Thursday, February 11, 2016

Pretty Important Article

Psephizo makes important points and raises significant questions.

Same Sex Marriage in Ancient Rome?

A commenter over at Anglican Down Under recently pointed out that Juvenal's Satire no. 2, lines 117 following (you can read it here) ribs marriage between two men.

Now I understand satire to be the satire of something real rather than imaginary, so I am imagining that Juvenal is ribbing an actual social phenomenon?

Or is there another accounting for why Juvenal takes on same sex marriage contemporary to his time in the ancient world?

So, is Juvenal pointing to something which some today say is new in our time?

This article makes clear that at least for a period (Nero to Domitian?) same sex marriage was tolerated in Roman society. But note something within the article is forcefully argued in another article here: there was no legal same sex marriage in ancient Rome, though there were same sex weddings celebrated. For another analysis, go here.