Sexual Life in Ancient Rome

Sinopse

No greater difference can be imagined than that between the sexual habits of the Greeks and the Romans. The Greeks, capable of appreciating the higher ends of civilization, fulfilled themselves by the creation of great works of art and a socially perfect state. The Romans expressed their will to power in a cruder manner, and carried their crudeness into their sexual activities. Otto Kiefer argues in Sexual Life in Ancient Rome that this power expressed itself among the mass of the people as sadism in sex as well as enjoyment of the savage spectacles of the games. This Roman cruelty is shown to be manifested throughout a wide range of Roman life.
Kiefer deals first with the position of women in Rome and the different types of marriage which took place, and also discusses divorce and prostitution. He passes next to the analysis of the sadistic instinct in the education of children, in the treatment of slaves, and in the public executions and gladiatorial games. An account of the erotic element in Roman religion follows. A short account of dress, dancing, and the theatre leads to a full analysis of eroticism in Roman poetry.
The final section speculates on the cause of decay of the Roman Empire, and inquires whether it was sexual degeneration which caused it to collapse against the growing power of Christianity on the spiritual side and the barbarians on the political.