This luxurious silver cup was used at Roman dinner parties. The cup originally had two handles and depicts two pairs of male lovers. One side shows two teenage boys making love, while the other shows a young man lowering himself onto the lap of his elder, bearded lover. A slave-boy peers in voyeuristically from behind a door. The luxurious fabrics and musical instruments indicate that these scenes are set in a world heavily influenced by Greek culture, which the Romans admired and largely adopted.
What was the Roman attitude to relationships between men?
Images like this were not unusual in the Roman world. Some of the boys on this cup are underage by today's standards, but the Romans tolerated relationships between older and younger men. Relationships between men were part of Greek and Roman culture, from slaves to emperors, most famously the emperor Hadrian and his Greek lover, Antinous. Today such ancient images remind us that the way societies view sexuality is never fixed.
Due to it its explicit imagery, the cup was refused entry to the USA in 1953
Life, love, luxury – in one cup
This Roman silver cup is a fascinating and very versatile object, combining drinking, money and sex all in one!
To the Romans it was a drinking cup to be used not just admired. Picture a dinner party, course after course of exotic food and lots of fine wine. The guests talk about politics and love as they pass round the table this luxurious, tactile silver cup. Their host is delighted that they admire its decoration (and its value).
As a work of art it’s a masterpiece – its fine decoration achieved by beating the silver into shape from the inside using fine hammers and chisels. Luxuriant fabrics and musical instruments indicate a world heavily influenced by Greek culture, which the Romans admired and adopted.
So what is so special about the decoration that made it one of the British Museum’s highest-profile and most controversial acquisitions? What kept the piece out of permanent museum collections until 1999, and ensured that its purchase by the British Museum earned it a place in all the British media?
Sex.
One side of the cup shows two teenage males, while the other shows two older men, all of them caught in the act of making love. The older men are watched by a peeping-tom, a young slave who spies on them from behind the door.
Were the dinner party guests offended by this? Probably not at all. Scenes of love-making were everywhere in Roman art. The cup is unique today, but in Roman times there were many others. Same sex relationships? Love and sex between men, often of differing ages, was part of Greek and Roman culture. One of the boys looks underage to us, but he was of marrying age to the Romans.
So this little cup embraces the Romans’ love of banqueting, their passion for conspicuous shows of wealth, their love of beautiful things and their skill in creating them. It also allows a glimpse into the private life of the Romans, challenging our traditional view of how they lived and loved.
Today some people take the cup out of its Roman context and see it as a symbol, either of sexual liberation, an affirmation of gay identity and proof of this identity through time, or of ancient decadence and a cautionary lesson in modern liberalism.
And here is the real beauty of the piece. It makes you think, and what better tribute could there be for an object from the past than to stimulate and provoke debate in the present?
Comments
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18 comments
- 11. At 14:41 on 27 May 2010, JulianRussell wrote:
- 12. At 23:32 on 27 May 2010, Gary wrote:
- 13. At 16:39 on 31 May 2010, Emma wrote:
- 14. At 20:00 on 21 June 2010, Miles Hodgkiss wrote:
- 15. At 19:03 on 10 August 2010, rspitt wrote:
- 16. At 22:04 on 27 January 2011, Jessy Ann wrote:
- 17. At 10:53 on 2 March 2011
- 18. At 16:49 on 6 May 2011, NickMat wrote:
pages 1Â 2ÂI am sorry to say that this object invites us to admire what would now be accepted as exploitative sexual relations. It was highly praised in the radio broadcast as praiseworthy example of homosexual relations, as a demonstration of the broad-mindedness of the presenter. It turns out that the example of sexual activity depicted is apparently of older males each penetrating another male who is not his equal. In my limited understanding of Greek, "homo" means something like "same", so in this sense the relationships fail. I would not be sorry to see this object melted down and the proceeds contributed to funds for the support of the sexually-abused.
What is it about this antique item that the 91Èȱ¬ is unable to look it straight in the eye and display it with the same dignity as other items in this series?
This object clearly was designed to provoke a response, and I am glad that it still is. It is through such things that our picture of the ancient world is coloured in. The colours might clash with our tastes, but destroying it will not benefit us in the long run. It is better to say that our society has improved because the (apparent) abuses shown are not accepted, than to tar over the colour to make it politically correct.
I am glad that we are able to look at such objects and pass our own judgements.
One should never forget or forgive Rome for being a rapacious slave driven society. Remember what happened to Boudicca?s children! Many were the occasion someone?s children male and female were thrown to Rome?s brutish troops to be molested degraded and worse.
Look wearily upon those who would give praise to such an ugly people. Good riddance to them. Perhaps the children in Israel from the town where this cup was found were subjected to cruel lewd and inhuman treatment even as the wine flowed merrily from this ?precious? chalice at its last Roman outing. And if it were so let us hope the b*s got well and truly b*d on their way out. And if we found our troopers behaving that way to children what would we have to say about them their masters and their keepers??
Firstly, what a wonderful object. It's artist/maker could scarcely have imagined that it could cause such a response centuries later. If art has to have reasons for being, one of them is to provoke a reaction and make us question the 'normal' mores of a society. True, art can just be beautiful. Secondly, I must take issue with Julian Russell (27th May 2010) and his assertion that such an object should be destroyed. Maybe he, and others with similar views, should just stop and think, for down that path leads the beliefs of the Taliban and the destruction of the Buddha of Bamiyan statues in the Hindu Kush; the burning of books at various times throughout history but particularly the well known Nazi burning of 'degenerate' books in 1933; and the iconoclasm of the Puritans in England which destroyed a vast legacy of medieval art. I for one would rather see items which may challenge my sensibilities in existence, rather than have the world a much, much poorer place if they did not.
I think this cup is certainly a work of art. However, as an archaeologist I doubt its origins. I also doubt the opinion that its shows homosexuality to be ok in ancient Rome, this cup could be from anywhere or have been made by anyone in the Empire. It could also be depicting a religious/mythical scene and be saying nothing about what actually went on in society. Im horrified that the bbc would pass judgement on it and use it to say that homosexuality was accepted in Ancient Roman Society. A case in point would be that homosexual acts between consenting adults in the Roman Army was one of the few things that ot you the death penelty.
By the way Miles Hodgkiss I am disgusted by your comments. Every civilisation has had its fair share of being cruel. I would argue that as well as being 'cruel' in ur opinion, The Romans were actually one of the most tolerant peoples ever. For example, they accepted any religion, and would accept any forgein god into their religious practices aslong as the same curtosey was shown to them. I would be extremely surprised if you could come up with a modern example of such religious openess, infact religion has caused unimaginable blood shed in recent times. So perhaps you should read a bit more and increase your knowledge before you pass judgement. Just some advice
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Absolutely Beautiful Cup! Just because these acts may have been 'illegal' in Ancient Rome, doesn't mean men/teenagers didn't paarticipate/enjoy and create Art out of them!