This is a cultural history episode about sexuality in Ancient Rome. I thought the topic would be fun and juicy, but that’s because my memory of Roman sexuality was hazy. After refreshing it with lots of research, I can safely say that ‘fun’ is not a word I would apply to it. ‘Insanely disturbing’ is probably more fitting. Most of the ancient sources, in fact, seem to indicate that little to no attention was paid to the idea of sex being for mutual pleasure. Rather, sex was primarily seen as something to reinforce dominance and hierarchy. In this episode, we’ll cover prison sex, rapey garden gnomes, the similarities and differences between ancient Roman and Christian sexualities, the origin of the word ‘family’ (it’s not pleasant), threatening sexual violence to prove one’s manliness, the violent myths about Rome’s founding, the Rape of the Sabine women, sex and slavery, prostitution, why speaking of homosexuality or heterosexuality made no sense in Ancient Rome, legal trials as rap battles, Cicero & the art of character assassination, Mark Anthony & the art of assassinating Cicero, Augustus’ puritanism, gladiators fighting against their own wildcat-shaped phalli, Roman sexual art, and much, much more.
EPISODE 105: Rationalizing Evil in El Salvador
EPISODE 104: The Saint and the Death Squads
[RERUN] EPISODE 65: The Taiping Rebellion (Part 3): A River of Death
[RERUN] EPISODE 64: The Taiping Rebellion (Part 2): Jesus’ Chinese Younger Brother
[RERUN] EPISODE 63: The Taiping Rebellion (Part 1): Drug Dealers and Visionaries
EPISODE 103: The Lone Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi (Part 2)
EPISODE 102: The Lone Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi (Part 1)
EPISODE 101: The History Behind Killers of the Flower Moon
[RERUN] EPISODE 62: Plagues, Mystery and Dancing
[RERUN] EPISODE 61: Raiders in the Night
EPISODE 100: Benvenuto Cellini (Part 2)
EPISODE 99: Thug Life: Benvenuto Cellini (Part 1)
[RERUN] EPISODE 60: Fear and Loathing in Mongolia (Part 2)
[RERUN] EPISODE 59: Fear and Loathing in Mongolia (Part 1)
EPISODE 98: Machine Gun Blues
[RERUN] EPISODE 58 Sitting Bull: Wounded Knee (Part 5)
[RERUN] EPISODE 57 Sitting Bull: Compulsory Civilization with a Side of Murder (Part 4)
[RERUN] EPISODE 56 Sitting Bull: Compulsory Civilization with a Side of Murder (Part 3)
[RERUN] EPISODE 55 Sitting Bull (Part 2)
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