Slave Sex in Ancient Rome
May 5, 2015May 4, 2015 J. R. Daniel Kirk As Christians try to figure out what it looks like to respond in continuity with our ancient tradition to same-sex attraction, relationships, and questions of what is appropriate physical intimacy, one looming question is this: Did Paul know of homosexual relationships such as those that some Christians are committing themselves to in our day and age? Over the past couple of weeks I have been taking soundings in what sorts of same-sex activity Paul might have known of and possibly had in mind as he issued his warnings about it. (See previous discussions on pederasty and temple prostitution .) Today we need to talk about what might well have been the most common form of same-sex erotic encounter: use of slaves for sex. Slave-Sex in Rome: Generally Accepted Slaves were property. And it was assumed that all slaves, male and female, were available to their masters for sexual fulfillment. We see this in the claims of good upstanding...