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Christianity's Influence On Attitudes Toward Homosexuality In The Roman Empire, Jennie Jiang
Christianity's Influence On Attitudes Toward Homosexuality In The Roman Empire, Jennie Jiang
Young Historians Conference
Attitudes towards sexuality are deeply influenced by the intricate interplay between religion and social values. How do polytheistic and monotheistic societies differ in how they view sexuality? In the pre-Christian days of the early Roman Empire, polytheism fostered a remarkable tolerance toward both same-sex relations and various expressions of sexuality, as evident in social expectations, literature, and written law. In contrast, a closer examination of the Roman Empire’s transition from a polytheistic to Christian society in the 4th and 5th centuries reveals that the rise of Christianity corresponded with, and likely contributed to, increasingly strict attitudes towards homosexuality.