Eros Unveiled: Exploring Sensuality in Ancient Roman Literature

Jan 2, 2024

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“Unlocking Passion: A Critique of the British Museum’s Exhibition on Pompeii and Herculaneum’s Erotic Art”

It lacks a sense of sin.

In the pagan Roman era, expressions of disgust towards certain forms of sexual behavior were not uncommon. In his biography of the emperor Tiberius, the Roman historian Suetonius paints a shocking portrait of the tyrant as a debauched old man, detailing how Tiberius created a sinister pleasure island on the Isle of Capri where he committed brutal outrages – and amassed a collection of pornography. A memorable scene in the classic television drama “I, Claudius” depicts John Hurt as Caligula ingratiating himself with Uncle Tiberius by presenting him with a smutty painting. However, the reality of Roman life revealed by the art of Pompeii shows that uninhibited sex and unrepressed art were universal in this ancient culture, not the preserve of decadent tyrants.

It is a huge contrast with the Christian society that emerged from the ruins of Rome and still, in many ways – whatever our personal beliefs – shapes the culture of the West. This contrast is sharply illustrated by what happened to the erotic art of Pompeii when it started to be rediscovered by excavators in the 18th century. It was admired but also considered deeply provocative. For a long time, the saucy treasures now on view at the British Museum were kept under lock and key in the “secret cabinet,” a claustrophobic, windowless alcove in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. This cloistered academy of voyeurism opened permanently to the public only in 2000.”

“Even today, it feels sinful to visit the secret museum. It feels dirty to look at dirty pictures. The ancient Pompeians plainly did not feel like that. The statue of Pan making love to a goat in the British Museum’s exhibit comes from a respectable garden. Yet, without a sense of sin, we, today, would not enjoy sex half as much, and that is why modern sexuality owes more to St. Augustine than it does to the painters of Pompeii.”

“While researching my book, ‘The Loves of the Artists,’ I came to realize that sin is the secret ingredient in the Renaissance nude. When Donatello and Caravaggio portray beautiful boys, they are not indulging in an accepted, legal desire like ancient Greek and Roman artists. In the Renaissance, you could be burned at the stake for ‘sodomy,’ and this adds a special risk and excitement to an obviously sexualized statue such as Donatello’s David.”

“Roman erotic art is startling and fascinating, but it lacks that spark of sin. Similar to Donatello when he brought the male nude daringly back to life in a Christian world, modern love delights in being bad.”

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