Roman Attitudes Towards Sexual Assault
Trigger Warning: References to sexual assault and sexual abuse in antiquity.
I know this is a terrible topic, but I think we need to know something about sexual violence in antiquity in order to understand the revolution brought into Roman culture by the advent of Christianity.
Roman Mythology
The city of Rome was created by rape.
The “Rape of the Sabines” is a legendary story of the founding of Rome in which the men of Rome, consisting of brigands and bandits, who had no wives, abducted women from the neighboring Sabine tribe during a festival. The Latin word rapere means both “rape” and “kidnap.”
The Sabine women, in order to stave off an inter-tribal war, agreed to marry their Roman captors and helped to establish a lasting peace between the two tribes.
Early Republic
During the early republic, rape was regarded as a crime against the family's honor rather than an offense against the actual victim. This is a world where there were laws but not “rights” as we know them. The rights and welfare of women were never considered, rape was regarded as a violation not so much of a woman herself as of a husband’s or father’s honor. Accordingly, the punishment for rape was often a fine paid to the victim's paterfamilias.
In some cases, the victim's family might even force her to marry her rapist to restore their honor, this was seen - weirdly to us - as a good outcome.
One of the most famous stories of rape is that of Lucretia. According to legend, Lucretia was a virtuous and beautiful woman in a prestigious Roman family who was married to a nobleman named Collatinus. One day, while her husband was away, Lucretia was visited by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the Roman king. Sextus had long lusted after Lucretia and on this opportune occasion, he raped her.
After the assault, Lucretia informed her husband and her father what had happened, and then, overcome with shame and grief, she took her own life in order to preserve her honor. Lucretia’s family organized a revolt against the Tarquins and ousted them from the rule of Rome.
Imperial Period
During the imperial period, Roman attitudes toward sexual assault became more nuanced. The law began to recognize that rape was a crime against the victim rather than just a violation of a family’s honor. The punishment for rape became more severe, including exile, slavery, and even capital punishment on some occasions.
However, the law was not universally applied, assaults against a noble woman or a citizen were likely to incur punishment, while assaults against foreigners, non-citizens, and slaves would be overlooked.
The emperor Augustus made it illegal for a husband to force his wife into prostitution. He also introduced a law that required fathers to report cases of sexual abuse or incest involving their daughters. Augustus established new legal procedures that made it easier for victims of sexual assault to bring charges against their attackers.
Despite cosmetic changes to Roman law, sexual violence continued to be prevalent in Roman society and in the provinces. Wealthy and powerful men used their status to exploit women and children without fear of punishment.
Rape was considered a normal part of warfare. Indeed, the ability of Roman men to violate the women of conquered and colonized territories was a matter of propaganda, art, and celebration in Roman culture. For instance, Claudius’ regime celebrated the Roman conquest of Britain by erecting a relief of himself in Aphrodisias depicting Claudius standing over a half-naked Roman woman to be violated and then killed.
In some cases, the stories of vice and violence involved a blend of cruelty and mythology.
After Nero murdered his pregnant wife Poppaea Sabina, Nero was distraught and searched far and wide for a replica, which he found in a small slave boy, who bore an uncanny resemblance to the dead empress. Nero named him “Sporus” (Greek for “spunk”), had him castrated, and dressed as Poppaea. Nero allegedly married Sporus and thereafter had Sporus accompany him in public events and his travels. After Nero’s suicide, Sporus passed into the possession of several men including Nero’s praetorian prefect Nymphidius Sabinus, then to the emperor Otho, and then to the emperor Vitellius. Under Vitellius, Sporus was told that (s)he was to be part of a theatrical production where (s)he would perform the role of Proserpina, a story of a young girl whom the ruler of the underworld forces to become his bride, and be raped as part of the performance. Faced with this prospect of being raped as part of public entertainment, Sporus committed suicide.