Sporus

The most ferocious of all his assaults, however, is the character of Sporus, that is Lord Hervey, in the epistle to

Alexander Pope English Men of Letters Series Leslie Stephen 1868

The Roman historian and biographer Suetonius reported that the emperor Nero attempted to transform the youthful Sporus into a woman by castrating him.

Elizabeth Abbott: Is New York's Gay Marriage Truly Historic? Elizabeth Abbott 2011

The Roman historian and biographer Suetonius reported that the emperor Nero attempted to transform the youthful Sporus into a woman by castrating him.

Elizabeth Abbott: Is New York's Gay Marriage Truly Historic? Elizabeth Abbott 2011

He castrated the boy Sporus and actually tried to make a woman of him; and he married him with all the usual ceremonies ...

Jon Stewart vs. Mike Huckabee on Gay Marriage James F. McGrath 2008

The first publicly wedded the young eunuch Sporus, whom he had had operated upon so that he might serve him like a young woman.

Satyricon 2007

Ok, so Sporus gets him sympathy points for missing Poppaea except not really, because Sporus was castrated, but the Pythagoras wedding is so much more entertaining!

Archive 2006-11-01 2006

And I forgot to mention in my review of BBC's Ancient Rome that I wish they had shown Nero's "marriage" to Pythagoras rather than Sporus.

Archive 2006-11-01 2006

Brooding on this review's illogic, we wondered how the same writer who (with no documentation) accused feminist critics of treating "literary characters as if they were real people" could attempt to rebut the claim that "the 'great art of the patriarchy' taught 'that anger is inimical to creation'" with the offhand remark "One wonders what the creators of Lear, Sporus, and Satan might think of this idea" (emphasis ours).

Feminism and Literature: An Exchange Bonaparte, Felicia 1990

Sporus fell down to his knees, his hands around his throat as if he were trying to close the wound and keep from drowning in his blood, but his lungs filled with the red arterial blood from his carotid artery, and, eyes not really understanding, he slipped into darkness, the rattling sound of his death breath beating on his ears as he died.

The Eternal Mercenary Sadler, Barry 1980

Sporus pulled out his hideout knife, a slick poniard type blade,. one meant for stabbing, not slicing.

The Eternal Mercenary Sadler, Barry 1980