Zur Semantik des Seitensprungs. Ehebruch als politische Waffe in der späten römischen Republik

The article illustrates how deliberately committed adultery with the spouse of a political opponent or rival could be used as an instrument of a political campaign in the late Roman Republic. The adulterer assumed the role of the husband and relegated him by practising sexual intercourse with the wife. The examined case scenarios from the lifetime of Caesar reveal that he exploited this action as a means of revenge for suffered offences, for demonstrating his claim of power and for coerced allegiances. Whether or not the women succumbed to him in mutual agreement, were forced or grudgingly consented, is not sufficiently documented for the individual cases; however it is plausible that some husbands (e. g. Sulpicius and Cato) feared for the oppressive intercourse by Caesar and removed their wives from Rom or even married them on to another man in order to protect the women and their honour

Political science · Criminal Law and Policy · Philosophy