UPDATED: Thank you

"Go forth as equals, and live in harmony accordingly,

For dignity and song, love and life

Have joined you together

as allies and companions.”

“Este pares et ob hoc concordes vivite; nam vos / et decor et cantus et amor sociavit et aetas.” –Calpurnius Siculus, Eclog. 2.99-100

 

September 30th marked the end of the five-year project LGBT Meets SPQR. I hope you enjoyed learning about the Greeks and Romans as much as I did. I appreciate all of the love and support I have received from all of you over the years.  

If any of you are interested in owning a paperback copy of LGBT Meets SPQR: A Sourcebook, copies will become available shortly at your favorite online store. 

Thank you again for joining me on this journey. In turn, I hope that my blog held meaning to you.

For queer folk around the world, I want you to know that you are not alone. Like the countless stories of queer folk preserved in the passages of this blog, your story also deserves to be told and preserved for future generations. May it be a happy one, full of love and support.

UPDATE: Due to recent events, I cannot anticipate how long this blog will remain available online. I have therefore copied the posts into a single PDF document, available HERE, which does not include tags but is searchable for region / language / time period using the CTRL + F function. Thanks and stay safe! 

Omnia Vincit Amor,

Kris

Atalanta's Loyal Companion, [from Andrea Navagero]

 Author: Andrea Navagero

Region: [modern Italy]

Date: 16th century CE

Citation: [Picta Poesis Ovidiana [1580], p. 89

Often Atalanta would travel through the quiet glades

Safely, with her trusty dog at her side.

Whether she routed her prey through the hills

Or if she wanted to tackle the savage beasts head-on

Her pup companion was always by her side,

And never more than an inch away from her at all times.

 

 

Saepe pererrabat tacitos Atalanta recessus:

tuta tamen fido Menalione fuit.

Cingeret obsessos seu curva indagine colles:

seu cuperet saevas cominus ire feras.

Haerebat lateri semper comes ille: nec umquam,

a domina lato longius ungue fuit.

I am the Unmarried Daphne: a poem from Faustus Sabaeus

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid

I am the unmarried Daphne

I am friend to harp and bow [1] 

I provide visions to prophets [2]

I am an imperial honor. [3]

I am always blooming,

I can always repel lightning. [4]

Apollo wears my crown in triumphal ceremonies.

But: what if I hadn’t been so hard-hearted

To the man I rejected

To the man I fled?

I was pretty,

But a stupid girl

And powerless against him.

 

[1]  a reference to the different types of things made from wood from the bay tree 

[2] bay leaves were used in religious ceremonies during divination

[3] in Roman cultures, crowns made of laurel / bay trees were symbols of victory

[4] bay trees were thought to repel lightning

 

--Faustus Sabaeus, Picta Poesis Ovidiania

Innuba sum Laurus: Cytharis & amica pharetrae:

Somnia vaticainans: imperialis honor.

Usque virens, ac usque valens depellere fulmen:

Meque triumphail cinxit honore Deus;

Quem sprevi, & fugi, quid si non dura fuissem?

Pulchra, sed insipiens virgo, et inepta fui.

 

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.

Eutropius, Killed By Enemies of the State: Zosimus, Historia 5.18.5

Author: Zosimus

Region: Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey)

Date: late 5th / early 6th century CE

Citation: Historia, 5.18.5, translated into Latin by C. G. Heynius (1784)

And so Eutropius experienced both ends of luck’s spectrum in an unusual manner. For he reached the pinnacle of power [as a consul of Rome], which a eunuch had never done before, but then he was killed out of hatred by people who were enemies of the government.

Et Eutropio quidem n utramque partem insolito fortuna modo quodam est usa. Nam et tantum ad culmen eum evexit, quantum nullus eunuchorum umquam adtigit;et neci dedit, propter odium, quo se illum persequi hostes reipublicae dicerent.

Εὐτροπίῳ μὲν οὖν ἡ τύχη κατ ̓ ἀμφότερα παραλόγως ἐχρήσατο, πρὸς ὕψος ἄρασα τοσοῦτον ὅσον οὐδὲ εἷς πώποτε τῶν εὐνούχων ἀνεβιβάσθη, θάνατόν τε ἐπαγαγοῦσα διὰ τὸ μῖσος ὃ πρὸς αὐτὸν οἱ τῇ πολιτείᾳ πολεμοῦντες ἔλεγον ἔχειν.

Wilgefortis, Protected By The Beard of Christ [from Acta Sanctorum Mensis Julius]

Hail, Wilgefortis, holy servant of Christ!

You loved Christ with all of your heart

and, when you rejected a marriage to the king of Sicily,

you proved your faith on the Cross.

By your own earthly father’s decree

You endured the tortures of imprisonment,

You grew a beard on your face,

Which you obtained from Christ as a gift

Because you wanted to stop others from wanting to marry you.

Seeing this, your heathen father raised you up

High up on a cross, still wearing your beard

And ready [to die].

Since you had both grace as well as virtue,

As soon as you could,

Your soul fled to Christ’s protection.

O lady,

Because we cherish your memory with solemn praises,

O blessed Wilgefortis,

We beg you to pray on our behalf!

 

--Acta Sanctorum Mensis Julius,  Volume 7, Issue 5 (1748) p. 64 ; (Originally published in Enchiridion praeclarae ecclesiae Sarisburensis, 1533)

 

Ave sancta famula,Wilgefortis,Christi,

quae ex tota anima Christum dilexisti;

dum regis Siciliae nuptias sprevisti;

Crucifixo Domino fidem praebuisti.

Jussu patris carceris tormenta subisti,

crevit barba facie, quod obtinuisti

a Christo pro munere, quod sibi voluisti

te volente nubere sibi confudisti.

videns pater impius te sic deformatam

elevavit arius in cruce paratam.

Ubi cum virtutibus reddidisti gratam

animamque quantocius,Christo commendatam.

Quia devotis laudibus tuam memoriam, virgo, recolimus,

o beata Wilgefortis, ora pro nobis quaesumus.

The Death of Hippolytus and the Rebirth of Virbius, [Lactantius, Div. Inst.1.17]

 

Name:  Lactantius Date:  3rd century CE Region:  Numidia [modern Tunisia] Citation:    Div. Inst. 1.17

[Condemning the love affairs of the gods, Lactantius criticizes the relationship between Artemis and Hippolytus, insinuating that it was impure. He follows this passage with wild accusations that will not be published here.] When another goddess [Diana] nearly lost her lover [Hippoluytus / Virbius] who was “torn apart by spooked horses,” she begged the most famous healer Asclepius to heal him. And, once he was healed, she “took him away safely to a remote location, Entrusted him to the nymph Egeria, And abandoned him to the grove, Where he, alone and forgotten in the woods of Italy Would spend the rest of his life Under the changed name Virbius.”

Altera cum pene amatorem suum perdidisset,qui erat "turbatis distractus equis," praestantissimum medicum Asclepium curando iuveni advocavit, eumque sanatum: "Secretis alma recondit / sedibus, et nymphaea Egeriae, nemorique relegate: / solus ubi in silvis Italis ignobilis aevum / exigeret, versoque ubi nomine Virbius esset."

 

Keep Me In Your Hearts, Friends! Egeria' s last note home

 

Name:  Egeria Date:  4th century CE Region:  [modern Spain] Citation:   Journey Abroad 1.23.10

Egeria was a Christian woman from Spain who lived during the 4th century CE. The narrative of her pilgrimage is an important document, as it shows rare insight into the lives of women during that time period. She was not only able to travel to visit holy sites in Constantinople, Jerusalem, and other holy places, she was also literate and able to write of her experiences to the women in her social circle, who were presumably also literate.   Ladies, light of my life, even though I have already given this update from [Constantinople] to give you cheer, I am headed towards Asia (specifically, Ephesus) in the name of Jesus Christ our God, for prayer and reverence of the sacred and blessed St. John. When I get back to our church, if I can think of other places in my travels, I will tell you of my continued adventures either in person (God willing!) or if not, in a letter. But you, ladies, light of my light, please keep me in your hearts, whether I am physically with you or not*. * in corpore can refer to either her physical body or the symbolic church / congregation

De quo loco, dominae, lumen meum, cum haec ad vestram affectionem darem, iam propositi erat in nomine Christi Dei nostri ad Asiam accedendi, id est Ephesum, propter martyrium sancti et beati apostoli Iohannis gratia orationis. Si autem et post hoc in corpore fuero, si qua praeterea loca cognoscere potuero, aut ipsa praesens, si Deus fuerit praestare dignatus, vestrae affectioni referam aut certe, si aliud animo sederit, scriptis nuntiabo. Vos tantum, dominae, lumen meum, memores mei esse dignamini, sive in corpore sive iam extra corpus fuero.