Episode 5: "Homosexuality” in Ancient Rome: The Special Case of Hadrian and Antinous
In the first of this two-part episode, Thomas takes us through how “homosexuality” – or rather, same sex erotic experiences – were conceptualized in the weird world of Ancient Rome. We then discuss the particular case of the relationship between the Emperor Hadrian and his purported lover, Antinous. What do the primary sources actually say, what is implied, and what might it mean to us now?
Content Warning
This episode includes discussion of sexual violence and pederasty, and mentions pedophilia.
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Sources:
Anon. The Scriptores Historiae Augustae Historia. Susan H. Ballou and Hermann Peter, eds. David Magie, trans. London/New York: William Heinemann/G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1921-1932. (Loeb Classical Library edition.) Available here.
Beard, Mary. “Misleading Lives: The Perils of Ancient Biography.” Annual Leon Levy Biography Lecture. 11.3.20205. CUNY Graduate Center. Available on YouTube.
Campman, Lotte. “Greek Love and Love for All Things Greek: Gay subtext and Greek Intertext in Works by Oscar Wilde.” (Unpublished MA Thesis, Utrecht University, 2015.)
Cassius Dio. Dio’s Roman History. Earnest Cary, trans. London New York: William Heinemann/The MacMillan Co., 1914-1927. (Loeb Classical Library edition.) Available here.
Lambert, Royston. Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984.
Levin Richardson, Sarah and Deborah Kamen. “Revisiting Roman Sexuality: Agency and the Conceptualization of Penetrated Males,” in Sex in Antiquity: Exploring Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World, M. Masterson, N. Rabinowitz, and J. Robson (eds.), (New York: Routledge, 2015), 449–60.
Waters, Sarah. “The Most Famous Fairy in History: Antinous and Homosexual Fantasy,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 6, nr. 2 (1995): 194 -230.
Williams, Craig. Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. (Expanded and updated edition. Orig. published 1999).
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