This is not really bondage related and may need to be taken with a grain of salt, but an interesting article (originally published on MensVariety.com) that some may enjoy....
Swallowing Didn’t Mean You Were Gay In The Roman Army
by MensVariety.com
Swallowing – A SYMBOL OF BRAVERY
Orally servicing well-built, muscular guys with thick bananas was considered a sign of bravery if you were a solider in ancient Rome.
And the bigger the man’s sausage, the manlier you were viewed.
That’s because, during the time of the ancient Roman Army, which historians say started around 753 BC, homosexuality did not carry the same stigmas it does today.
Instead, sexual relations between males was considered a bonding experience. The greater the bond, the stronger the cohesion was in the unit.
This was particularly the case for the Hastatus; the youngest of infantrymen in the pre-Marian armies before 107 BC. If you were one of these soldiers, you saw real action on the front line and were (likely) the first to die in battle.
At that time, giving your life up for the Empire was considered an honor with only the bravest of men serving in the legion. And while it is true that some were forced to commit sexual acts as part of slavery, not everyone engaging in gay sex did so by force.
The Swallower
If you happened to be a Hastatus, you were expected to demonstrate your abilities through certain activities. Examples included sword fighting and hand to hand combat. Others included heavy lifting and games involving strategy.
But to be considered an elite soldier, you had to prove your manliness by swallowing seed. As revealed in books written about the topic, this rite of passage was simple.
At the crack of dawn, the volunteer would find a minimum of four fighters lined up along the outer curvature of the Colosseum. As the soldiers stood resting against the limestone, the Hastatus was required to drain each one out.
While this may sound highly erotic, the hard truth is only men who were extremely large could feed the volunteer. Changes would later come after the Marion Reforms of 107 BC but at the time, 8 inches or more was the minimum requirement.
Only the legion commander was empowered to pick the feeders. To make the cut, the commander measured length using the digit system; the ancient Roman way of measuring inches. Back then, one index finger equated to four inches. When you do the math, you can see two were required to reach the “8” threshold.
Must Be Eight
While not always the case, it was usually the men from present- day Sardinia who were chosen. We’re not sure why but it is believed men from this Mediterranean region were massively hung.
Again, all of this may sound amazing and even hot but there was one important catch.
You had to milk the group before the sun fully rose over the Colosseum. If you couldn’t get each man to nut and then swallow their seed, you were executed on the spot with a sword.
And to be clear, swallowing meant drinking all of their milk. That may not sound difficult but consider the fact that the fighters were forced to abstain from releasing for a 10-day period prior to the event.
That’s a lot to ingest from a clad of testosterone filled soldiers.
You also must factor in the “ticking clock” element. There was only a 15-20-minute window of opportunity between the dawn’s first light and its ascent to the top of the Colosseum. That’s not very long.
Now think about this for a moment – how good would your skills be if you knew your life depended on successfully getting someone – let alone a group – to splooge?
Assuming you could drain the men, there were certain rewards. To begin with, other fighters saw you through a new lens of respect having passed a difficult test.
Additionally, you were considered brave for volunteering to risk your life in the first place. Lastly, the milk you swallowed held spiritual meaning because the Roman’s believed semen contained the essence of the man.
Some Hastatus soldiers were previously Tirones; the Roman Army’s name for a fighter in training. As part of their learning experience, some volunteered for group bottoming activities.
Homosexuality in the Roman Army
Man on man sexual encounters was part of daily life in ancient Rome and particularly in the Roman Army. While gay relationships weren’t necessarily exalted, they also weren’t taboo.
Be sure to read about same-sex experiences in The Katehon by Richard Blake. It’s a real eye-opener and one that will introduce you to gay life during an important period of human history.
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Amalaric - June 10, 2020, 1:36 am
Way fun! But what I learned was that homosexuality, and especially effeminacy, was always frowned on, unlike the case of the Greeks, in the Roman Empire (cases in point: the transvestite emperors Caligula (bisexual) and Elagabelus (almost certainly gay) who were both deposed and killed, not least for the reason of their sexual proclivities). Still, there were gradations. It was understood (and as the article states, not illegal) that there might be circumstances where a man would have sex with a man. To be a top, again, not exactly encouraged, was greatly to be preferred over the highly stigmatized bottom. The one who was penetrated was looked upon with derision and referred to as a ‘catamite’.
31118azti - June 10, 2020, 10:12 am
Wow, very interesting. But, why kill the guy who could not drain the men within the required time? Why not, let’s say, give him to the citizenry to be used in any way they saw fit…the females could have him during the day, the males at night and when no one was working on him maybe their pets could have a lick or two here and there…I wonder how long he would last under those conditions but to kill him outright would deprive the citizenry of their pleasure, hmmmm!
RoughRider83 - July 26, 2020, 8:17 pm
Fun article but (unfortunately) total fiction. The Colosseum wasn’t built until after Emperor Nero’s death (68 AD) — it didn’t exist in 107 BC.