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Decadent and Depraved Roman Emperors Who Shocked their Subjects

Khalid Elhassan February 11, 2025 15 min

6. Romans Were Tolerant of Homosexuality – Kinda

Decadent - Ancient bust of Elagabalus, and how he probably looked in the flesh — Ancient bust of Elagabalus, and how he probably looked in the flesh. Ocnus

To contemporary Romans, the fact that Elagabalus was gay was not a big deal in of itself, as homosexuality was not unusual. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, some homosexual relationships between men were often accepted, or at least tolerated – more so by the Greeks than the Romans. However, whether Greeks or Romans, the ancients were not tolerant of homosexuality in its entirety, as the term is commonly understood today. Sex between men did not carry much of a stigma in of itself – at least not for the top, or the one who did the penetrating. Exclusive bottoms – the ones penetrated – were often reviled, though, as effeminate behavior on the part of men jeopardized their social standing.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.