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Essay / Gladiators of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was considered the most important ancient empire, lasting approximately five hundred and seven years of rule. The Munus Gladiatorium, meaning presentation of gladiators, began in 235 BC. Gladiators are described as fighting men; these men, however, we accept homosexual sexuality. The Roman Empire was a complex society, although there were not many written laws regarding homosexuality. However, there were rules that were applied. The Roman Empire embodied this idea of virtue; however, gladiators were considered these aphrodisiacs. They managed to attract the attention of both men and women; in the amphitheater because of the erotic beauty of gladiatorial combat. This created the lust of gladiators; leading to homosexual relationships. Sexuality in the Roman Empire was not frowned upon as it is today; Throughout this essay we will discuss sexuality in the Roman Empire through domination, nefariousness, and patriarchy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay “The Roman system of gender and sex may be foreign territory to someone new to this historical context. In short, the Romans operated under a system of gender identity rather than sexual orientation. Instead of categorizing their sexual world into identities based on the preferred gender of someone's partner, as we do, Roman sexual ideology seems to have divided the world into "penetrators" and "penetrated." Roman sexuality is about demonstrating power; not caring about sexual orientation but holding a dominant position. Gladiators considered themselves to be leading men, and being those men who display this raw strength in gladiatorial combat; they are men who have superiority over other men. Gladiators represented their dominance in the amphitheater; this dominance is then placed within the ranks of those who have control over a sexual situation. Homosexuality was considered a norm; no rules have been given about what is bad or good; it was a sense of duty. Gladiators were considered "lustful" men who needed certain attributes to survive, and while they couldn't have certain women like the master wives who lusted after the gladiators, there were men/boys within the empire or within the gladiators who loved these gladiators. Christianity was not established at this time in the Roman Empire; ensure that homosexuality is not considered a sin. Women were only useful for procreation; to continue their legacy but the men were there to satisfy the needs of the gladiators. Gladiators can only exercise artful domination in a sexual way due to the lack of domination they have in their lives. “According to Priapic's prime directive, a real man must always and only play an insertive role in hierarchically constructed encounters of this type. Indeed, one cannot read far into the Roman textual tradition without perceiving the consistent understanding that the penetrating role is quintessentially and definitively masculine. Just as Seneca wrote that women were “born to be submissive,”11 the prevailing belief was that men were born to penetrate. We recall the image of the hypermasculine god Priapus, who eagerly seeks to exercise his virility with boys and girls, men and women. women the same. Paul Veyne's incisive sentence well sums up the perspective regularly proposed by the Roman texts: "To be active is to be aman, regardless of the sex of the passive partner.12”. However; if a higher status individual wishes to have sex with a gladiator or nefarious person, that higher status person can only take control in the role of the penetrator. This means that the higher the person's status, the more dominant role they play in the same sexual activity; if higher status men are caught being submissive to the gladiators, they may lose their reputation, which could lead to shame and then being considered flaming. This is the law of the Lex Scantina; which consists of punishing men of the upper classes for having been submissive to the lower class. “A lot of ink has been spilled on the question of whether gay? sexuality was "illegal" in Roman culture, largely on the basis of the enigmatic attestations of the lex Scantina... They adapt the punishment to the crime: they hang traitors and defectors from trees, while cowards and non- warriors and those who are infamous in relation to their bodies, they drown in muddy bogs, pressing on a wicker frame. The distinction in punishment has this meaning: that crimes must be made public while they are punished, but sins must be hidden. » Infamies designate the category of sin and shame; for gladiators, they were considered the infamous of their society. By being distanced from society; gladiators had no rights or control over their own bodies and surroundings. Gladiators were slaves of sorts, they were considered property with no ownership over their lives. “The sexual vulnerability of the male slave made him inferior to a man; a slave would be called a puer throughout his life, and it seems likely that this term recalls the sexual usage as well as the age of a true puer. Sometimes owners tried to prolong the physical characteristics of childhood in their slaves, although we only hear about it from disapproving observers.31 In other words, to be a puer (sexually) was to be stigmatized. '. For slaves and gladiators alike, their use outside of combat was to please their masters. This itself showed cases of rape. Rape among these slaves was not considered because the master has full authority over his property; as well as torturing and punishing them whenever they want. In a social act; Being raped was considered acceptable for the infamias, because these slaves having nothing to their name, they had no choice in their abuse because to go against their master was to ask to be killed. “The speeches cited by Seneca constitute a remarkable assemblage of homophobic sentiments and victim-blaming, for example, sic imitatus est puellam ut raptorem inveniret, “he imitated a girl so well that he ended up a rapist?” a sobering definition of both impudicus and puella. Does the act of rape align with the act of composing a carmen famosum, a slanderous pamphlet? note the meaning of famosus, here “tending to infamia”. The infamies consisted of being constantly mistreated; in a hierarchy being an infamy; having this feeling of exclusion or alienation meant living such a horrible life where there was no control over moving up the social ladder or over one's body. The definition of patriarchy is a social system or government in which men hold power and women are largely excluded. he. (Dictionary) Patriarchy in the Roman Empire is about men and status. Gladiators are not considered men, so they are not considered equals. In a society where men are the superior sex; that.