Hadrian and Roman Gay Sex
Hadrian was emperor from 117 to 138 AD. He is viewed as one of the good emperors. He is probably best known as the builder of Hadrian's Wall at the northern edge of the Roman province of Britannia (Britain). Hadrian also consolidated the empire, abandoning Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), which he viewed as nothing but trouble, a decision that today strikes us as wise. Among his many building projects was the Pantheon in Rome, the best-preserved ancient Roman building, whose concrete dome was the largest dome in the world for 1700 years until it was surpassed by modern iron and steel structures.
This is Hadrian portrayed as Mars, the god of war. Note that he has a beard. Previously, all emperors were clean-shaven. Apparently Hadrian set a new style, because all the emperors for the next hundred years had beards, too.
(Statue of Hadrian, 117-125 AD, Capitoline Museums, Rome)
We can't talk about Hadrian without his lover, Antinous, a youth from Bithynia, a Greek-speaking province in what is now Turkey. The Romans and Greeks did not have the concept of gay and straight. It was perfectly acceptable for a man to have a wife (as Hadrian did, though the marriage was childless and apparently loveless) and also take a youth as a lover. More about this below.
(Antinous, 130-138 AD, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark)
Antinous was clearly the love of Hadrian's life. When Antinous drowned in the Nile during a visit to Egypt, Hadrian was distraught and ordered that a temple be built to Antinous as a god.
(Antinous, 130-140 AD, Altes Museum, Berlin. The snake is symbolic, indicating that the statue is a protective spirit.)
Hundreds of statues and busts of Antinous have survived. This one, dating from 130-138 AD, is in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Cheshire, England.
Another view of that same statue. I'm guessing that Hadrian liked this view of Antinous.
We close with a few words about Roman same-sex practices. This is the Warren Cup, a Roman silver drinking cup from c. 10 AD. It depicts a bearded man fucking a beardless youth while someone, perhaps a servant, spies on them from behind a door. Is this porn? If so, it's very high-class porn. The British Museum bought the Warren Cup in 1999 for £1.8 million ($2.9 million).
As I mentioned before, the Romans didn't have our concept of gay and straight. They didn't even have words for homosexual and heterosexual. A Roman man was free to engage in what we would call gay sex without reproach as long as (1) he was the top and (2) the bottom was his social inferior. For the Romans, it wasn't about gay versus straight. It was about who dominated whom.
6 comments:
drian & Antinous were a true couple
Class, or caste, separation was the deal of the day. Still, I like the idea that m-m relationships were just fine. Moreso, the Native Americans did them one better: The male who was "capable" of sexual relations with both genders was highly revered; many becoming the tribe's Shaman.
It's a mixed blessing. But it's also more complicated. Basically if you're a bottom, you're not quite male, not quite female, but things like mutual masturbation, oral, and sword fighting are totally fine, as is being a top.
The big difference today is, while guys as young as "I had my vision [male puberty rite] last week" used to go to the winkte to relieve their needs (and Lakota women are really picky, and in the old days would laugh at you if you hadn't killed an enemy), now it is for legal reasons limited to guys over 16.
Thank you, Anon, for adding more context.
I've had a secret (not any more, lol) crush on Hadrian since I saw a bust of him in the British Museum in 1988. Subsequently, I have visited images of him in Rome, Verona, Paris, and at his amazing villa at Tivoli. If you ever get a chance to visit, Hadrian's Villa, do it.
Good Emperors actually refers to a dynasty mostly through adoption, as opposed to "bad" born emperors and the absolute worst, succession crises, à la the Year of Five Emperors. Hadrian did things most of us wouldn't consider good. (Expelling Jews from Judea and renaming it Syria-Palaestina comes to mind.)
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