Therefore, the “top” was seen as the powerful Roman man, while being bottom was a slave function. Being a slave consisted of the legal obligation to do what “owner” ordered …. The Romans did the same, but with the difference that the followers (the Roman slaves) followed the orders of their masters. An equivalent for nowadays is how we judge a person’s power and influence: by the number of followers he has on a social network. Part of the power was linked to the slavery life Romans acquired and bought slaves to increase their status. This obsession with power fed all parts of Roman society, including sex. Friedrich Nietzsche refers to the Roman spirit as “the seat of power”.
Rome take over the world for centuries of relentless wars. Domination was at the heart of what it meant to be a Roman. It was perfectly acceptable for a Roman man to have sex with another man, as long as he was the top of the relationship. There was a lot of prejudice in the submissive and the feminine. Photo: ITV2 BromansĪlthough there was no punishment for homosexuality, it was not well regarded who played the bottom role. History suggests that Roman society did not even see sexuality as a spectrum as we do today in Rome people were essentially indifferent to sexual orientation. Gay sex in ancient Rome was accepted even among the military. For the Romans, homosexuality wasn’t seen as something bad or sinful – but it was also not a cause for admiration and pride.
