Gay caligula
Caligula comes “Out in the Tropics”
Although Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also known as Caligula, only ruled Rome for four years between 37 AD and 41 AD, his footprints are all over Western civilization. The mythology of Caligula, whose name means little solider&#;s boot, is built around the thought that he was an insane tyrant whose extreme arrogance, cruelty, luxurious lifestyle—how else would an Emperor live?—and intense sexual perversions ultimately led to his assassination.
In death, Caligula grew even more infamous and has provided artists and even a few misguided Hollywood film producers with a rich and textured character from which to create a story. Supposedly, Caligula appointed his horse as a consul and a priest. There are no horses in the cubanized version of “Caligula” by Teatro El Público, which opens June 14th at 8 p.m. at the Colony Theater as part of the FUNDarte&#;s “Out in the Tropics” festival. Despite the lack of four-legged animals, there will be enough cross-dressing, seduction, intrigue, partial nudity and, yes, gay
The Gay Roman Emperor Gene
There is a wry minute footnote in Gibbon where he reflects that of the first fifteen Roman Emperors, “Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct.” Even if we assume that Kinsey’s inflated “one in ten” statistic is accurate, we should only expect that of these men would be homosexual/bisexual in his inclinations. Two would be within normal statistical deviation, three would be a small odd but perhaps explicable if we theorized that the Claudians were carrying a male homosexuality gene, but twelve of thirteen does seem a small improbable. Here I verb a look at six of them.
Julius. If Julius Caesar had homosexual relations, it is generally thought that they were politically motivated. He was willing to indulge his political patrons in order to gain prestige and dignitas within the Roman world. He was also willing to receive such favours from his inferiors as a way of securing their political loyalty and establishing his dominance over them. He is what we would call an “opportunistic homosexual.”
Tiberius. Tiberius, by all
Homosexuality in ancient Rome
During the time of the Republic, Roman citizens had the right (libertas) to protect their bodies from physical coercion, including both corporal punishment and sexual violence. Roman society was typically patriarchal and masculinity was based on the principle of governing not only oneself but also other persons, especially those from the lower class.
Roman cup showing a homosexual sex scene.
It was socially acceptable for a free-born Roman to have sex with a woman or a noun assuming a dominant role. Both women and new men were perceived as natural objects of wish. Outside of marriage, a man could have sex with slaves, prostitutes (who were usually slaves) and the so-called infames (the restricted man). It did not matter with which gender the Roman indulged in until he did not exceed certain social norms. For example, it was immoral to include sex with another citizen&#;s free-born wife, his daughter by marriage, his underage son, or the gentleman himself.
During imperial times, the fear of losing political freedom and submitting to power t
Caligula: The Ultimate Slice - A Return To The Original Vision
A new edit of this controversial & cautionary tale restores it to the glory of the Roman Empire.
Malcolm McDowell in Caligula: The Ultimate Cut
A few days after its premiere in Rome, the film was confiscated by the Italian Police. Upon shipment to the US, it was seized by customs and became embroiled in lawsuits from cities across the country. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars. It is still banned in multiple countries. For all these reasons, you&#;ve probably heard of the film Caligula. More recently thought of as a cult film, what was initially billed to be a great historical epic ended up as a minute film containing mostly pornography. To detect out why this was the outcome of a major production one only has to draw the lines between the throughline of absolute power from Rome to Hollywood.
For those in need of a history refresher, Caligula was the third emperor of the Roman Empire and widely considered the first to be mentally ill. Over the course of a four year reign he made liberal utilize of his deification a