Christianity and Homoeroticism in the Roman Empire

Often seen as the first Christian ban on homosexuality, Emperor Justinian's 533 C.E. legislation outlawing male sexual practices deemed contrary to nature exerted dogmatic influence on the church. Prior to the law, members of the early church held widely differing attitudes towards what is now called homosexuality, which reflected not just the precepts of the scripture, but pagan conceptions of sexuality and the multiethnic and syncretistic religious makeup of the Roman empire alike. Goal is to understand these conceptions, assess Justinian's ban in their context, and explore their appeal in a contemporary discourse that pits Christian religion and homosexuality against one another.