From the middle of the 1st century BC. in Rome there was a period of decline *, and with it - an era of unlimited sexual freedom. We will tell you about the most striking sexual phenomena of this time.
* The reason for the decline is the civil wars that hit the economy. A strong need weakened the puritanical customs of the Romans, and especially of the upper classes, who rushed to earn their bread with whatever they could. A crisis began in the Roman Republic, which resulted in its fall and the creation of monarchical power.
Religious holidays
The Romans borrowed the tradition of organizing mass orgies for the glory of the gods from the advanced Greeks. Historians of those years describe scenes of incredible debauchery that took place right on the streets. People danced and made love to exhaustion wherever they could, to the delight of Venus. Half of the young townspeople lost their innocence on these holidays. Even for an era of decline with its sexual liberation, such festivals were too progressive an innovation, so the events were soon banned.
Sexual slavery
Slaves in ancient Rome had such insignificant rights that they were perceived more like furniture than people, so sex with a slave was not officially considered as sex with a person. This loophole in the law was taken advantage of by the Roman aristocrats when Emperor Augustus banned adultery, that is, sexual relations outside of marriage, in 31 BC.
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Men and women who were captured during numerous wars began to be bought up at auctions by nymphomaniacs from the upper classes and used for carnal pleasures. By the way, life in sexual slavery was much more satisfying than in any other, so not all prisoners were against it.
Indecent inscriptions and graffiti
Some information about the sexual power of the ancient Romans came down to us from the first sources. The walls of Pompeii have preserved hundreds of explicit inscriptions and pictures. “There was a soldier of the Seventh Legion here. That night he satisfied six women, but this is not enough for such a stallion”- a typical inscription on a Pompeian wall. Most of these messages remained on the walls of the former lupanaria (brothels). Among them you can find not only frivolous pictures, but also some useful information for those times, for example, the names of employees with a price list.
Symbolism
Modern censors, with their aversion to the nude, were fortunate enough not to be born in ancient Rome. Not a single piece of furniture of this era was complete without the image of the penis. The male reproductive organ has flaunted on numerous murals, panels, coins, kitchen utensils and other unexpected surfaces. Even the tongues of bells were guessed by the Romans to be cast in the form of phalluses. All this was done, of course, in order to please the gods.
The Romans also loved to decorate their homes with paintings with the god of fertility Priapus, demonstrating his great dignity. The picture, of course, should have been hung in the most conspicuous place. Otherwise, luck and prosperity could turn away from the owners of the house.
Literature
As you might have guessed, the literature of that time was also replete with erotic plots. Not many works have survived to this day, but they are quite enough to imbue the atmosphere of the era.
Your horseradish is as huge as Papil, and your nose is huge.
So when he gets up, you can smell him.
This epigram belongs to the pen of the famous ancient Roman poet Mark Valerius Marcial. And this is a naive rhyme in comparison with the novel "Satyricon" or the works of Juvenal, many pages of which are devoted to the description of incredible orgies.
Rulers
The rulers of ancient Rome of the era of decline - a special caste of perverts of all categories, in many ways set the general mood within the country.
Nero, for example, loved to spend time with the Vestals, the inviolable priestesses of the goddess Vesta, and in the morning personally put them on trial for debauchery. Once, he castrated one of his lovers and tried to turn him into a woman.
The transvestite Marcus Aurelius Heliogabalus went even further. He preferred to come to social events in a chariot drawn by naked girls. His religious reforms are well known. By the decision of Heliogabalus, the main in the pantheon of the ancient Roman gods was a deity, whose symbol was a phallic meteorite.
Ritual attributes
Even the ancient Romans turned their own graves into monuments of pornography. The men wanted entire stories of their sexual adventures to be placed on their gravestones.
On some gravestones there are detailed descriptions of sexual intercourse, diluted, for example, with enthusiastic compliments to the female breast.
In general, the Romans lived in accordance with the inscription on another surviving tombstone: “Have fun and do not refuse sex with beautiful women. When you die, there will be no such chance."