They accepted socially physical closeness and physical contact between women is always more, than such manifestations of men. So it was in ancient times. And that’s why the lesbian relationship between women often remained hidden from the outside observer.
Dozens of records from the late Roman Empire proved that the cohabitation of two men legally. Authenticated with the same rites as for heterosexual couples. However, documents on lesbian marriages have barely survived. We can conclude that the legal framework made it possible for men to live together primarily.
The laws of Augustus then ruled that a Roman woman could only have sex in marriage. Lesbian relationships thus remained sure to be hidden.
In 168 B.C., he restricted the “sacred drinking” called bacchanalias throughout Italy.
They organized these five times a month. First with women only and then with a mix of men and women. These “sacred drinking” in honor of Dionysus ended in orgies, respectively. For women too!
Homosexuality in ancient Rome
The ancient Greeks strongly influenced the homosexuality of ancient Rome. At the end of the republic, the perception of homosexuality was that “the Greeks do it only if they want to, but we are Romans.” Yet it was at this time that both male and female forms of homosexuality (lesbianism) began to spread in the upper Roman circles. Then, by the time of the emperor, they removed all moral barriers. And same-sex relations had become standard practice.
In the age of the republic was a moral indifference. Homosexuality was not considered a shame or glory.
The senator-historian Tacitus, who lived at the beginning of the 2nd century, put it this way.
“The slowly disappearing domestic customs are finally twisted by imported freedom….”
Lucius wrote about an interesting phenomenon in the early 2nd century. About the tribade. That is a couple of women who share an active and passive role. And he alluded to the fact that there were “masculine-looking heters” living on the island of Lesbos. And they had sex only with women.
So lesbian relationships certainly existed in ancient Rome as well. And fortunately, there are faint historical memories that suggest that as well.
