Two men, one wedding in the ancient Rome

Abstract

The present article examines the reliability and possible interpretations of Roman texts on same-sex marriage. In addition to literary and historical sources, I also consider legal aspects, drawing in particular on the work of Craig Williams, Bruce Frier and Michael Fontaine. The main textual sources are a constitutio from late Antiquity, two epigrams of Martial, a Juvenalian locus, and historical works on the scandalridden reigns of the emperors Nero and Heliogabalus.