Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome

Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome investigates how Roman society defined desirable bodies, respectable marriage and acceptable sexual conduct. It examines expectations for men and women, courtship, adultery, contraception, fertility, prostitution, beauty and fashion, using literature, law, medical writing, graffiti, sculpture and domestic decoration. The sensational stories attached to emperors and empresses are compared with the social rules governing less privileged Romans.

Status and power are central throughout. Roman judgments often depended less on the gender of a partner than on citizenship, freedom, age and the sexual role assigned to each person, while enslaved people had little protection from exploitation. The book considers same-sex practices, eunuchs, performers, religious rites, love magic and acts Romans themselves regarded as transgressive. Humour makes the material accessible, but the evidence is repeatedly qualified where hostile biography, elite moralising or modern assumptions distort what can actually be known.