Propylaeum

This study analyzes ancient discourses of masculinity in the 1^st/2^nd centuries CE, in which the practice of elite Roman masculinity is negotiated. Performativity and habitus serve as theoretical concepts to guide the exploration of the limits of permissible configurations of Roman masculinity. One the one hand, literary representation of sexually deviant men, whose norm transgressions are exposed, are examined in the epigrams of Martial and the satires of Juvenal. One the other hand, the depiction of hyper-masculine German barbarians as well as decadent and effeminate Greeks are analyzed in the texts of Tacitus and Quintilian. The contrast to these men, who are deficient from a Roman perspective, achieves a more precise view of “real” Roman masculinity.