Editing Sodomy laws (section)

==== In the Roman Empire ====
In the Roman republic, the "Lex Scantinia" imposed sanctions on those who had committed a sexual crime (stuprum) against a male child born free. The law could also well have been used to prosecute those male citizens who willingly assumed the passive role within homosexual acts. The law has been mentioned several times in literary sources, but rarely applied.
[[File:Domiziano da collezione albani, fine del I sec. dc. 02.JPG|left|thumb|232x232px|Emperor [[Domitian]], Roman emperor that revived the sodomy laws in ancient Rome.]]
The Roman emperor [[Domitian]] revived it in the course of his reform program of the judicial and moral system. It is not clear whether the penalty was death or whether it was limited to a fine. For adult male citizens, living and acting on the basis of homoerotic desire was considered quite natural and lawful, but provided that their partner was a male of low social standing. [[Pederasty|Paederasty]] in ancient Rome was only acceptable when the younger partner was a boy who engaged in male prostitution or a slave.