Abstract
The popular image of the early Roman emperors is marked by notions of unbridled sexuality and moral decadence. It is the work of the imperial biographer Suetonius more than any other that has given rise to this image. His biographies include reports about the sex lives of the emperors that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination: Augustus has his wife Livia procure young girls for him to deflower; Tiberius holds wild orgies in the seclusion of Capri; and Caligula indiscriminately rapes his sisters, respectable matrons, and Roman senators.2 Evidence for the broad reception of these reports ranges from erotic engravings of the eighteenth century to the X-rated films of recent years.3 Among scholars, by contrast, for a long time this “frivolous” subject received little attention.4 Earlier scholars on Suetonius embarrassedly regarded the passages in question as merely further proof that Suetonius was a third-rate author interested in scandal and gossip from all kinds of unreliable sources.5 Over the last decades, however, not only has Suetonius enjoyed a nuanced reassessment,6 but also the discursive nature of sexuality itself has been the subject of extensive discussion.7
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Ahl, F. 1984. “The Art of Safe Criticism in Greece and Rome.” American journal of Philology 105: 174–208.
Alföldy, G. 1980/81. Römisches Staats- und Gesellschaftsdenken bei Sueton. Ancient Society 11/12: 349–85.
Baldwin, B. 1983. Suetonius. Amsterdam: A. M. Hakkert.
Blanshard, A. J. L. 2010. Sex: Vice and Love from Antiquity to Modernity. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Bradley, K. R. 1991. “The Imperial Ideal in Suetonius’ ‘Caesars.’” In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 2.33.5: 3701–32.
Bringmann, K. 1971. “Zur Tiberiusbiographie Suetons.” Rheinisches Museum 114: 268–85.
Bussemer, T. 2008. Propaganda. Konzepte und Theorien. Mit einem einführenden Vorwort von Peter Glotz, 2nd ed. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag.
Buttrey, T. V 1973. “The Spintriae as a Historical Source.” The Numismatic Chronicle, 7th Series 8: 52–63.
Champlin, E. 2003. Nero. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Champlin, E. 2008. “Tiberius the Wise.” Historia 57: 408–25.
Champlin, E. 2011. “Sex on Capri.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 141: 315–32.
Charles, M. 2002. “Calvus Nero: Domitian and the Mechanics of Predecessor Denigration.” Acta Classica 45: 19–49.
Charles, M. 2006. “Domitianus 1.1: Nerva and Domitian.” Acta Classica 49: 79–87.
Charlesworth, M. R 1933. “Some Fragments of the Propaganda of Mark Antony.” Classical Quarterly 27: 172–77.
Corbeill, A. 1996. Controlling Laughter: Political Humor in the Late Roman Republic. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Craig, C. 2004. “Audience Expectations, Invective, and Proof.” In J. Powell and J. Paterson, eds., Cicero the Advocate, 187–213. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Demandt, A. 1997. Das Privatleben der römischen Kaiser, 2nd ed. Munich: C. H. Beck.
Döpp, S. 1972. “Zum Aufbau der Tiberiusvita Suetons.” Hermes 100: 444–60.
Edwards, C. 1993. The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Eich, A. 2003. “Die Idealtypen ‘Propaganda’ und ‘Repräsentation’ als heuristisches Mittel bei der Bestimmung gesellschaftlicher Konvergenzen und Divergenzen von Moderne und römischer Kaiserzeit.” In G. Weber and M. Zimmermann, eds., Propaganda—Selbstdarstellung—Repräsentation im römischen Kaiserreich des 1. Jhs. n. Chr, 41–84. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
Flach, D. 1972. “Zum Quellenwert der Kaiserbiographien Suetons.” Gymnasium 79: 273–89.
Flaig, E. 2003. “Wie Kaiser Nero die Akzeptanz der Plebs urbana verlor. Eine Fallstudie zum politischen Gerücht im Prinzipat.” Historia 52: 351–72.
Fraschetti, A. 1999. “Augusto e Vesta sul Palatino.” Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 1: 174–83.
Fritz, K. von. 1957. “Tacitus, Agricola, Domitian, and the Problem of the Principate.” In K. von Fritz, ed., 1976, Schriften zur griechischen und römischen Verfassungsgeschichte und Verfassungstheorie, 535–66. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Froissart, R 2002. La rumeur. Histoire et fantasmes. Paris: Belin.
Funaioli, G. 1932. “C. Suetonius (4) Tranquillus.” In Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaften, vol. 4A, 593–641.
Gascou, J. 1984. Suétone historien. Rome: École Française de Rome.
Greenidge, A. H. J. 1894. Infamia: Its Place in Roman Public and Private Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Großmann, M. E. 2008. “Einige Überlegungen zur ‘Basis von Sorrent.’” In G. Grabherr and B. Kainrath, eds., Akten des11. Österreichischen Archäologentages in Innsbruck 23.–25. März 2006, 93–98. Innsbruck: Innsbruck University Press.
Hallet, J. R and M. B. Skinner, eds. 1997. Roman Sexualities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Kapferer, J.-N. 1996. Gerüchte. Das älteste Massenmedium der Welt. Leipzig: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag.
Kienast, D. 1999. Augustus. Prinzeps und Monarch, 3rd ed. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Kim On Chong-Gossard, J. H. 2010. “Who Slept with Whom in the Roman Empire?” In A. J. Turner, J. H. Kim On Chong-Gossard, and F. J. Vervaet, eds., Private and Public Lies: The Discourse of Despotism and Deceit in the Graeco-Roman World, 295–327. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
Koch, C. 1958. “Vesta.” In Paulys Realencydopädie der dassischen Altertumswissenschaften, vol. 8A, 1717–76.
Krenkel, W. A. 1980. “Sex und politische Biographie.” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Wilhelm-Pieck-Universität Rostock 29: 65–76.
Langlands, R. 2006. Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Laurence, R. 1994. “Rumor and Communication in Roman Politics.” Greece & Rome 41: 62–74.
Levick, B. 1999. Vespasian. London: Routledge.
Lunzer, D. von, 1948. “Valerius (120–122) Catullus.” In Paulys Realencydopädie der dassischen Altertumswissenschaften, vol. 7A, 2352–53.
Mastino, A., and P. Ruggeri. 1995. “Claudia Augusti liberta Acte. La liberta amata da Nerone ad Olbia.” Latomus 54: 513–44.
Meister, J. B. 2009. “Pisos Augenbrauen. Zur Lesbarkeit aristokratischer Körper in der späten römischen Republik.” Historia 58: 71–95.
Meister, J. B. 2012. Der Körper des Princeps. Zur Problematik eines monarchischen Körpers ohne Monarchie. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
Meister, J. B. 2014. “Lachen und Politik. Zur Funktion von Humor in der politischen Kommunikation des römischen Principats.” Klio 96: 26–48.
Meyer-Zwiffelhoffer, E. 1995. Im Zeichen des Phallus. Die Ordnung des Geschlechtslebens im antiken Rom. Frankfurt: Campus.
Murison, C. L. 1987. “Tiberius, Vitellius and the spintriae.” The Ancient History Bulletin 1: 97–99.
Osgood, J. W. 2008. “Caesar and Nicomedes.” Classical Quarterly 58: 687–91.
Pina Polo, F. 2010. “Frigidus rumor: The Creation of a (Negative) Public Image in Rome.” In A. J. Turner, J. H. Kim On Chong-Gossard, and F. J. Vervaet, eds., Private and Public Lies: The Discourse of Despotism and Deceit in the Graeco-Roman World, 75–90. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
Richlin, A. 1992/93. “Not before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the cinaedus and the Roman Law against Love between Men.” Journal of the History of Sexuality 3: 523–73.
Scott, K. 1933. “The Political Propaganda of 44–30 B.C.” Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 9: 7–49.
Skinner, M. B. 2005. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture. Maiden, MA: Blackwell.
Steidle, W. 1951. Sueton und die Antike Biographic Munich: C. H. Beck.
Stein, A. 1899. “Claudia (392) Akte.” In Paulys Realencydopädie der dassischen Altertumswissenschaften, vol. 3, 2888–89.
Stein, A. 1929. “Sporus.” In Paulys Realencydopädie der dassischen Altertumswissenschaften, vol. 3A, 1886–88.
Wallace-Hadrill, A. 1995. Suetonius, 2nd ed. London: Bristol Classical Press.
Waters, K. H. 1964. “The Character of Domitian.” Phoenix 18: 49–77.
Weber, G., and M. Zimmermann, eds. 2003. Propaganda—Selbstdarstellung—Repräsentation im römischen Kaiserreich des 1. Jhs. n.Chr. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.
Williams, C. 2010. Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Winterling, A. 1999. Aula Caesaris. Studien zur Institutionalisierung des römischen Kaiserhofes in der Zeit von Augustus bis Commodus (31 v. Chr.-192n. Chr.). Munich: Oldenburg Verlag.
Winterling, A. 2001. “ ‘Staat’, ‘Gesellschaft’ und politische Integration in der römischen Kaiserzeit.” Klio 83: 93–112.
Winterling, A. 2009. Politics and Society in Imperial Rome. Maiden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Winterling, A. 2011. Caligula: A Biography. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Wiseman, T. P. 2007. “The Valerii Catulli of Verona.” In M. B. Skinner, ed., A Companion to Catullus, 57–71. Maiden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Woods, D. 2009. “Nero and Sporus.” Latomus 68: 73–82.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2014 Martijn Icks and Eric Shiraev
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Meister, J. (2014). Reports about the “Sex Life” of Early Roman Emperors: A Case of Character Assassination?. In: Icks, M., Shiraev, E. (eds) Character Assassination throughout the Ages. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137344168_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137344168_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-48512-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-34416-8
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political Science CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)