Historical story

Tiberius and the Erotic Paintings Collection

Tiberius in Capri (French engraving). It seems that the Emperor, in his frequent orgies, drew inspiration from a collection of erotic paintings that he kept in his private rooms

It seems that the Roman Emperor Tiberius, besides being cold, cruel and terribly miserly, he was also a pervert, at least according to what was told by Suetonius and by other Roman historians and writers, who generously attributed all sorts of vices to him (https://www.pilloledistoria.it/3272/storia-antica/limperatore-tiberio-capri-violenze-perversioni).

Suetonius in particular, says that Tiberius, in the splendid residence of Capri where he stayed for years, he had gathered in his private rooms a precious and refined collection of erotic paintings of Greek workmanship, not for the love of art of course, but to draw inspiration from it during the frequent and beloved orgies in which he loved to “engage”.