Marriage is supposed to be between a man and a woman!”

“Marriage is supposed to be between a man and a woman!”

Not for the Romans it wasn’t. At least not exclusively.

As a follow up on Alexis’ brilliant post about pederasty in Ancient Greece, here’s a post about some other types of LGBT relationships that were found in the ancient world.

As they are today, same-sex sexual relationships were common in the ancient world, although ideas of LGBT identity were different. In both Greek and pre-Christian Roman culture it was common for men to engage openly in same-sex relationships whilst simultaneously being married to women.

In some cultures (e.g. Sparta, Athens) same-sex relationships were codified and age-structured. But age-structured same-sex relationships were far from the only type of LGBT relationships around. Famous Greek couples in same sex relationships include Harmodius and Aristogiton, Pelopidas and Epaminondas and Alexander and Bogoas.

Whilst same-sex relationships were commonplace in Ancient Greece, they were viewed differently to marriage. Things were different in Imperial Rome.

Of course, it is no secret that Nero married a man… in fact, he married two! Nero’s first gay marriage was his freedman, Pythagoras. In his wedding ceremony, Nero took the role of the bride. Later Nero took the role of the groom in his marriage to Sporus, in a very public ceremony that was celebrated separately in Greece and Rome.  Nero went on to live with Sporus in what we would today recognise as a typical gay marriage.

Nero wasn’t the only openly LGBT Emperor. The Emperor Elagabalus also married a male athlete named Zoticus in a lavish public ceremony in Rome.

Some scholars believe that as many as thirteen of the first fourteen Roman Emperors were gay or bisexual {Hinsch, Bret. (1990)}.

Gay marriage was eventually outlawed in 342 AD by Christian emperors Constantius II and Constans in the Theodosian Code.

Funny to think, that although underground LGBT marriages continued in Christian Europe, it wasn’t until this century that they would become legal again. Fancy having to wait 1600 years to get married!

P.S. I think I’ve got a great post in me about some of the gay pharaohs, so keep your eyes peeled!