After a long period of restoration, one of Italy’s most famous archaeological treasures — the House of the Vettii — is reopening to the public.
The house’s extensive collection of fresco wall paintings includes lots of erotic art. But while some commenters have claimed that the house’s original owners were preoccupied with sex or even running a brothel, a gay Roman historian has said that those claims show a misunderstanding about the role queer sex played in ancient Rome.
The house was originally constructed for two freed male slaves who were likely owned by the same master. These men became wealthy from selling wine, and their now-famous house included numerous scenes of sex and mythology, painted on wet plaster and preserved in wax.
Mount Vesuvius buried the house in volcanic ash in 79 AD, but it has since been restored, giving art history fans a time capsule of wealthy Roman social life.
The house’s entrance includes an image of Priapus, the god of fertility and abundance, showing off an uncut penis that’s as long and thick as his arm. It rests upon a scale, balanced by a bag filled with money. Other scenes show different couples having sex.
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João Florêncio, a gay researcher who examines visual depictions of sexual cultures throughout history, says that it’s a mistake to assume that Roman men resembled modern-day gay men just because they owned art of a well-hung god and often had sex with other men.
“Same-sex relations among Romans were lived and thought about in very different ways from our own,” Florêncio wrote in a recent article about the House of the Vettii’s reopening.
“Roman sexuality was not framed in terms of the gender of partners but in terms of power,” he added. “An adult free man could have sex as the penetrating partner with anyone of a lower social status—including women or slaves and sex workers of both genders.”
The researcher said that evidence of same-sex intercourse has been preserved in Pompeii’s sexually explicit artifacts and graffiti, but a lot of it has been disavowed or at least purified by mainstream modern culture. A lot of these artifacts were designated as “pornography” and moved to “secret museums” in the early 1800s.
While a modern man wouldn’t likely display the image of a well-endowed man in his home unless he was gay, Florêncio points out that phallic imagery in Roman culture was associated with machismo. Some men might have desired Priapus’s large dong, but far more men would’ve likely envied it for their own, as a sign of their own potency and power.
Florêncio also noted that, while some historians believe the house doubled as a brothel, he said the sexual images may have just functioned as domestic symbols of power, wealth, and culture, especially since sex wasn’t taboo in Roman culture. Indeed, images of sex were “everywhere in Rome, including in literary and visual arts,” he writes.
While you’re here, learn more about gay sex in Ancient Rome in the video below…
CatholicXXX
Further proof that all religions are vile.
bachy
Like the pagan religions, human sexuality was vilified, repressed and buried to allow for the absolute ascendancy of Christianity.
ptb2016
don’t you mean unlike in pagan religions? Greeks and Romans had no problem with human sexuality.
only with the arrival in the west of Judo Christian religion did sexuality start to become a problem for many.
bachy
I’m sorry I suspect my comment wasn’t clear. I meant that human sexuality AND the pagan religions were vilified, repressed and buried to allow for the absolute ascendancy of Christianity.
GayEGO
Religion has been a big problem because it has had some bad practices and rules with sneaky priests committing sexual acts on young boys. The movie Spotlight reveals some Catholic priests having sex with young boys in Boston.
gregg2010
Ah yes, another wonderful contribution of Christianity, bringing their uptight view of sex into the world.
justanasexualgal1969
Nothing new imo. History has always been a subject I have loved my whole life! While I was being raised in Great Britain from age 3 to almost 12, schools taught of course, European history and didnt “water” things down, lie or omit facts either like they do here in the States sadly. So learning about Roman history, the fact that orgies were extremely common as were multiple partners and same sex partners, was not surprising to me. This was a time when sexuality wasn’t corrupted and warped by “christians” as being dirty, perverted etc. If anything, it was due to Christianity charging in and forcing the countries they invaded to either convert to Christianity or die; that the old world religions became viewed as pervers, dirty, and that same sex relations were deemed wrong. Same for orgies too. Imo, it’s Stupid! Love is Love no matter whom or how you choose to show it. If anything the Romans were the ones who really did see it that way.