Orgy Turned Into Orchid

Orgy scenes, such as the one depicted in Roses of Heliogabalus by Alma Tadema, did not exist, according to Dr Alastair Blanshard.

Classical orgies are a myth of our own making
By Kate Rossmanith, 2006

A University researcher has dispelled a myth which has validated the saucy exploits of libertines for centuries: the widespread existence of the Roman orgy.

According to Alastair Blanshard, a Greek history researcher from the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, there was no such thing. [Eyes wide shut. 7M]

“I’m sorry if there are any suburban swingers out there, but whatever you’re doing, it’s certainly not classical,” Dr Blanshard told the audience at a public lecture in the Nicholson Museum.

Dr Blanshard is studying how modern culture imagines antiquity, and how it perpetuates stories about the sex lives of ancient civilisations. He began unearthing whatever evidence he could find of illicit affairs, juicy encounters and frenzied group sex in classical Greece and Imperial Rome.