Sexual activity in Ancient Rome wasn’t the licentious free-for-all we may imagine (especially for women); in fact it was strictly regulated. But author and historian LJ Trafford has unearthed plenty of weird and lurid facts about Ancient Roman sex for her new book, as she tells Historia. When my publisher suggested to me that I […]
Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome by LJ Trafford
From emperors and empresses, poets and prostitutes, slaves and plebs, Ancient Rome was a wealth of different experiences and expectations. None more so than around the subject of sex and sexuality. The image of Ancient Rome that has come down to us is one of sexual excess: emperors gripped by perversion partaking in pleasure with […]
Merkins and masochists: a brief history of sex
Sex was just as naughty and inventive in previous centuries as in our lifetimes, despite our perceptions of the past as often prudish, writes author Jemahl Evans. It’s just public attitudes that have changed
James I & VI: King or Queen?
E C Fremantle tackles the contentious question of King James I & VI’s sexuality. Under Rubens’ glorious ceiling, depicting the heaven-bound figure of King James I & VI surrounded by the flickering wings and dimpled flesh of a host of cherubs, a six foot six transvestite, wearing a corset, heels, bum-roll and not much else, […]