The foundation of Greek Un-Civilization: Abuse of Boys in the Ancient Greece and Rome
rick murphy
http://www.section21.m6.net/res-history.php
Abuse of Boys in the Ancient Greece and Rome
Author: © Michael P. Wright
"The distrust of reason is perhaps the most significant trait of
fascism."
-- William Ebenstein, Today's Isms, 1967
Among gay writers and activists today there is a troubling tendency to
idealize Hellenic Greece, a society which was heavily influenced, if
not dominated, by a male homosexual elite. For example, Michael
Hattersley has authored a glowing account about the "gay king"
Alexander and has described Hellenic Greece as "the most gay-friendly
society in history." 1 This requires critical scrutiny from scholars
and ethicists who do not share the pro-gay bias.
Such scrutiny needs to begin with a brief mention of astrology and
those who believe in it. They are currently celebrating the idea that
we are entering an astrological "New Age" which they call the "Age of
Aquarius." In an astonishing collapse of academic standards, this
mystical notion has even been embraced by a PhD dissertation accepted
by the University of Oklahoma anthropology department. Within gay/
lesbian culture, there is a special meaning attached to the "New Age"
idea. It is rooted in the ancient Greek myth of Ganymede.
An adequate understanding of the Ganymede story requires a brief look
at the general environment of ancient Greece, a society based upon
misogyny, militarism, imperialism, and slavery. A homosexual male
elite also enjoyed a privileged position in ancient Greece, but its
members by no means conformed to the common stereotype of effeminacy.
On the contrary, they were especially effective in the use of
violence, and were consequently the best soldiers. Enjoying high
status in a militaristic society, they were able to institutionalize
the practice of pederasty (man-to-boy sex) and have their way with
boys as young as twelve.
Ganymede was believed to be a beautiful boy abducted by the bisexual
God Zeus and taken to Mount Olympius for a homosexual relationship.
The abduction is represented in The Rape of Ganymede a painting
completed in 1700 by Anton Domenico Gabbiani. As the story goes, Zeus'
jeolous wife Hera raised objections. Bowing to her will, Zeus
transformed the boy into the constellation Aquarius. Writing for the
Encyclopedie van de Mythologie, Mia Gibson states that "Zeus' torrid
affair with Ganymede was a religious justification for homosexuality
within the Greek culture."
This viewpoint is shared by Barbara Walker, who compiled The Woman's
Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. Simultaneously, the creation of the
Ganymede myth reflected the reduced power of Greek women. Walker
continues: 2
He became cupbearer to the Gods, replacing Hebe who was the virgin
aspect of Mother Hera. Thus the dispenser of immortality was made male
instead of female.
In Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State , Karl Marx's
collaborator Friedrich Engels denounced the ancient Greeks for "the
abominable practice of pederasty" and for degrading "their gods and
themselves with the myth of Ganymede." It appears likely that the myth
came into existence as a reflection of the social power of the male
homosexual elite and its need to construct a religious belief system
to reinforce the sexual abuse of children while at the same time
minimizing the social and political power of women.
In contemporary gay culture the "Age of Aquarius" is an inside joke in
celebration of homosexual pedophilia. Bringing the joke to the
surface, planners of the 1998 Gay and Lesbian Festival in Auckland,
New Zealand, used the Age of Aquarius and the Ganymede story as
official themes. (When I first posted this article, I inserted a link
to an Auckland website announcing this parade. For some reason unknown
to me, the website was taken down after I referenced it.)
Gay Professor Endorses Pederasty
Has the popularization of the Aquarian idea empowered pederasts to
promote their agenda in contemporary society? A clue in answer to this
question is given by William Armstrong Percy, a gay history professor
at the University of Massachusetts. Percy is the author of a book
entitled Pederasty and Pedagogy in Ancient Greece. A reviewer for the
book has this to say:
Pederasty was from the beginning both physical and emotional, the
highest and most intense type of male bonding. These pederastic bonds,
Percy believes, were responsible for the rise of Hellas and the 'Greek
miracle': in two centuries the population of Attica, a mere 45,000
adult males in six generations, produced an astounding number of great
men who laid the enduring foundations of Western thought and
civilization.
Percy would have us believe that all the wonders of civilization are
owed to the fact that Greek homosexuals were allowed to exploit
children sexually. Further, in The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide he
writes that "for the Greeks a sexual relationship between an
adolescent male and an adult male could under the proper circumstances
involve the youth in a loving and supportive union." He admits that
the "adolescent" males might have been as young as twelve. 3 That such
trash could come from a history professor at a prestigious university
is nothing less than appalling.
A More Realistic View
In a commentary published by The Boston Globe, Richard Hoffman
discusses the lawsuit brought against the North American Man-Boy Love
Association, a gay pedophile group, by the parents of Jeffrey Curley.
In 1997, at age 10, Curley had been murdered by two child molesters
alleged to have been influenced by NAMBLA literature. Describing
NAMBLA's propaganda tactics, he writes:
Be prepared for much talk about "the glory that was Greece," but do
not expect to hear the truth that the consorts of these ancestral "boy-
lovers" were slave children, or that their masters were the elite of a
phallic hierarchy as misogynist as any that has ever existed. Like
propagandists everywhere, NAMBLA plunders the past for anything it can
use to forge a ratifying myth. The NAMBLA version of classical Greece
is an ideologically driven infomercial.
More Gay Praise for Ancient Greece
Within contemporary gay culture there are other writers and activists
who celebrate ancient Greece. Michael Hattersley's article, published
in The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review offers generous praise to
Alexander the Great. 1 Imposing Greek culture everywhere he went, in
terms of the amount of land conquered Alexander was the most
successful imperialist the world had ever known at that time.
And why does Hattersley make a celebration of Alexander's vast
conquests? Alexander, he writes, was "the greatest of gay heroes." His
rule, says Hattersley, resulted in the most "gay-friendly society in
human history." Hattersley believes that Alexander was kind to those
he conquered, because he always "implanted much higher standards of
culture." Indeed, in deference to these "high standards," the gentle
imperialist Alexander captured and destroyed Thebes and sold its
inhabitants into slavery. Hattersley writes that Alexander's mentor,
Aristotle, "believed that Greeks had nothing to learn from other
cultures."
Alexander the Child Molester
Gay writer Paul Russell, author of The Gay 100, provides additional
interesting information about Alexander, who never lost a battle in
eleven years of warfare. 4 Alexander also had a sexual relationship
with a boy, Bagoas, who was apparently a slave. Russell, seemingly
wishing to avoid explicit reference to this sordid state of affairs,
writes that Alexander "acquired" the boy from the defeated Persian
Darius.
It is interesting to observe how these gay writers express such deep
admiration for pederasts, imperialists, and military conquerors, while
simultaneously affirming the contempt which masculine homosexual males
display for effeminacy. Concluding his chapter on Alexander, Russell
writes:
Alexander has been...one of those beacons by which gay people have
been able to locate themselves in the world. Furthermore, his example
has always offered a persuasive rebuttal to the stereotyped equation
of male homosexuality and effeminacy... a fighting man who loved men.
The Gay Emperors of Rome
Hattersley also offers praise for three homosexual Roman emperors of
the second century AD: Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus. He writes that
their time was "the greatest and most humane period of ancient Rome"
and that they "emulated Alexander and Hellenism in their philosophy
and governance."
Overlooked by Hattersley in his joyful assessment is the fact that one
of the most brutal entertainment forms ever known to humanity,
gladiatorial combat, was thriving in Rome at the time these gay
emperors were enjoying their rule. The contests did not only involve
men killing each other but also killing animals or being killed by
them. Many of the gladiators were slaves or prisoners of war. The
Coliseum became the arena for gladiator combat, and its construction
was completed eighteen years before Trajan assumed the throne in 98
AD. Trajan experienced stimulation from blood, violence, death,
tormented animals, and male muscularity -- all of which were on
display for his pleasure during gladiator events. Trajan's perverse
passion appears to have arisen from a mix of voyeurism and bestiality
inflamed by the torch of homoerotic sadism. Information available at
the Bates College website suggests that his appetite for sordid forms
of excitement was infinite and that cruelty to animals ignited a
special source of arousal for him:
The slaughter of wildlife in these contests were astonishing. Hundreds
in a day was routine. At the games held by Trajan when he became
Emperor, 9,000 were killed. Today we are appalled by the scale of
wanton destruction.
Researchers for the Getty Museum also suggest that modern Americans
would be troubled by the violence of Roman entertainment during the
days of Trajan, who sponsored gladiator contests and animal fights to
celebrate his military victories. Another deplorable event taking
place under the rule of the "humane" Trajan was the execution of St.
Ignatius by having him thrown to the lions.
An Unflattering View of Hadrian
Russell provides information by which we can assess the "humane" deeds
of the homosexual emperor Hadrian, who followed Trajan. Hadrian came
to power in the midst of suspicion that he had murdered Trajan, who
died only two days after adopting Hadrian and thus making him heir to
the throne. Hadrian had four Roman Senators killed in order to silence
these accusations. Also noteworthy is the fact that he crushed a
Jewish revolt in Palestine in 135 AD.
Following the example of the "gay-friendly" Hellenic Greeks, Hadrian
was also a child molester. Of course, gay author Russell does not
describe him that way, but does inform us that Hadrian had a sexual
relationship with a boy named Antinous, who was only 13 when it was
initiated. After Antinous mysteriously drowned in the Nile,
speculation emerged that his death was a suicide undertaken as an
escape from the clutches of the "humane" Hadrian. Russell, who is an
English professor at Vassar, finds no reason to condemn Hadrian for
his sexual use of a boy. On the contrary, he describes Hadrian and
Antinous as "one of the greatest pairs of lovers in the history of the
world."
Rape of Male Slaves by Greek Homosexual Patriarchs
Along with supposedly elevating "standards of culture," Hattersley
heaps praise on the imperialist conqueror Alexander for increasing
"human freedom and dignity." A good example of these "high standards"
which gay writers admire in ancient Greece might be found in the
writings of Michel Foucault, who is considered to be an intellectual
leader in gay literary circles. Confirming that butch homosexual males
in ancient Greece feared being feminized in their sexual relations, he
observes that the use of male slaves helped resolve this problem:5
Even the Greeks had a problem with being the passive partner in a love
relationship. For a Greek nobleman to make love to a passive male
slave was natural, since the slave was by nature an inferior; but when
two Greek men of the same social class made love it was a real problem
because neither felt he should humble himself before the other.
Today homosexuals still have this problem. Most homosexuals feel that
the passive role is in some way demeaning. S & M [sadomasochism] has
actually helped alleviate this problem somewhat.
Of supreme interest is Foucault's belief that men captured by military
conquest were “by nature” inferior and therefore suitable for the
“female” role in anal intercourse. He appears to rely on this to
justify their enslavement for sexual exploitation by privileged
homosexual men in Athenian society. The passage simultaneously betrays
the general contempt for womanhood among homosexual men along with
Foucault’s own tolerance of slavery and rape.
The idea of sadomasochism is nothing more than academic window-
dressing used in a shallow attempt to dignify the gays' inner craving
for violence and domination. Of Foucault, Russell writes:
"Limit experiences," like sadomasochism particularly interested him.
On that subject, he said, "I don't think that this movement of sexual
practices has anything to do with the disclosure of the uncovering of
S/M tendencies deep within our unconscious. I think that S/M is much
more than that; it's the real creation of new possibilities of
pleasure..."
The Homosexist Patriarchy
Returning to the myth of Ganymede, Mia Gibson writes that, according
to Apollodorus, "this myth emphasized the victory of patriarchy over
matriarchy." She continues:
This [myth] showed that men did not need women to exist, therefore
they did not need the attentions of women. The philosopher Plato used
this myth to justify his sexual feelings towards his all male pupils.
Plato also was the author of The Symposium a dialogue among six Greek
males praising the God Eros. Yves Bonnefoy writes: 6
The sexual relationship to which all of the participants [in The
Symposium] without exception gave the highest value is uncontestedly
the sexual relation between masculine partners. . . .Sexual relations
between male and female partners come second, in that this type of
relationship, beyond allowing for sexual satisfaction, assures the
procreation of children. Finally, in last place is the relationship
between female partners. . .
While the male homosexual elite maintained its grip on Greek society,
women were excluded from public life and were considered of little
value for anything other than sexual satisfaction and breeding.
Feminists and lesbians who believe that gay males are their allies in
the struggle against "heterosexist patriarchy" are encouraged to
rethink their position. Their real enemy might very well be the kind
of homosexist patriarchy which enjoyed a high degree of political
power in "gay-friendly" ancient Greece.
According to gay writer Felice Picano, some feminists are aware of the
dangers of allowing a gay male elite to establish hegemeny over the
rest of society. While accusing them of spreading fear about the "so-
called 'gay clone agenda,' " he gives an adequate summary of their
viewpoint: 7
I recall a private conversation in which feminists outlined to me
their notion of what an ideal "gay male world" would be like. In this
scenario, women have even less respect and less power than in our
current misogynistic set-up, because aside from a few women allowed in
as decoration, women would simply have no raison d'être except as
breeding machines.
Homosexuality and the Judaeo-Christian Tradition
The evidence reviewed in this paper suggests that homosexual male
elites routinely abused boys and male slaves when the ancient world
was being dominated by Greeks and Romans. The search for relief from
this oppression may have been a big factor in the eventual
establishment of the Judaeo-Christian ethic, with its condemnation of
homosexuality.
This hypothesis is tacitly suggested in a 1933 article in The Nation
by Ludwig Lewisohn, who observed that the Nazi movement was "in fact
and by certain aspects of its avowed ideology drenched through and
through with homo-erotic feeling and practice." 8 He also wrote that
the Nazis identified with the ancient Greeks and were "well-purged of
Judaeo-Christian inhibitions" while "returning to the noble practices
of their Greek ancestors," although encumbered by "an obscure feeling
of guilt inherited from 1,500 years of apparent submission to the
Judaeo-Christian ethic."
References
1. Michael Hattersley, "The Gayness of King Alexander ," The Harvard
Gay & Lesbian Review 5, no. 4 (Fall 1998)
2. Barbara Walker, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
(HarperSanFrancisco, 1983)
3. William A. Percy III, "Greek Pederasty Revisited," The Gay and
Lesbian Review Worldwide, May-June 2001 (Vol VIII, No. 3)
4. Paul Russell, The Gay 100 (New York: Citadel, 1995)
5. Michel Foucault, Ethics Subjectivity and Truth, Vol. I (New York:
The New Press, 1997), p. 152.
6. Yves Bonnefoy, Mythologies (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1991),
p. 470
7. Felice Picano, "Effeminacy in Pre-Stonewall America," The Harvard
Gay & Lesbian Review 5, no. 4 (Fall 1998)
8. Ludwig Lewisohn, "The New Kultur," The Nation, June 21, 1933, p.
695.
About the Author
Michael P. Wright was graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a
BA in political science and MA in sociology. His professional record
includes research in a variety of areas including health science,
energy economics, American Indian history, and computer software
development for health risk assessment. He has on several occasions
appeared before Oklahoma legislative committees in the capacity of
expert witness. Wright has also been the recipient of four federal
grants from the Small Business Innovation Research program of the US
Public Health Service. In this capacity part of his tasks included
study of diagnostic error.
Wright is listed in the 24th and 25th editions of Who's Who in the
South and Southwest, published by Marquis, and the 17th edition of the
British directory Men of Achievement. He has been published in the
American Journal of Preventive Medicine (Sept/Oct. 1997), the Journal
of the American Medical Association (letter, Mar 24/31, 1993), and
AIDS Education and Prevention (fall 1991). Additionally, his work has
been presented in the proceedings of the Oklahoma Symposium on
Artificial Intelligence (November 1993, Oklahoma State University),
and he has been a guest opinion writer for the San Francisco Chronicle
(May 24, 2000).