Adrien Bresson (Saint Etienne)
Delineating masculine sexuality in the fourth century: Ausonius and Claudian
Ausonius’ and Claudian’s poetry, written during the fourth century, often features the topic of sexuality. It is by no means central, but it is a way for the poets to underpin the contents of the poems. For instance, when addressing someone negatively in a uituperatio, Claudian can draw attention to his sexuality and present him as deviant, as he does when mentioning Eutropius, who was regent of the Eastern Roman Empire in 399. Claudian thus goes on to present Eutropius as an ancient male prostitute and as a current pimp. In Ausonius’ poetry, as well as in Claudian’s, sexuality becomes a weapon for criticism and scorn, like when men engage in sexual intercourse with women and do not primarily seek their own pleasure – when practicing cunnilingus for instance. Admirable individuals, however, do not suffer the same treatment. In the epithalamium Claudian wrote for the Western emperor Honorius and his wife Mary, the poet describes their love and sexuality as very innocent.
The main interest of the study I would like to conduct thanks to the corpus presented above, lies in the apparent heteronormativity permeating Ausonius’ and Claudian’s poems, which is linked with a normative form of hegemonic masculinity. The norm, which can be understood as a social construct, can be questioned in three different ways: is it a judiciary heritage? is it a medical heritage? is it a religious heritage? When Ausonius and Claudian wrote Christianism was in full bloom, but the two poets were not very pious Christians, even though their readers – who were mostly members of the Roman elite – mainly were. The analysis I would like to conduct will therefore focus on the way poems by Claudian and Ausonius feature delineating elements of sexuality in the fourth century, at a time when sexuality was mainly understood through masculine norms.
Jean Coert (Dresden)
Shaming sexual deviance with attic eloquence
In my contribution, I would like to show that the shaming of sexual deviance was an im-portant instrument of attack in Attic rhetoric, which was especially effective in court speeches and could have an influence on court judgements. This relevance for court speeches was pos-sible because Aristotle's biological writings, for example, show that it was a widespread as- sumption that sexual behaviour could provide information about a person's positive and nega-tive character traits on the basis of the medical doctrine of juices. In this regard, sexual behav-iour could be used as an effective target to credibly portray a person's unworthiness, inability or abysses of character. Finally, I will demonstrate that this rhetorical instrument of attack from classical Athens was taken up again in Roman rhetoric, for example by Cicero, and con-tinued there. There it could be used to attack people in the public sphere, too.
Bénédicte Delignon (Paris-Nanterre)
Semen and sexuality: the Lucretian rereading of Hippocrates and its influence on some Latin poets.
In the De rerum natura, the concept of semen explains both puberty in boys and ejaculations outside coitus (4.1030-1057), the male and female pleasure and the communis uoluptas (4.1092-1208), reproduction and heredity (4.1209-1232). Lucretius takes up these theories from the Hippocratic corpus, but he reinterprets them both as a philosopher, adapting the notion of semen to atomistic physics and Epicurean ethics, and as a poet, using images from the Greek erotic poetic tradition. I propose to analyse this Lucretian re-reading of Hippocrates and its implications, and then to study its influence on some Latin poets. In Virgil, the hippomanes that flows from the sex of mares in heat (Georgics 3.280-284) derives from Aristotle, but the anthropomorphic representation it is associated with can be explained at least in part by the influence of Lucretius. Tibullus (elegy 2.4) and Propertius (elegy 4.5), while following Pliny the Elder's quite different definition of the hippomanes (N.H. 8.165 and 28.180), reappropriate the sexual value Virgil gives to this semen. In Juvenal's satire VI against women, some images combine Hippocratic theory with its Lucretian reinterpretation.
Benjamin Demassieux (Lille)
Divine Abduction and Mortal Justice: Negotiating Consent, Power, and Legal Frameworks in Claudian's De Raptu Proserpinae and Dracontius' De Raptu Helenae.
This proposal examines the intersection between Late Latin epic poetry and legal concepts of consent and power dynamics in sexual relationships. It compares and contrasts the portrayals of abduction narratives in Claudian's De Raptu Proserpinae (The Rape of Proserpina) and Dracontius' De Raptu Helenae (The Rape of Helen) with relevant legal frameworks of the Late Roman Empire. The proposal would analyze how both poems depict the abduction of a woman – Proserpina by Pluto and Helen by Paris – and the underlying themes of consent, coercion, and power imbalances. It would then explore how these narratives resonate with, or potentially challenge, legal concepts of consent and female agency in marriage and sexual relationships during this period. Specifically, the proposal would focus on the Theodosian Code, a major legal compilation of the 5th century CE, and its treatment of "crimen raptus." Analyzing relevant sections on abduction and rape, it would explore how these legal definitions compare to the portrayals of abduction in the poems. Additionally, the proposal could consider the potential influence of Justinian's legal reforms in the 6th century CE (Institutes), which built upon the Theodosian Code. Did these reforms offer a more nuanced approach to issues of consent, or did they continue to reflect a patriarchal legal framework?
This research aims to shed light on:
● Whether these narratives reinforce patriarchal norms or offer alternative perspectives on female agency and power dynamics in sexual relationships, potentially pushing the boundaries established by legal definitions.
● Does late antique poetry can be a witness of contemporary problems about this crimen raptus ? Does poetry can educate barbaric populations ? Were there societal debates about consent and female agency that might have influenced the poets' portrayals?
With a close reading approach, I’ll show lexical clues from legislative fields used in late poetry.
Gilson Charles dos Santos, (Brasilia) A reflection on male homosexual relationships in Latin historiography and rhetoric: the cases of Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony and Seianus.
There are several testimonies of the existence of male homosexual relationships in Roman poetry, covering themes such as the contempt of the beloved (Cat. 15; 81; 99; Ver. Ecl. 2; Hor. Od. 2.9; Ep. 15; Tibullus 1.4; 8; 9; the death of the beloved (Hor. Od. 1.4; 24; Ov. Met. 5.46-73); the passing of time, which separates lovers (Hor. Od. 4.10; Mart. 1.31; 5.48); soldier-lovers (Virg. Aen. 9.176-502; V. Phil. 3.481-4.81) and eroticism (Mart. 1.23; 1.46; 1.58; 3.65; 6.34; 7.15). However, it is possible to find a very different picture in the reference to male lovers in Latin historiography (Tac. Ann. 4.1; 11.2; Suet. Jul. 2) and rhetoric (Cic. Phil. 2.18.44). Such testimonies involve eminent citizens at the beginning of their political career, and had intimal relations with older men (also from wealthier social classes). Is the disapproval of homosexual love in these cases due to the social position of the protagonists? Or is it rather a device, used by the discoursive producer, to give authority to what is being said, depending on the reception of his ideas by the audience? The objective of this paper is to investigate the relation between discursive genre, discoursive producer and audience with regard to the mention of homosexual love in Latin historiography and rhetoric. It starts from the ciceronian assumption that knowledge of history is essential for the formation of the model speaker (and, by extension, the public man) (Cic. De Or. 1.158) and, therefore, that citizens from highest social classes offer models of how to behave in public and in private life. The cases of Julius Caesar and King Nicomedes according to Suetonius, Mark Antony with Curio according to Cicero and Seianus with Apicius according to Tacitus are investigated as examples of male homosexual relations.
Cătălin Enache (Vienna) Incestuous desire in Platon
In Book 9 of the Politeia (271b–d), Platon argues that every individual harbours, deep within their soul, unlawful desires. To support this claim, he references dreams in which one engages in shameful and uninhibited acts, such as having sex with one’s own mother, with animals, or with gods, as well as killing people or eating prohibited foods. This passage earned Platon a notable mention in Freud’s Vorlesungen über Psychoanalyse. Moreover, it is the reason why Werner Jaeger, in his seminal work Paideia, referred to Platon as „the father of psychoanalysis“.
In my presentation, I will discuss several Platonic motifs underlying the observation that all people experience incestuous desires. These include the suggestion that true nature is invisible to the sensible eye, the notion that νόμος is intended to restrict φύσις, the contrast between daylight and reason on the one hand and sleep, darkness and animalistic drives on the other, the tyrant’s characterization as someone who lives by day what everyone else only dreams about, the concept of visual pleasure, and the connection between dreams and boundless freedom. Furthermore, I will demonstrate that these motifs are also integral to the myth of Gyges, told in Book 2 of the Politeia – a myth with an obvious Oedipal structure. Finally, I will address the differences between this passage and the approach to incest and incestuous desires in the Laws (838a–d).
Justo Hernández, Justo (Universidad de La Laguna) The Sexual Hygiene within Galenism: Tractado Del Uso De Las Mujeres (1572) by Francisco Núñez De Coria.
Ancient medicine has stressed on the importance of hygiene-dietetics. This part of medicine rules all the things a person makes from the time he goes to bed until he gets up and viceversa and has been summarized in the so called six non natural things: ambient air, food and drink, sleep and waking, motion and rest, expulsion and retention, and the passions of the mind. If person uses them moderately, he will keep the health. In this way, the fifth one deals with the coitus because in the sexual intercourse both man and woman evacuate semen. According to the Ancient medicine the evacuation of semen is necessary to be healthy but if the sexual intercourse is overused can be unhealthy. I will analyze an early modern book concerning the use of women (Tractado del uso de las mujeres, 1572) written by the Spanish doctor Francisco Núñez de Coria. This treatise studies coitus under a global perspective, collecting all the Ancient medical and scientific tradition (Hippocrates, Aristotle and Galen). In this way the book teaches us the sexual hygiene (man and woman idoneous for sexual intercourse, age, season of the year, differences of the male and female orgasm, etc.) in the ancient medicine, which will be developed by Galenism (medical doctrines established by the followers of Galen and his work in the Ancient Age, in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance). So, I think early modern medicine (Galenism) shows a good perspective to study sexual hygiene in the Ancient medicine.
Nikos Manousakis, Nikos (Academy of Athens) Who's Afraid of the eunuch?: Dionysus’ sexual anatomy in Aeschylus’ Edonians
Edonians is the first play of a thematically connected (possibly late) Aeschylean trilogy about Dionysus as a relentless avenger. In this play, the god punishes Lycurgus, king of the Thracian tribe of the Edonians, residing near the river Strymon, for attempting to suppress his worship in the kingdom. Dionysus drives the theomachos mad, causing him to mistake his son Dryas for a vine-branch and slaughter him with an axe. Various fragments from this play highlight Dionysus’ appearance and attire, and one in particular, although often interpreted differently, actually indicates that Lycurgus entertains the possibility that Dionysus, presented to him in human form, is castrated. Interestingly, the evidence Lycurgus uses to consider this possibility is of medical significance. In my paper, I will show how Aeschylus employed contemporary medical knowledge about the anatomy of eunuchs (which remains relevant today) to shape Lycurgus’ language of theomachy. I will further explore this insight within the context of all fragments of Lycurgus’ gendered contempt for Dionysus in Edonians—drawing parallels from other Aeschylean and Euripidean dramas—to show how the god’s presumed sexual anatomy serves as the primary source of his humiliation.
Oroel Marcuello, (Zaragoza) Games of shepherds. Interpreting incestuous homosexual rape in Daphnis and Chloe 3.9: harpagmós, rite de passage or intertextual play?
A puzzling scene unfolds in the middle of Longus’ novel: Daphnis has managed to get into Chloe’s house, has dined with her parents and is sexually frustrated. Chloe goes to sleep with her mother, and Daphnis with Dryas, Chloe's father. In the shared bed, Daphnis takes his unsatisfied libido out on Dryas and sexually subdues him. This sexual act seems to break several important taboos in Greek culture: a) an adult sodomized by a younger man, b) an incestuous relationship between family members and to a lesser extent c) an adulterous relationship. No further mention is made thereafter in the novel.
The whole scene raises several questions. How is it possible to reconcile such an aberrant sexual act with the pastoral and childish love depicted in Longus’ novel? To what extent can this act be labeled as rape, incest or homosexuality? And if it is not, what is it? Why do the narrator and the characters ignore it as if it never happened? Most scholars dismiss it as comical. I will refrain from this notion and apply different perspectives. I will review the concept of harpagmós in legal and historical sources and how it relates to Longus’ novel. I will consider to what extent it could be seen as a rite of passage, a kind of rural ephebeίa before marriage. An intertextual approach will also be applied, examining both other Greek novels and related texts (especially Soph. Oed. 977-983; Plat. Symp. 219c). Since Daphnis is a guest of Chloe’s family, I will revisit the concept of hospitality and explore whether it might also encompass sexuality.
Ralph Moore (Dublin) Like Beasts in the Field?: Theories of Nature vs Nurture in Greek and Latin Ethnographies of Sexuality in the Barbarian North
From the Hippocratic Corpus to Procopius, ethnographic vignettes, tangents, and excurses on the exotic inhabitants of northern Europe abound throughout Greek and Latin literature. As these ethnographic descriptions tend to focus on paradoxography, i.e. that which is strange or otherwise remarkable to the expected worldview of the audience, they often present information on the perceived sexual practices of these ‘barbarian’ cultures and how they differed from the norms of Hellenic and Roman society. As authors took different views on what generated societal differences, including geographic determinism, diffusional development, or even divine providence, these descriptions can lend greater insight into how Greek and Roman elite cultures conceptualised sexual behaviours, feelings, and identities as products of nature (‘φύσις/natura’) or of cultural inculcation (‘νόμος/mos’). As written material on the peoples of Gaul, Germania, and Britannia looked on them with notions of primitivism and closeness to a state of nature (or even ferality), as outlined in Krebs’ concept of ‘Borealism’ and Ilyushechkina’s of the ‘northern wilderness’, examining these instances particularly can perhaps offer us the clearest investigations into how imperial observers viewed ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ as factors in the formation of sexuality.
This paper will focus on texts from the first centuries BCE and CE, including those of Diodorus Siculus, Caesar, Strabo, Vitruvius, and Tacitus, to examine the ways in which they depict the sexual habits of their northern European subjects. We will consider how these descriptions reflect wider conceptions ‘nature vs nurture’ in matters of societal construction, cultural imperialism, and standards of morality. Our analyses should yield greater understanding of the methodological challenges of studying sexuality in Antiquity, and the ways in which Greek and Latin literature has both informed and misinformed Modern ethnographic and anthropological approaches to sex and society.
Margot Neger (University of Cyprus) Versus intemperantissimi: Erotic Poetry and Sexual Morality in Ancient Lawsuits
The paper explores the ways in which erotic poetry is used in ancient lawsuits as a persuasive means, aimed at attacking the opponents’ sexual behaviour and undermining their moral integrity. In the Rhetoric, Aristotle describes how poetic quotations can be used for rhetorical aims and characterizes poets as “old witnesses” (Rhet. 1.15 1375b26–76a7). To illustrate his theory, Aristotle quotes a line from Solon (fr. 18 Diehl = 22a West: εἰπεῖν μοι Κριτίᾳ πυρρότριχι πατρὸς ἀκούειν) which Cleophon allegedly used in a speech against Critias to prove that his adversary’s family had long been notorious for immorality (πάλαι ἀσελγὴς ἡ οἰκία).
Attacks against the opponent’s moral integrity are a well-known strategy in ancient oratory. In addition to cases where orators quote verses composed by poetic authorities with the aim of undermining someone’s sexual morality, in Roman sources we also encounter instances where erotic poems recited in court were authored by one of the individuals involved in the trial. For instance, Valerius Maximus in Book 8 of his Facta et Dicta Memorabilia narrates an anecdote about a lawsuit between C. Cosconius, the accused, and Valerius Valentinus, his accuser (8.1.absol.8). Although Cosconius’ guilt was obvious, the case of the accuser Valentinus collapsed when the other party recited an erotic poem composed by Valentinus (recitatum in iudicio carmen); in his poem, Valentinus had intimated that he had seduced an under-age boy and a freeborn girl. A more detailed account of the ways in which erotic poetry was performed in court is given by Apuleius who inserts several epigrams in the opening section of his Apologia (6-13). Similar to the case narrated by Valerius Maximus, Apuleius’ opponents had tried to use his erotic poems as evidence for his bad character; however, their poor pronunciation of the respective lines gave Apuleius the chance to make fun of them (9: tam dure et rustice legere) and to demonstrate his own literary skills by integrating the lines into his speech.
Victoria Recio Muñoz and Ana Isabel Martín Ferreira (Speculum medicinae- Universidad de Valladolid (España)): Hymen: from Literature to Medicine (lexical and literary aspects)
The term hymen, from the Greek ὑμήν (membrane) did not form part of anatomical terminology until the Renaissance, when it began to be used in Latin medical texts belonging to the so-called medical Humanism. Only then did it become part of technical terminology, giving its name to the vaginal membrane that ruptures when a woman loses her virginity. In this way, a Greek word was used to designate any type of membrane in the human body (for example in the corpus hippocraticum) and which had entered the Latin language with a different connotation. Indeed, in ancient Latin literature it retained the meaning it had in Greek as the proper name of the beautiful young god of marriage (son of Dionysus and Aphrodite) and thus in Latin it was the eponym of 'conjugal union', through its derivative hymenaeus (the bond established in the couple through sexual intercourse), and of intercourse itself, the first in the case of the woman, who loses her virginity with a tearing, blood and pain. It signifies the nuptials and also the nuptial song with which these are celebrated and sometimes conceal the weeping or cries of the bride during the wedding night. This meaning is especially evident in Catullus and Ovid, among other authors, as we can see. But hymen was not the only term used in the Latin language to designate the membrane par excellence, the 'chaste feminine flower' that she must take care of until the right moment; there were other words also associated with virginity, although they were not so successful later as technical terms. In this work we also analyze from the lexical point of view words such as cento, claustrum, eugion, nexus, nodus, rapagula, sigillum, velamen in their transfer from literature to medicine.
Lorenzo Ronchini(Padova) οἰκειότης and ἔθος as coordinates of sexuality in Galen
Does seed produce sexual desire, or rather the contrary? Is pleasure an essential source of sex drive, or do non-human animals and wise men get rid of their seed independently? Recent scholarship has highlighted conflicting views in Galen’s treatment of sexuality, both in its physiological and in its moral aspects. In this paper, I will argue that a consistent picture can be gained by placing sexuality within the framework of the relationship between οἰκειότης and ἔθος. The notion of οἰκειότης is at work in Galen’s biological and physiological writings: it designates the ability of each organ to perform its activity without the need for instruction, but also the tendency of each individual to pursue the kind of food and movements which are most appropriate to them. ἔθος, as Galen explains in De consuetudinibus (pp. 18-20 Schmutte), is both a σημεῖον and an αἰτία of οἰκειότης: habits reveal natural tendencies but can, in turn, modify them and their physiological premises. Galen is clear as to the effectiveness of these factors in every aspect of human behaviour, including sexuality. Indeed, the tension between innate dispositions and the possibility of abruptly reversing or slowly modifying them explains the dynamics of sexual abstinence and overindulgence described in De locis affectis and in De semine, and provides justification for the prescriptions given to individuals with anomalous temperaments in De sanitate tuenda. According to Galen the faculties of the soul depend on the conditions of the body, thus ethics appears as the other side of physiology: bodily constitutions determine innate characters, which ἔθος can pervert or rectify. In a properly ordered soul, pleasure eventually finds its place as a secondary source of motivation: given free rein, it will lead to the indulgence in shameful acts, but good habits can make the sexual equivalent of a healthful meal pleasurable (Aff.Dign. pp. 20-22 De Boer).
Sterbenc Erker, Darja (HU Berlin) Suetonius on Augustus' Harnessing of the sexual Lives of the Roman Elite
G. Hutchinson has recently argued that Augustus exiled both his daughter Julia the Elder and his granddaughter Julia the Younger from Rome for adultery. Tacitus, in his Annals, refers to the religious aspects of Augustus' marriage and adultery laws, which punished equestrians and senators for committing adultery. The historiographer mentions that Augustus severely reprimanded violations of the adultery laws. In this paper I will examine how Suetonius refers to accusations of adultery in the Lives of the Caesars. Imperial references to adultery will be elucidated in order to understand how the biographer portrays the emperors who sought to harness the sexual lives of the Roman elite. In addition, I will discuss how Roman citizens reacted to the laws on marriage and adultery that the biographer presents. I will also examine the literary strategies of Suetonius' depiction of numerous adulterers within the imperial house. In this way, I will analyze the social, moral, and religious aspects of the public regulation of previously private sexual misconduct.
Tsakou, Effrosyni (Lille) The Body as Canvas: Paraphilias in Ancient Greek love letters
This presentation examines the representation of erotic preferences in a corpus of ancient Greek fictive love letters, with a particular focus on how distinctive sexual preferences are articulated within a literary rather than psychoanalytical framework. The study highlights how these preferences, which can be understood as what we now refer to as paraphilias are subtly woven into the texts. By analysing specific body parts that recur throughout the letters, we explore how these elements serve as embodiments of sexual desire.
Central to this investigation are the paraphilias portrayed in the epistolary collections of Alciphron, Philostratus, Aristaenetus and Theophylact Simocatta where distinct forms of fetishism emerge. The fetishization of hands is particularly prominent in the writings of both Alciphron and Aristaenetus, while Aristaenetus and Theophylact also place significant erotic emphasis on the voyeurism. Additionally, the study delves into podophilia, or foot fetishism, which is presented as another variant of these erotic fixations especially in Philostratus. By dissecting these intricate representations, the study sheds light on the complex ways in which sexual desire was articulated and understood in ancient Greek fictional epistolography.
This exploration of paraphilias in Antiquity not only provides insight into the sexual imaginations of ancient cultures but also invites a re-examination of the continuity and transformation of sexual norms across history. The presentation ultimately aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how ancient epistolographers viewed and engaged with what we now classify as paraphilic behaviour.
Vasconcellos Amaral, Flavia (Winnipeg (Canada)) Meleager’s erotica and his poetic composition
The Greek Anthology (GA) is divided in sixteen books and hosts epigrams collected over centuries. It is the result of editorial processes that rearranged three major earlier epigram collections: Meleager’s Garland, Philip’s Garland, and Agathias’ Cycle and Planudes’ Anthology. The three earlier collections have not survived and scholars argue that some of its sections have not been altered and can indicate that the collections may have been arranged thematically. Gutzwiller (1998; 2004) states that Meleager’s Garland would have been divided into four sections – funerary, anathematic, erotic, and one of less certain content. Thus, erotic epigrams would not have been divided by heterosexual and homosexual poems as we see in GA, respectively in Book 5 and Book 12. Silva (2011) affirms such arrangement reflects Christian beliefs and he defends that erotic language used in both books are similar and therefore are evidence that the ancient Greeks would not differentiate gender as we do. Such linguistic pattern is also identified in Meleager epigrams. However, I expand Silva’s arguments that Meleager’s erotic epigrams tend to use feminine imagery for homosexual content not only because of gender perception but also due to his poetic principles of unifying different elements (women, men, flowers, plants, opposite nature elements and etc.) into a unit, his collection of epigrams which is embedded in his Garland. An example is found in the very imagery of a garland of poets in his opening and closing epigrams (GA 4.1 and GA 12. 257), allotting each poet a flower or plant, and how this is also used in a collection of female and male lovers in GA 5. 197 and 198; 12. 94, 95, and 256). Thus, in this paper, I argue that sexuality and poetic composition are intertwined in Meleager’s work and shape the way sexuality in epigram is conceived.
Willms, Lothar (HU Berlin) All Greek to us? A Structuralist Rereading of Sexuality in Antiquity
The Sexual Revolution has freed research from Christian and Victorian norms that often prevented scholars from fully acknowledging the broad range and specific configuration of sexual practices in Antiquity. It also raised the awareness of ancient normative ideas, the “constraints of desire” that framed sexuality in antiquity. Efforts have been made since to systematize the results of this stocktaking by searching for structural patterns, identifying “the reign of the phallus” or, more generally, an opposition of insertive (formerly “active”) “male” vs. receptive (formerly “passive”) “female” roles.
In my talk, I shall go a step further and search for deeper patterns that underlie sexuality in antiquity and informed ideas about acceptable sexual behaviour. My focus is on Greek sexuality because its documentation starts earlier and offers a wider variety of practices, but I shall also take into account relevant Roman sources. I shall proceed through a careful interpretation of iconographic, epigraphic, and literary testimonies, partly unobserved in prior research, critically assessing the specifics of these sources and how they affect their bearing on sexual studies. Since structures come best to the fore in the fringes, my investigation shall focus on non-vaginal practices. Herein, I shall assess how far sexual roles were related to genital anatomy (‘significate’ and ‘significant’ in structuralist terminology). By this approach, I shall demonstrate that the configuration of ancient sexuality was surprisingly heterocentric, favouring non-vaginal activities that could be aligned or related to the vaginal pattern. The dominant phallic paradigm is hence not absolute, but specified by a vaginal one. Thus, as a result of my talk, it will turn out that Greek sexuality was organized by a horizontal axis, focusing on body parts below the navel, whereas sexual behaviour in modern Western societies tends to be structured by a vertical axis that favours activities at the front of the body.
Zhang, Huiling (Oxford) ‘Brothers in love and crime: the address frater and a legal reading of the male love triangle in the Satyricon’
For over half a century, the Roman novel Satyricon has been a key text for scholars of Roman sexualities, especially as they explore male-male relationships. The existent novel’s early chapters are dominated by the romantic dynamics among Encolpius, Ascyltos – two men most likely in their twenties – and Giton, described as a boy about the age of sixteen. The trio regularly address one another as ‘brother’ (frater) and together scrape a living at the edge of the society. While Rabun Taylor (1997) argues that this term is exclusive to male lovers, suggesting homosexuality as a subculture, Craig Williams (1992, 2010) convincingly demonstrates that the address frater, while also used by women to address their male lovers, is specifically chosen by Petronius to highlight the equality and reciprocity one could experience in male-male relationships.
This paper introduces a legal perspective to reinterpret the address frater in the Satyricon and the relationships it signifies: alongside the tangled love affairs, the grouping can also be understood as a mock societas, i.e. business partnership. I shall start with a re-reading of the uses of the term frater; seen as predominantly erotic in scholarship, it is also applicable to members of the same societas or consortium. Having explored the juristic definition of societas through texts such as Gaius and Digest 17.2 pro socio, I return to terms for brotherhood and profits in Petronius, examining the trio's actions and considering them through the lens of terms like praeda and latrocinium. By analyzing the multi-directional terms Petronius employs, this paper seeks to deepen our understanding of the complex interplay between law, economics, and sexuality in the Roman world.