific views about death. Prior to contact with the Etruscans, the concept of life after death was alien to Greek thinking and practice. The Tomb of the Diver at Paestum in southern Italy and Tomb of the Bulls in Tarquinia near Rome are just two examples of decorated tombs that show the extent to which the Etruscans utilised a large amount of sexually charged symbols and figures in their funerary art.

The strong mutual influence of the Greeks and Etruscans was to have a significant impact on the art and experience of the Romans who eventually conquered and absorbed aspects of both cultures. However, despite the influence, many Greek and later Roman writers, including Plato, referred to the Etruscans as immoral because of their seemingly wanton and unusual sexual practices. Roman sources accused the Etruscans of sharing women in common, engaging in homosexuality without philosophical justification, participating in orgies, and showing a lack of shame regarding sexual intercourse and the naked body. Indeed, homosexually suggestive scenes are found in many Etruscan tomb frescos, sculptures, pottery, ash urns, sarcophagi, and on small decorative objects. It is believed that scenes of homosexual and heterosexual intercourse in Etruscan funerary art were not intended as reflections of actual activities, but served symbolic metaphors to either ward off evil or were associated with rituals or religious festivals.

25. Man and Ephebe Having a Conversation, c. 420 BC.

Red-figure dish (detail). Musée municipal, Laon.

26. Penthesilea Painter, Zeus and Ganymede, c. 530–430 BC.

Attic red-figure vase.

The Disenchantments of Sappho

In antiquity, males dominated society and women were segregated from men in almost all of the Greek city-states. Unlike boys and young men in classical Athens, women were completely absent from public life. Most women were not allowed an education and were kept in virtual seclusion from everyone but their immediate families. Because Greek society was male centred – that is, as a society created by and for men who took part in the public aspect of society (e.g. art, poetry, literature, politics), female homosexuality is all but invisible on vase paintings, in lyric poetry, and on the dramatic stage. Although female homosexuality did exist in antiquity, there are only a few writers and artists in the Greek world who dealt with the topic. Plato did make a passing reference to female homosexuality in his writings, presenting it in abstract philosophical terms through a parable about primeval androgynes, but saying nothing of its daily practice in society (Saslow, p.29). Aristophanes, too, also avoided the topic by collapsing it into a discussion of the role of women as hetaerae, or professional entertainers/courtesans in Greek society. There is a rare vase painting by Apollodoros showing two hetaerae in sexual intimacy. There is also one extraordinary vase painting showing two women in gestures of courtship.

Although Athenian men were thoroughly disinterested in the sexual life of women, Greek law did permit a form of institutionalised female homosexuality in Sparta. It was within the thiasoi, or an educational and social community of women and girls, that female homosexuality was most prevalent. Thiasoi were schools where “older women trained teenage girls in music and dancing, charm and beauty” (Saslow, p.19–20). Like boys with their erastai, girls of high social standing were segregated from society and took part in rituals worshipping Diana, goddess of virginity and the hunt. Theoretically, thiasoi were schools to prepare young girls for marriage, but the woman-centred nature of their environment also fostered intimate emotional and sexual relationships among them. As part of a refined yet limited education, many girls were trained in the writing of poetry. The lyric poems (poetry accompanied by a lyre) of Sappho are the most famous and known for extolling the passionate love of women for one another.

Sappho’s influence was so profound that Plato dubbed her as “the tenth Muse”. She was born during the archaic period in 612 BC in the city of Mytilene on the Aegean island of Lesbos, located near the western coast of what is today called Turkey. She was a thiasos educator of girls who came specifically from Lesbos and the Ionian coast. Her lyric poems spoke of the many loves in her life, including love of her own pupils. Her words are of longing and despair – extolling passion and jealousy driven by desire. Most of the poems are fragmentary and available only in ancient copies. Only one poem survives completely intact.

Despite the obvious homoerotic nature of her poetry, most ancient writings about Sappho’s life only sporadically mention her homosexuality. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, she was promoted as a married bisexual woman. The story of her dramatic suicide over a man named Phaon, a ferryman of great beauty, became legendary (Dover, p.174). Her suicide has given some writers a legitimising excuse for foregrounding her heterosexuality and playing down or completely ignoring her homosexuality. Still others have compared her intimate relationships with women with the erastes-eromenos setup in ancient Greece – a point that also shows to what extent women’s sexuality was seen only in relationship to that of men.

There is no visual or verbal evidence recounting exactly what Sappho looked like. Her image on vases appears at least one hundred years after her lifetime and none of these, it has been observed, bear any resemblance to one another (Snyder, p.31). No identifiable statues of Sappho survive. There does exist, however, a red-figure vase dating around 450 BC that supposedly shows Sappho seated between two standing female figures, one of which holds up a lyre, the other, a garland.

In addition to the person of Sappho as a legendary figure whose work acknowledges the presence of female homosexuality in antiquity, there is also mythology. Although Amazons are a myth about women created by men, they do speak to the existence and viability of female sexual independence apart from men in antiquity. The Amazons were a legendary tribe of equestrian women warriors who shunned the company of men and lived, hunted, and went into battle together in an all-female environment. Mythology has it that they were from Asia Minor, near the Black Sea, and that they worshipped Diana, goddess of the hunt. In art, Greek males are often shown fighting against the Amazon who was a useful manifestation of barbarism and the sexual threat of women. In myth, the Amazon subverts the ‘natural’ order by rejecting marriage and maiming or practising infanticide on her male children.

27. Zeus and Ganymede, 470 BC.

Museo Archeologico di Ferrara, Ferrara.

28. The Tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogiton, c. 477 BC.

Marble, h: 195 cm. Copy after a Greek original by Critios.

Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

29. Scene of Kottabos, end of the 5^th century BC.

Ceramic. The British Museum, London.

Rome from Republic to Empire

Both the Etruscans and Greeks were eventually conquered and absorbed by the advancing forces of Rome in the second century BC. The Romans, attracted to Greek art and culture, absorbed some Greek and Etruscan practices into their own art and culture; in particular, their polytheistic religions, gods and goddesses. The Roman approach to sexuality in general and homosexuality in particular was, however, quite distinct.

Under the Romans, male sexual dominance over both women and other men was taken for granted: wealthy Roman men frequently kept mistresses, slaves, and boys for sexual pleasure, and both male and female prostitution were legal. Ancient Roman men could have sex with their male or female slaves without fear of social marginalisation or rebuke. What was important to a Roman man’s sense of self was maintaining the semblance of an active masculinity which, in essence, meant that it was preferable to always be the ‘inserter’ rather than receiver. Roman men were preoccupied with maintaining a public façade of masculinity that was predicated on the power of the penis to penetrate another. So, whether one’s sex partner were male or female was irrelevant. Homosexuality was not technically punished unless it violated strict class structures or social roles.

One’s class, social status, and civic responsibility were adhered to more strictly by the Romans than by the Greeks. Roman society tended to be more misogynistic than its Greek predecessor and therefore developed a sexual system by which both women and slaves were viewed as male property and denied any bit of freedom. While most acts of homosexuality by the Romans were confined to encounters between masters and their slaves, and while many philosophers cautioned against pederasty, same-sex love was common enough during the periods of the Roman Republic and Empire to be documented by several Roman historians and biographers. Fuelling homosexuality’s increased practice in imperial Rome was the fact that the majority of the Roman emperors were sexually ambivalent and practised bisexuality. Based on ancient writings and art, homosexuality was not as important a philosophical issue for Romans as it had been for the Greeks. However, many Roman writers did write disapprovingly of it and yet they themselves sometimes engaged in the very act of ‘Greek love’ that they publicly condemned.

Most mentions of homosexuality in the Roman world uphold a firm belief in the value of maintaining social decorum. When homosexuality is discussed, it is used to confirm social stigmas against male passivity and the corrupting influences of sodomy. As in Greece, to be anally penetrated or to perform oral sex were unbecoming of a potential or confirmed Roman citizen and were acts reserved for women (who were technically not considered citizens), male and female slaves and prostitutes. The taboo against anal sex was so strong that, contrary to its practice in ancient Greece, pederasty was strictly forbidden in ancient Rome. Visual imagery of intergenerational courtship and consummation associated with the Greek notion of idealised male love was banned in Roman art. According to John Clarke, however, it is debatable as to what extent the Romans of the late Republic and early Empire actually followed the Greek practice of homosexuality (Clarke, p.291). Although there is far less visual information for male-to-male sexual and erotic activity in Roman art than in Greek art, images of sexual activity – both heterosexual and homosexual – do form a large part of the visual record of Rome.

30. Achilles Binding the Wounds of Patroclus, 6^th century BC.

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin.

Roman artists did not create homoerotic genre scenes or scenes of frank eroticism so popular on Greek vases. A sober morality characterised the Republican period. With the advent of the Roman Empire and influence and wealth from other cultures, Roman Republican morality soon gave way to a kind of sexual permissiveness. By the beginning of the first century AD, the strong taboo against passive men had eroded, and laws against sex with citizen boys were virtually ignored (Saslow, p.44). Many of the emperors of the empire openly indulged these and other sexual urges. Augustus and Nero are just two who readily come to mind – the latter being the most notorious. We are told that Emperor Tiberius, who reigned from 14–37 AD, installed a collection of erotic paintings, sculptures, and sexual manuals in a special suite at his pleasure retreat on the island of Capri. These were used as ‘training tools’ for his entourage of female prostitutes and harem of boys.

Hadrian became legendary as a married Roman emperor who fell passionately in love with an extraordinarily handsome young Bithynian man named Antinous. On a journey to Egypt in 130 AD, Antinous drowned under mysterious circumstances in the Nile. Distraught over his death and having been chastised by several Roman writers for “weeping like a woman”, Hadrian deified him, founded an Egyptian city in his honour (Antinopolis), and immortalised his sensual beauty in many commissioned statues, coins, and medallions that were scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Hadrian’s deeds took place during a time when mutual love within a heterosexual marriage was growing in importance and homosexual relationships seemed to be confined to sexual passions for slave boys. In this sense, Hadrian’s relationship with Antinous harks back to an earlier period of classical Athens in that the story is basically a real-life counterpart to the myth of Zeus and Ganymede – a myth (Jupiter and Ganymede or Catamitus) that was adopted and appreciated by the Romans.

Most of the statues created to immortalise Antinous are beardless ephebes heavily influenced by classical Greek art. Hadrian himself admired Greek culture so much that he grew a beard in emulation of Greek philosophers. Towards the end of the Roman Empire, engagement in sexual practices of all kinds became outlets for an increasingly debauched and materialistic society that would gradually decline and eventually come to an end. There were Roman writers such as Juvenal, Horace, and Martial who railed against the abuses of sexuality, but they were largely ignored. Increased tolerance of homosexuality and other forms of sexual practice was one of several effects, not the cause, of the decline of Roman influence and power.

31. Pan Teaching the Flute to Olympos, 4^th century BC.

Marble. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

32. Barberini Faun, c. 200 BC. Marble, h: 125 cm.

Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich.

33. Banquet Scene from North Wall of the Tomb of the Diver, c. 480 BC.

Museum of Paestum, Italy.

Pompeii

Our knowledge of Roman provincial and domestic art, architecture, and aspects of daily life, comes primarily from the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum – both of which were preserved under volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Although Pompeii was not a Roman city, per se, it fell under the jurisdiction of Roman control. Pompeian civilisation and approaches to sex and love were an offshoot of Hellenistic Greece – a focus on sensuality and hedonism devoid of the earlier Greek notions of virtue, beauty, and form. The pottery, graffiti, and mural art discovered at Pompeii provide some evidence that there was indeed a visible homosexual subculture. Pompeians were notorious for celebrating sexuality as a source of strength and fertility. In Pompeii, the cult of Dionysos and the cult of the phallus were widespread and there are many walls carved with or otherwise decorated with disembodied erect phalluses (as signposts of brothels) and scenes of group sex. The phallus was taken as a divine symbol, associated with Hermes, the god of fertility and good fortune. It appeared often in sculptures, as fountain ornaments, or as decorative architectural detailing. Phalluses were most frequently found on herms or rectangular pillars surmounted by a human head and intended to ward off evil and bring prosperity.

It is on the frescoed and graffiti-filled walls of public buildings and in the private homes of Pompeii where we get a glimpse into the sexual preferences and activities of common culture. It was during the Augustan period that a “domestication of desire” had occurred both in Rome and in its provinces. That is, both upper class (including the emperor himself) and lower class people possessed and displayed little paintings, wall frescos, and decorative objects in their homes that showed mythological characters (e.g. satyrs, nymphs, Pan, hermaphrodites) and human couples engaged in a variety of sexual acts and positions (Clarke, pp.286–87). The representation of sex in its multiple aspects had become fashionable in Pompeii. In the first century AD, scenes of lovemaking of varying quality could be found in Pompeian bedrooms, dining rooms, or in public baths, hotels, and brothels.

The erotic functions and décor of Pompeian buildings, from private homes to bordellos, were complemented by the decorative arts used inside them. Wealthy patrons commissioned silver or gold drinking vessels and serving pieces, illustrating many kinds of scenes, sometimes erotic, to amuse banquet guests. The most striking example of this kind of homoerotic decorative art is the Warren Cup.

The Warren Cup is a luxury drinking vessel made of silver and created for use in a provincial home of the early Roman Empire. It would have been used in specific decorative architectural spaces (personal homes of the wealthy) in which vessels with scenes of lovemaking (usually heterosexual) were found. They were meant to entertain the guests with their engaging imagery and fine craftsmanship (Clarke, p.279). Because of its high quality and unique subject matter, the Warren Cup has challenged “the modern viewer to consider a broad range of artistic, cultural, and social issues” concerning male homosexuality in Roman times (Clarke, p.277).

34. The Tomb of the Bulls, c. 550–500 BC.

Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Tarquinia.

35. Statue of Antinous, Favourite of Emperor Hadrian, 130–138 AD.

Archeological Museum of Delphi, Delphi.

36. Belvedere Antinous.

Marble. Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican.

37. Tripod with Ithyphallic Young Pans, c. 1st century AD.

Bronze from Pompeii. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

38. Pan with Hermaphroditus, reign of Nero.

Wall painting from House of the Dioscuri (atrium) in Pompeii. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

39. The Destruction of Sodom, c. 1170–1190.

Monreale Cathedral, Sicily.