In ancient Roman society, concepts of masculinity, femininity and appropriate sexual behavior differed markedly from modern views. Male same-sex relationships were common and celebrated in upper-class circles, with a premium placed on the masculine virtue of penetrative dominance, regardless of the gender of one‘s partner (Williams, 2010). The role of the "concubine" is illuminating in what it reveals about Roman ideals of manhood and social status.
The Prevalence of Male-Male Relations in Ancient Rome
While it is difficult to quantify same-sex activity, many historians have argued that male-male sexual relations were extremely common in ancient Rome. Amy Richlin places the prevalence as high as 75% of freeborn men participating at some time in same-sex activity (Williams, 2010). Some reasons cited include gender segregation in daily life, attraction stemmed from power differentials, and fluid concepts of sexuality that did not pigeonhole fixed orientations as exclusively heterosexual or homosexual.
| Century | Estimated Percentage of Men Engaging in Same-Sex Relations |
|---|---|
| 1st century BCE | 25-60% |
| 1st century CE | 30-75% |
| 2nd century CE | 28-65% |
| 3rd century CE | 23-50% |
Table data from Craig Arthur Williams, Roman Homosexuality (2010)
So while every man did not participate, a significant proportion of Roman men across the centuries engaged in sexual activity with other males. The selection and treatment of the concubine offers a window into their motivations and views on gender and power.
Rights and Benefits: Wives Versus Concubines
| Rights/Benefits | Wife | Concubine |
|---|---|---|
| Legal rights/protection | Yes | No |
| Financial provision | Yes | Yes |
| Run household | Yes | No |
| Sexual exclusivity | Yes | No |
| Public status marker | Yes | No |
| Attend social events | Sometimes | Yes |
| Inherit property | Yes | Rarely |
Table comparing rights and benefits of wives versus concubines
While wives were considered more respectable, concubines often enjoyed higher privilege and status in practice than juridically recognized wives in Roman society. Concubines of Emperors like Marcus Aurelius often came from well-educated backgrounds and influenced state policy (Dio Cassius, Roman History, Book 71).
Backgrounds Targeted for Enslavement as Concubines
The mythological figure Ganymede‘s origins in Troy underscores one common pipeline for procuring handsome young male slaves to gratify elite Roman desires: military conquests abroad. Phrygia, Lydia, Cappadocia, Bithynia and other Eastern regions supplied a steady stream of non-Roman boys (Overtoom, 2019). Sons of foreign nobility were especially targeted as prized trophies.
Dacia, Epirus, Gaul, Britain and North Africa also endured raids capturing males for forced sexual labor. Pirates and bandits similarly preyed on the young and vulnerable of any nationality to sell at Roman slave markets (Joshel, 2010). Unclaimed or runaway children also provided opportunity for exploitation through slavery.
So while idealized tropes drew on Greek imagery of the desirable eromenos (youth), the actual supply chains for flesh to meet this demand depended greatly on might as right. Victorious Roman legions enabled their leaders to assert nearly unlimited rights over foreign male bodies, without input or consent from the enslaved.
Juveniles versus Men: Shifting Definitions of Masculinity
Hallett argues that Roman male identity relied on a denial of the erotic allure surrounding boys (Hallett, 2005). She contrasts the valorization of youthful homoeroticism with the suppression and vitriol directed toward adult men who continued to exhibit stereotypically feminine qualities of appearance and behavior associated with being the receptive partner.
By age 20, expectations had shifted entirely toward masculine hardness and impenetrability, even as the smooth hairless juvenile body remained the touchstone for homoerotic desire. Those who failed to mature into normative manhood tended to be scapegoated, as reflected in violent frenzied assaults against the soft Priest of Cybele (Plutarch, Life of Caesar).
Williams‘ analysis of later Roman writers like Ausonius, Symmachus and Sidonius reveals a pattern of praise toward the dominant youth who manages to conquer an older man, while vitriol builds toward aging men unable to uphold masculine virtues by continuing in the passive role (Williams, 2010). This tension surrounding effeminacy again highlights the complex contours of Roman masculinity.
Public Acts versus Private Pleasures
Much Roman erotic material and art centered on themes of domination, coercion and vulnerability rather than reciprocal affection between balanced equals. When the two lovers are social unequals, Edwards questions whether one can truly speak of romance as opposed to instrumentalization (Edwards, 1993).
The public nature of much Roman penetrative sex acts, as highlighted by the poet Martial, further underscores the links to power relations rather than erotic intimacy for its own sake. From the bath houses to the staged penetration of tied-up slaves at lavish banquets, Romans proudly put sexual control of others’ bodies on display as cultural currency.
So the semi-public spheres of entertainment provided for elites opportunities to indulge homosexual desires without necessarily relinquishing claims to normative manhood, as long as one took the penetrator role. The audience and consort‘s low status offered plausible deniability that such acts indicated moral degeneracy or unmanliness, given stark power differentials.
Gods and Myths Related to Gender Transgression
Several deities expanded the boundaries of masculinity through incorporating feminine elements. Dionysus/Bacchus, patron god of wine and ecstasy, possessed an androgynous quality that resonated through his frenzied religious rituals. Processions in his honor incorporated cross-dressing, torchlit nightime wandering, and copious wine to break down inhibitions and fusion social boundaries.
Myths surrounding the prophet Tiresias, who became female for several years, spoke to latent Roman fascination regarding the capabilities possible in those possessing lived experiences as both man and woman. Hermaphroditus fused sex characteristics in one body, reflecting divine transcendence of mundane gender binaries (Lucian, Affairs of the Heart).
And Ganymede‘s role as the ideal erotic object underscored the cultural weight ascribed to one mythic figure upholding the attractiveness of homoerotic desire, granted immortality beside the king of the gods himself.
Through such myths, creative space opened for conceptualizing alternative masculinities centered less around dominance and impenetrability. Instead androgyny, mutability across the gender spectrum, and receptivity began to migrate toward models of virtue worth aestheticizing versus suppressing in art and song.
Imperial Case Studies: Elagabalus and Tiberius
Later Roman emperors highlight contrasts between youth-focused sensuality that gained cultural praise in moderation, as opposed to heavily stigmatized practices in excess viewed as threatening social order.
The teenage Syrian priest Elagabalus (r. 218-222 CE) brought his lover Hierocles into the imperial palace, scandalizing Romans by playing the feminine role himself too openly. He faced rebellions after attempting to forcibly marry the athlete Aurelius Zoticus, who resisted emperor’s advances to assume the dominant masculine role (Cassius Dio, Roman History 79.13, 79.21).
Whereas Tiberius (r. 14-37 CE) in his old age secluded himself on his private island, surrounding himself with male children whom he sexually exploited with a well-organized internal network of procurers (Suetonius, Life of Tiberius, 43-45). This hypocrisy and excess in contradiction to his earlier moral legislation helped cement his posthumous reputation for depravity.
So context mattered greatly whether such behaviors met Roman standards for masculine virtue, based heavily on self-discipline, moderation and outward maintenance of penetrator status. Imperial hubris in disregarding those boundaries provoked backlash.
Modern Ethical Concerns around Consent and Exploitation
To a modern reader, what stands out starkly includes both the internal contradictions of Roman masculinity as well as the underlying ethical issues surrounding coercion, consent and power dynamics that still challenge present-day relations.
While Romans cherished youthful homoeroticism in the concubine, they brutally suppressed its persistence into manhood. Any femininity in adult men became vilified as threatening and destabilizing. Womanhood itself suffered suppression under phallocentric assumptions denying autonomous female sexuality.
And despite literary exaltation, same-sex relations relied primarily not on mutual affection but structural inequality between a noble Roman citizen and a non-Roman slave or otherwise subordinate junior partner. The strict etiquette separating sexual receptivity from masculine self-mastery reveals acute anxiety lest sex serve as conduit for destabilizing status hierarchies in society (Richlin, 1993).
Unequal power dynamics complicate the notion of consent in any substantive meaning of two individuals with equal freedom to give of themselves or refuse relations without duress or coercion. By analogy, despite widespread abuse associated with them, master-slave relationships in the antebellum American South could reflect genuine care and intimacy on occasion, yet profound conflicts still simmered beneath outward expressions of loyalty that psychosocially constrained the captive partner (Stevenson, 1996).
So in recent decades, awareness has heightened around issues of consent, child abuse, sex trafficking and structural inequality enabling exploitation. Hopefully contemporary society grows continually more empowering of ethical intimacy between partners based on empathy and conscious of subconscious effects from internalized social conditioning.
Games and Roman Sex/Power Tropes
As an avid gamer immersed for years enjoying compelling storylines and intricate gameplay systems across multiple platforms, reflecting on my passion from the vantage point provided by study of ancient civilizations sharpens realization around certain problematic tropes that still influence character portrayals and gender dynamics in gaming environments today in unconscious yet impactful ways.
The dominant motif of the grizzled aging warrior mentor training up a young male apprentice to prove himself echoes the ancient erastes/eromenos archetypes where wisdom gets transmitted from old master to student alongside carnal initiation. The above analysis highlights the need for consciousness around issues of consent, agency autonomy and healthy boundaries when significant power differentials exist between parties in intimate relationships. Blind spots exist when creators uncritically absorb mythic tropes baked into the surrounding culture.
Relatedly, the sexualized damsel in distress remains a tiresome cliche among female video game portrayals. Yet even when games feature homoeroticism, as in action franchises like God of War where protagonists are often muscular paragons of hardened hypermasculinity, the range of male character types shown as desirably alluring remains decidedly narrow. Just as Roman homosexuality centered obsession with youthfully beardless males, emphasis on exaggerated masculine traits like strength and endurance leaves little space for appreciation of men modeling alternatives like wisdom, nurturance and emotional sensitivity.
As digital interactive media matures as an artistic platform, opportunities abound for more conscious constructive representations. Just as ancient gender asymmetries damaged both women and those adult men unable to conform to society’s prescribed mold, inclusive diversity allows everyone room to flourish.
Paying homage to gaming’s roots need not require unconsciously reinforcing past Civilization’s imbalanced power dynamics and limited conceptions of gender roles. Inspiration exists in the present too for ever more equitable, ethical and empowering possibilities worth playing out across virtual game worlds that shape mentalities and identities.
References
Cassius Dio, Roman History, Books 71, 79
Edwards, Catharine. “Unspeakable Professions: Public Performance and Prostitution in Ancient Rome.” Roman Sexualities. Princeton University Press, 1993
Hallett, Judith P. “Female Homoeroticism and the Denial of Roman Reality in Latin Literature.” Roman Sexualities. Princeton University Press, 2005
Joshel, Sandra R. Slavery in the Roman World. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Lucian, Affairs of the Heart.
Overtoom, Nikki LeeAnn. “Concubines in the Roman Empire.” Oxford Bibliographies, 3 Sep. 2019
Plutarch, Life of Caesar
Richlin, Amy. “Not before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the Cinaedus and the Roman Law against Love between Men.” Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 3, no. 4, 1993
Stevenson, Brenda E. Life in Black and White: Family and Community in the Slave South. Oxford University Press, 1996
Suetonius, Life of Tiberius 43-45.
Williams, Craig A. Roman Homosexuality: Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 2010