Gay roman art
Ganymede was 'the fairest of mortal men; wherefore the gods caught him up on high to be cupbearer to Zeus by reason of his beauty, that he might dwell with the immortals.'
So says Homer in the Iliad. Throughout antiquity, there was a fascination with the tale of how Zeus, king of the gods, fell in love with a human boy. The scene of Zeus swooping down from Olympus to steal away Ganymede, recognizable as 'The Rape of Ganymede', appeared on pottery, frescoes, statues and mosaics.
Zeus and Ganymede
c– BC, Attic red-figured kylix, attributed to the Penthesilea Painter. Ferrara Archaeological Museum
While many ancient depictions from Greece show two humans in the tale of Ganymede, the Romans favoured a version more in keeping with Zeus' fondness for wooing mortals in zoological form. According to the Roman poet Ovid:
'The king of the gods was once fired with cherish for Phrygian Ganymede, and when that happened Jupiter found another shape preferable to his own. Wishing to turn himself into a bird, he nonetheless scorned to change into any save that which can carry hi
Sex, gender, and relationships were viewed very differently in the ancient world across cultures.
Introduction
This gallery explores the expression of same-sex love in the ancient Mediterranean through art. The Mediterranean was home to many cultures and societies, each with differing views on gender, sex, and relationships. Art was used to celebrate cultural ideals of adore and desire or to subvert social norms.
Every culture represented in this gallery visualized cherish in its have way and had unique expectations of ideal relationships. Some cultures, like the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, used similar imagery to convey the dynamics of desire.
Mastaba of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep
Same-sex love and desire are infrequently depicted in ancient Egyptian art, although Egypt did not have any prohibitions against homosexuality. A rare example is the tomb of Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, two men who have been speculated to be a couple. In art from their shared tomb, Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were depicted in a manner consistent with married cou
Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)
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Attributed to the manner of the Pistoxenos Painter
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue inGallery
Interior, kithara player
Exterior, obverse and reverse, symposium (drinking party)
The decoration of the exterior is carefully placed. When the cup was suspended, the underside of the foot with the black band melded with the impression of the continuous couch on which the figures are reclining. A representation such as this one implies the homosexual relationships between men and youths that were part of an Athenian male's culture.
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Title:Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)
Artist:Attributed to the manner of the Pistoxenos Painter
Period:Classical
Date:ca. – BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Terracotta; red-figure
Dimensions:H. 3 7/8 in. ( cm)
diameter 9 1/2 i
A Brief History of Homosexuality in Italy from Ancient Rome to Today
Postwar Italy, politically dominated by the country’s Catholic party, didn’t do much against the diffused homophobia of those years. Society cared about gay people only for the wrong reasons, as it happened in when an investigation on the “homosexual scene” in the northern town of Brescia turned into a substantial media case with endless plot twists and unfounded accusations (which included one of human trafficking). When the so-called “Scandalo dei Balletti Verdi ” (“Green Ballets Scandal”) reached TV personalities like Mike Bongiorno, the entire country turned its morbose attention to it.
In , Fuori! (Out!), the first homosexual corporation in Italy, was founded. Mario Mieli, the most famous Italian LGBTQ+ activist, took part in the movement before founding his own organization. A year later, a group of gay people publicly demonstrated for their rights for the first time in the history of the country.
Since then, the Italian queer community has been keeping an active role in manifesting and demanding rights