Pompeii and homosexuality
Homosexuality in ancient Rome
During the time of the Republic, Roman citizens had the right (libertas) to protect their bodies from physical coercion, including both corporal punishment and sexual violence. Roman society was typically patriarchal and masculinity was based on the principle of governing not only oneself but also other persons, especially those from the lower class.
Roman cup displaying a homosexual sex scene.
It was socially acceptable for a free-born Roman to have sex with a woman or a gentleman assuming a dominant role. Both women and adolescent men were perceived as natural objects of need. Outside of marriage, a man could have sex with slaves, prostitutes (who were usually slaves) and the so-called infames (the restricted man). It did not matter with which gender the Roman indulged in until he did not exceed certain social norms. For example, it was immoral to hold sex with another citizen&#;s free-born wife, his daughter by marriage, his underage son, or the dude himself.
During imperial times, the fear of losing political freedom and submitting to power to the emperor led to an enlarge in the frequency of free-born men assuming a passive position durin
A Brief History of Homosexuality in Italy from Ancient Rome to Today
Postwar Italy, politically dominated by the country’s Catholic party, didn’t do much against the diffused homophobia of those years. Society cared about gay people only for the wrong reasons, as it happened in when an investigation on the “homosexual scene” in the northern town of Brescia turned into a large media case with endless plot twists and unfounded accusations (which included one of human trafficking). When the so-called “Scandalo dei Balletti Verdi ” (“Green Ballets Scandal”) reached TV personalities like Mike Bongiorno, the entire country turned its morbose attention to it.
In , Fuori! (Out!), the first homosexual group in Italy, was founded. Mario Mieli, the most famous Italian LGBTQ+ activist, took part in the movement before founding his own organization. A year later, a group of gay people publicly demonstrated for their rights for the first time in the history of the country.
Since then, the Italian queer community has been keeping an active role in manifesting and demanding rights. Little by minute, and always at a much slower pace than most other European countries, Italy is ch
Uninhibited Eros
Love was a common topic of conversation in Pompeii. Feelings, passions, poetic love, sex, homosexuality, prostitution and so forth were all part of daily life and not a source of prejudice. The concept of "obscenity" seems to have been unknown. Love and sex were considered earthly practices of a man's experience that were encouraged by the benevolence of #Venus.
The thousands of examples of #graffiti found on the town's walls are unequivocal proof of what the people of Pompeii thought about #love and #sex. The erotic scenes found in Pompeii are in essence of three kinds: mythological scenes, or rather depictions of sexual activities between famous couples, either divine or legendary creatures; realistic scenes, which show anonymous heterosexual couples in various sexual poses that are more or less explicitly reproduced; and erotic scenes between pigmies in areas surrounding the River Nile.
The utilize of phallic symbols in frescoes, sculptures, charms, lamps, and in many corners of the town's houses, on the facades of the buildings and at the entrance to shops was very common. Surprisingly, these actually referred
Pompeii DNA analysis explained: Volcano victims 'The Two Maidens' were gay lovers?
DNA assessment has brought the ancient city of Pompeii, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, back to news. The researchers, with the serve of modern science, include discovered that popular assumptions exist about the tragedy.
The DNA results revealed that a year-old mummy, earlier assumed to belong to a woman, belonged to a man. Now, many argue that the bodies belonged to a queer couple and not two sisters or a mother and child.
City of Pompeii
When Mount Vesuvius erupted 2, years ago in 79 AD, the city of Pompeii was obliterated, killing its residents. Pompeii was covered in ash before being buried by several meters of lava. The world didn't know about Pompeii until it was rediscovered in the s. Among the ruins, researchers also found human remains -- citizens of the lost city who didn't survive the volcanic eruption.
Dozens of bodies were set up preserved from the soot and ash that covered the streets, buildings and people. The soft tissue of the bodies had decayed over the millennia, but their outlines remained intact. Although the bodies got buried in mud and ash and eventually decomposed
.