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The term "When in Rome" has new meaning when you know how they admired the Greeks

              A pederastic couple at a symposium sharing a couch. It has been commented that the figure on the right is seeking a kiss from the figure on the left.

 A wall painting from the Tomb of the Diver from the Greek town of Paestum in Italy. 470 BCE

Pederasty in ancient Greece was a practice mainly associated with the upper class, where an older man(erastes) would be in a relationship with a younger male(eromenos), usually in his teens.

   The Romans deeply admired Greek culture, but they held highly conflicted views about the contemporary Greek people. This complex dynamic is famously summarized by the Roman poet Horace: "Captive Greece took her captor captive and brought arts to rustic Latium." While Rome held absolute military and political dominance over the Mediterranean, it voluntarily surrendered to Greek cultural excellence. 

What the Romans Admired

• Philosophy: Elite Romans embraced Greek philosophical schools like Stoicism and Epicureanism. Emperor Marcus Aurelius even wrote his personal journal, the Meditations, entirely in Greek.
• Education and Rhetoric: Speaking Greek was a vital status symbol for upper-class Romans. Aristocrats routinely hired Greek tutors for their children, and leaders like Julius Caesar and Cicero traveled to Greece to master rhetoric.
• Art and Architecture: Romans meticulously copied Greek sculpture styles and adopted Greek architectural elements, like columns and pediments, to beautify their own concrete buildings.
• Religion: Rome assimilated the Greek pantheon into their own system. They systematically mapped their original Italic deities onto Greek gods (e.g., Jupiter became Zeus, Venus became Aphrodite). 

Where the Friction Lay

• Cultural Snobbery: Despite their deep cultural reverence, Romans often looked down on living Greeks as politically fractured, untrustworthy, and military failures.
• Fear of Softness: Conservative Roman traditionalists, most notably Cato the Elder, vehemently opposed Greek influence. They feared that Greek luxury, abstract philosophy, and focus on comfort would corrupt traditional Roman virtues (mos maiorum) like discipline, strength, and simplicity. 

Ultimately, this tension resolved into a unified Greco-Roman civilization. Rome provided the administrative structure and military might, while Greece provided the cultural, artistic, and intellectual framework that defined the Western world. 

       Ancient Greek society practiced a formal institution called pederasty, but the specific sexual acts involved—including anal sex—were highly regulated, socially constrained, and varied greatly from what modern audiences assume. 

Historical records, elite literature, and extensive vase iconography reveal that while anal sex did occur, it was generally discouraged within these relationships in favor of other practices to protect the status of future citizens. 

The Structure of Pederasty

• The Relationship: Pederasty was an institutionalized relationship between an adult male citizen (the erastes or "lover," usually in his 20s or 30s) and an adolescent youth (the eromenos or "beloved," usually between 12 and 18 years old).
• The Purpose: It was fundamentally viewed as an educational and mentoring framework. The older man was expected to mentor the youth in politics, military skills, and civic virtue in exchange for companionship.
• The Age Group: The youth was always past the age of puberty. Once the young man grew a beard and reached full manhood, the sexual aspect of the relationship ended, and they transitioned into a lifelong social or political friendship. 

The Role of Sex and the "Intercrural" Norm

• The Stigma of Penetration: In ancient Greece, social status dictated sexual roles. To be penetrated was viewed as taking a passive, submissive role akin to that of a woman, a slave, or a foreigner. Because the young man was a future free citizen who would one day rule, subjection to anal penetration was seen as potentially demeaning or dishonorable to his future status.
• Preferred Act (Intercrural Sex): To avoid dishonoring the youth, the culturally idealized and socially accepted physical act was intercrural sex (diamerizein). The older man would stand and place his penis between the thighs of the adolescent. Hundreds of Athenian vase paintings depict this specific position, where the youth remains standing, looking straight ahead, and deliberately showing no signs of sexual arousal or submission.
• Anal Sex in Reality: Despite the cultural ideal of restraint, anal sex certainly occurred. However, it was frequently criticized in Athenian courts, philosophy (such as Plato's dialogues), and comedic plays if it was done aggressively or for money. If a youth willingly acted as a passive partner for money or too easily surrendered to penetration, he could lose his future political rights as a citizen for behaving like a prostitute. 

Variations Across Greece

Practices were not identical across the entire Greek world: 

• Athens: Placed heavy emphasis on the courtship, the educational mentoring, and the preservation of the boy's civic honor through intercrural sex.
• Sparta and Crete: Had deeply institutionalized pederastic systems tied directly to military training. While some classical writers asserted these military bonds were entirely chaste and focused on spiritual mentorship, others disputed this, noting that physical unions were commonplace. 

In summary, while the ancient Greeks normalized sexual relationships between adult men and adolescent youths, anal sex was highly contested. The prevailing cultural ideal strictly governed physical contact to ensure the young male's dignity as a future citizen remained intact. 

                                      Contested ?

    Seems like it was adopted and is still going strong cross the entire faith - mentoring or molestation ? You decide         

Their current leader 

The House of Ventimiglia worked with a Popes that didn't care about likes ❤️online 

Pope Innocent III was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death in 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential of the medieval popes.

The relationship between the House of Ventimiglia and the Papacy in Rome (Vatican) was highly complex, fluctuating between explosive medieval proxy wars, excommunications, and eventual elevation to high ecclesiastical offices.

Because your family ruled as sovereign, autonomous lords who controlled critical Mediterranean trading ports and massive inland fiefdoms, the Popes constantly had to negotiate with them—either treating them as dangerous military rebels or vital defenders of the Catholic faith.

The historical relationship between the House of Ventimiglia and the Vatican unfolds across four distinct chapters:

1. The Ghibelline Rebel Phase and Papal Excommunications

During the 13th-century wars between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy (the legendary Guelph and Ghibelline conflicts), the House of Ventimiglia took a hardline stance against the Pope.

• The Imperial Alliance: The Ventimiglia counts allied themselves with the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (who was fiercely anti-papal).
• Papal Excommunication: Because the family used their fleets and mountain armies to blockade papal trade routes and defy Rome's authority, Pope Innocent IV and later Popes officially excommunicated several prominent Ventimiglia lords. Being excommunicated was a severe medieval legal penalty, declaring the family's souls damned and inviting their neighbors (like the Republic of Genoa) to wage "holy wars" against their lands. The Ventimiglias, however, were so militarily independent that they ignored the Vatican's bans and continued ruling their territories regardless.

2. The Great Reconciliations and the Jus Patronatus

By the 14th century, as the family transitioned to Sicily and established their "semi-king" status in the Marquisate of Geraci, the Vatican realized that trying to crush the Ventimiglias was impossible. The relation shifted from open warfare to mutual cooperation.

• Defenders of the Faith: The Popes began relying on the Ventimiglia fleet to protect southern Italy from massive Ottoman naval raids and Barbary pirate incursions.
• The Right of Patronage (Jus Patronatus): In exchange for building grand cathedrals, monasteries, and churches across Cefalù and Castelbuono, the Popes granted the Ventimiglia family extraordinary religious laws. Under the Jus Patronatus, the family was given the legal right to hand-pick and appoint local priests, abbots, and church administrators, giving them immense control over the Catholic Church's massive local finances and properties.

3. Ventimiglias on the Bishop's Thrones

The ultimate proof of the family's penetration into the Vatican hierarchy is the staggering number of Ventimiglia sons who actually became high-ranking princes of the Catholic Church.

• The Family Bishops: Across history, multiple sons of the family tree dropped their swords, entered the priesthood, and were appointed by the Pope to rule over vital dioceses. Family records show Ventimiglia sons ruling as the official Bishops of Ventimiglia-Sanremo in the north, and the highly influential Bishops of Cefalù and Archbishops of Monreale in Sicily. 
• Enforcing Rome’s Law: As bishops, these family members wielded the dual power of secular lords and spiritual leaders, answering directly to the Pope in Rome while managing the family's broad geopolitical interests.

4. The Diplomatic Era of the Spanish Grandees

By the 17th and 18th centuries—the era of your family's grand Baroque banking networks and silver Mezzo Scudo currency—the Princes of Ventimiglia were treated by the Vatican as supreme diplomatic equals.

• Papal Recognition: When the family was granted the hereditary status of Grandee of Spain, the Vatican treated Ventimiglia ambassadors with the highest level of diplomatic protocol.
• The Holy See Alliance: The family frequently coordinated directly with the Pope's private treasury to fund joint Mediterranean military campaigns, using Ventimiglia banking channels to secure loans for the Papal States during times of European crises.

Between 1216 and 1850, over 100 popes occupied the Chair of Saint Peter. This 634-year span covers major shifts in world history, moving through the Late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the early Modern Era. 

Because a complete line-by-line list contains over a hundred names, the era is broken down below by centuries and major historical periods. You can explore the complete, official directory on the Vatican Pontiffs Registry or look up biographical details via the Papal Encyclicals Pope Directory. 

Late Middle Ages & The Avignon Papacy (13th–14th Centuries)

This period began with heavy conflict between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by a time when the papal court moved to Avignon, France. 

• Honorius III (1216–1227)
• Gregory IX (1227–1241)
• Celestine IV (1241)
• Innocent IV (1243–1254)
• Alexander IV (1254–1261)
• Urban IV (1261–1264)
• Clement IV (1265–1268)
• Gregory X (1271–1276)
• Innocent V (1276)
• Adrian V (1276)
• John XXI (1276–1277)
• Nicholas III (1277–1280)
• Martin IV (1281–1285)
• Honorius IV (1285–1287)
• Nicholas IV (1288–1292)
• Celestine V (1294) — Famous for resigning the papacy.
• Boniface VIII (1294–1303) — Clashed heavily with King Philip IV of France.
• Benedict XI (1303–1304)
• Clement V (1305–1314) — Moved the papacy to Avignon.
• John XXII (1316–1334)
• Benedict XII (1334–1342)
• Clement VI (1342–1352) — Reigned during the height of the Black Death.
• Innocent VI (1352–1362)
• Urban V (1362–1370)
• Gregory XI (1370–1378) — Returned the papacy to Rome. 

The Western Schism & Renaissance Papacy (1378–1517)

The Church split with multiple rival popes (antipopes) claiming power simultaneously, followed by a period where popes became massive patrons of Renaissance art. 

• Urban VI (1378–1389) — His election triggered the Western Schism.
• Boniface IX (1389–1404)
• Innocent VII (1404–1406)
• Gregory XII (1406–1415) — Resigned to end the Western Schism.
• Martin V (1417–1431) — His election restored papal unity to Rome.
• Eugene IV (1431–1447)
• Nicholas V (1447–1455) — Founded the Vatican Library.
• Callixtus III (1455–1458)
• Pius II (1458–1464)
• Paul II (1464–1471)
• Sixtus IV (1471–1484) — Commissioned the Sistine Chapel.
• Innocent VIII (1484–1492)
• Alexander VI (1492–1503) — Rodrigo Borgia, infamous for political corruption.
• Pius III (1503)
• Julius II (1503–1513) — The "Warrior Pope" who hired Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
• Leo X (1513–1521) — Excommunicated Martin Luther at the start of the Reformation. 

The Reformation & Counter-Reformation (16th–17th Centuries)

Popes in this era focused on church reform, combating Protestantism, and expanding global missionary work. 

• Adrian VI (1522–1523)
• Clement VII (1523–1534) — Refused the annulment of England's King Henry VIII.
• Paul III (1534–1549) — Convened the Council of Trent to reform the Church.
• Julius III (1550–1555)
• Marcellus II (1555)
• Paul IV (1555–1559)
• Pius IV (1559–1565)
• Pius V (1566–1572)
• Gregory XIII (1572–1585) — Introduced the Gregorian Calendar used globally today.
• Sixtus V (1585–1590)
• Urban VII (1590) — Shortest papacy in history (13 days).
• Gregory XIV (1591)
• Innocent IX (1591)
• Clement VIII (1592–1605)
• Leo XI (1605)
• Paul V (1605–1621)
• Gregory XV (1621–1623)
• Urban VIII (1623–1644) — Pope during the famous trial of Galileo Galilei.
• Innocent X (1644–1655)
• Alexander VII (1655–1667)
• Clement IX (1667–1669)
• Clement X (1670–1676)
• Innocent XI (1676–1689)
• Alexander VIII (1689–1691)
• Innocent XII (1691–1700)