Originally posted by bnabottom1@Oct 18 2005, 02:19 AM
One: Actually you are confusing Greece with Rome. The Greeks found large penises aesthetically repulsive (used on satyrs and grotesque characters). Small penises were the ideal of Greek art. The Romans, however, were size queens. Romans equated a large penis with virility, masculinity, etc.--all essential Roman virtues.
[post=352735]Quoted post[/post]
bna is right. Although the Romans adopted much of Greek culture, it cannot be assumed that they shared every facet of Greek aesthetic ideals. Plus, "Rome" is set at the time of the late Roman Republic, many generations removed from classical Athens and a time of much degeneration in terms of art and culture. Not to mention that even with the Greeks, it is probably a logical leap to assume that the
artistic ideal of handsome young men with small penises--in works of art created by
male artists, most likely of average-size endowment--necessarily reflects that ancient
women would find men with large penises undesirable sex partners.
Basically, there have probably been "size queens" in every human age and culture, and the idea that a sexually charged individual Roman woman might find a well endowed slave especially exciting is not a major historical inaccuracy.
However--and I know this is going to be a minority opinion here--my reaction to the Rome "large penis" episode is that it was just one more big example of a trend in cable TV shows that bothers me--full frontal male nudity that is just totally gratuitous. Penises have just been cropping up all over cable TV in recent years (most notably, perhaps, in "Oz") and usually it just strikes me as so forced and unnecessary to the story that it is a distraction. Rather than advancing the plot in an artistic way, it's just the TV people saying, "Hey, look at us, look what we can get away with! Look, it's a penis!!!"
Another example was an earlier episode of "Rome" where Mark Antony's penis was on display for several minutes. (For those who are counting, it looked a very respectable size, though not huge.) The scene just involved a conversation between two men. There was no particular dramatic reason it had to take place while he was being scrubbed by slaves while standing nude in a courtyard, just an excuse to have his penis be seen on the show. (Interestingly, the actor who plays Vorenus--one of the main characters--seems to go to great lengths to keep his penis from being seen, even in like a bath house scene where it would have been very natural to at least give a flash of it. Makes me wonder if he is especially small or maybe just cut, which would be historically inaccurate for a non-Jewish Roman.)