The Sin of Sodom in Late Antiquity

Abstract

As a number of studies have pointed out, the sin of Sodom was not always assumed to be related to homosexual relations; the development of this association began in Late Antiquity and developed throughout the middle ages. Augustine is usually seen as the first to paint an explicit connection between Sodom and homosexual acts—in this paper, I draw attention to a number of other texts whose importance in the development of the Sodom tradition have not hitherto been noted. I draw attention to an important development in the Sodom tradition: in the fourth and fifth centuries, Christian writers began to link the Sodom narrative with Romans 1:27, “men with men practicing obscenity.” I argue that this practice is the catalyst for later traditions in which the sin of Sodom is presented as specifically homosexual in nature.