Sexuality in ancient Rome
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Sexual attitudes and behaviors in ancient Rome are indicated by art, literature, and inscriptions, and to a lesser extent by archaeological remains such as erotic artifacts and architecture. It has so
Satyr and nymph, mythological symbols of sexuality for their respective sexes, on a mosaic from a bedroom in Pompeii.
Romantic scene from a mosaic (Villa at Centocelle, Rome, 20 BC–20 AD)
Erotic art in its architectural context at the House of the Centenary, Pompeii
Detail of the painting
Venus (mythology)
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Venus is a Roman goddess whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas,
Sexuality in ancient Rome
…conception, and childbirth. The connections among human reproduction, general prosperity, and the wellbeing of the state are embodied by the Roman cult of Venus, who differs from her Greek counterpart Aphrodite in her role as a mother of the Roman people through her half-mortal son Aeneas. The fascinum, a phallic…
Venus rising from the sea, alluding to the birth-myth of Greek Aphrodite. From a garden wall at the Casa della Venere in conchiglia, Pompeii. Before AD 79
A 2nd- or 3rd-century bronze figurine of Venus, in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
Venus and Mars, with Cupid attending, in a wall painting from Pompeii
Imperial image of Venus suggesting influence from Syria or Palestine, or from the cult of Isis