The foundation of Greek Un-Civilization: Greek Homosexuality
rick murphy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_ancient_Greece
Homosexuality in ancient Greece
In classical antiquity, writers such as Herodotus,[1] Plato,[2]
Xenophon,[3] Athenaeus[4] and many others explored aspects of same-sex
love in ancient Greece. The most widespread and socially significant
form of close same-sex sexual relations in ancient Greece was between
adult men and adolescent boys, known as pederasty. (However, marriages
in Ancient Greece between men and women were also age structured, with
men in their 30s commonly taking wives in their early teens.) It is
unclear how such relations between women were regarded in the general
society, but examples do exist as far back as the time of Sappho.[5]
The ancient Greeks did not conceive of sexual orientation as a social
identifier, as Western societies have done for the past century. Greek
society did not distinguish sexual desire or behavior by the gender of
the participants, but by the extent to which such desire or behavior
conformed to social norms. These norms were based on gender, age and
social status.[5] There is little extant source material on how
females viewed sexual activity. There are two main views of male
sexual activity in ancient Greek society. Some scholars, such as
Kenneth Dover and David Halperin, claim that it was highly polarized
into "active" and "passive" partners, penetrator and penetrated, an
active/passive polarization held to be associated with dominant and
submissive social roles: the active (penetrative) role was associated
with masculinity, higher social status, and adulthood, while the
passive role was associated with femininity, lower social status, and
youth.[5] In this view, any sexual activities in which a male
penetrated a social inferior was regarded as normal; "social
inferiors" could include women, male youths, foreigners, prostitutes,
or slaves; and being penetrated, especially by a social inferior, was
considered potentially shameful.[5]
Other scholars, however, argue that male-male relations usually
involved an adult male and a youth: the older male took the active
(penetrative) role.[6][7] They also describe them as "warm," "loving,"
and "affectionate," [8] and argue that the Greek tradition of same-sex
relations was central to "Greek history and warfare, politics, art,
literature and learning, in short to the Greek miracle."[9]
Pederasty
The most common form of same-sex relationships between males in Greece
was "paiderastia" meaning "boy love". It was a relationship between an
older male and an adolescent youth. In Athens the older man was called
erastes, he was to educate, protect, love, and provide a role model
for his beloved. His beloved was called eromenos whose reward for his
lover lay in his beauty, youth, and promise.
Elaborate social protocols existed to protect youths from the shame
associated with being sexually penetrated. The eromenos was supposed
to respect and honor the erastes, but not to desire him sexually.
Although being courted by an older man was practically a rite of
passage for young men, a youth who was seen to reciprocate the erotic
desire of his erastes faced considerable social stigma.[5]
The ancient Greeks, in the context of the pederastic city-states, were
the first to describe, study, systematize, and establish pederasty as
a social and educational institution. It was an important element in
civil life, the military, philosophy and the arts.[10] There is some
debate among scholars about whether pederasty was widespread in all
social classes, or largely limited to the aristocracy.
The morality of pederasty was closely investigated in ancient Greece,
some aspects being considered base and others idealized as the best
that life had to offer. In Plato's Laws, carnal pederasty is described
as "contrary to nature"; and effecting a law against it -in the words
of the Athenian interlocutor "probably such a law would be approved as
right"- would be popular among the Greek city-states.[11]
In the military
The Sacred Band of Thebes, a separate military unit reserved only for
men and their beloved youths, is usually considered as the prime
example of how the ancient Greeks used love between soldiers in a
troop to boost their fighting spirit. The Thebans attributed to the
Sacred Band the power of Thebes for the generation before its fall to
Philip II of Macedon, who was so impressed with their bravery during
battle, he erected a monument that still stands today on their
gravesite. He also gave a harsh criticism of the Spartan views of the
band:
"Perish miserably they who think that these men did or suffered aught
disgraceful."[12]
Pammenes' opinion, according to Plutarch, was that
"Homer's Nestor was not well skilled in ordering an army when he
advised the Greeks to rank tribe and tribe... he should have joined
lovers and their beloved. For men of the same tribe little value one
another when dangers press; but a band cemented by friendship grounded
upon love is never to be broken."
These bonds, reflected in episodes from Greek mythology, such as the
heroic relationship between Achilles and Patroclus in the Iliad, were
thought to boost morale as well as bravery. They typically took the
form of pederasty, with more egalitarian relationships being rarer.
Such relationships were documented by many Greek historians and in
philosophical discourses, as well as in offhand remarks such as Philip
II of Macedon's recorded by Plutarch demonstrates:
"It is not only the most warlike peoples, the Boeotians, Spartans, and
Cretans, who are the most susceptible to this kind of love but also
the greatest heroes of old: Meleager, Achilles, Aristomenes, Cimon,
and Epaminondas."
During the Lelantine War between the Eretrians and the Chalcidians,
before a decisive battle the Chalcidians called for the aid of a
warrior named Cleomachus. He answered their request, bringing his
lover to watch. Leading the charge against the Eretians he brought the
Chalcidians to victory at the cost of his own life. The Chalcidians
erected a tomb for him in the marketplace in gratitude.
Love between adult men
Given the importance in Greek society of cultivating the masculinity
of the adult male and the perceived feminizing effect of being the
passive partner, relations between adult men of comparable social
status were considered highly problematic, and usually associated with
social stigma. However, examples of such couples are occasionally
found in the historical record.
Achilles and Patroclus
The first recorded appearance of a deep emotional bond between adult
men in ancient Greek culture was in the Iliad (800 BC). Although Homer
does not explicitly depict the relationship between Achilles and
Patroclus as sexual, by the beginning of the Classical era (480 BC)
the two heroes were interpreted as pederastic icons.[citation needed]
Since the ancient Greeks were uncomfortable with any perception of
Patroclus and Achilles as adult equals, they tried to establish a
clear age difference between the two. There was disagreement on whom
to make the erastes and whom the eromenos, since the Homeric tradition
made Patroclus out to be older but Achilles dominant. Other ancients
held that Achilles and Patroclus were simply close friends.
Aeschylus in the tragedy Myrmidons made Achilles the protector since
he had avenged his love’s death even though the gods told him it would
cost his own life. However Phaedrus asserts that Homer emphasized the
beauty of Achilles which would qualify him, not Patroclus, as
“eromenos”.
Historical adult male couples
Among the historical male couples, where both partners were adults,
are Euripides, in his seventies, and Agathon, already in his forties.
The legendary love between Alexander the Great and his childhood
friend, Hephaistion is sometimes regarded as being of the same order.
Sapphic love
Sappho, a poet from the island of Lesbos, wrote many love poems
addressed to women and girls. The love in these poems is sometimes
requited, and sometimes not. Sappho is thought to have written close
to 12,000 lines of poetry on her love for other women. Of these, only
about 600 lines have survived. As a result of her fame in antiquity,
she and her land have become emblematic of love between women,
although she herself may in fact have been bisexual.[citation needed]
Pedagogic erotic relationships are also documented for Sparta,
together with athletic nudity for women. Plato's Symposium mentions
women who "do not care for men, but have female attachments."[13] In
general, however, the historical record of love and sexual relations
between women is sparse.[5]
Scholarship and controversy
After a long hiatus marked by censorship of homosexual themes,[14]
modern historians picked up the thread, starting with Erich Bethe in
1907 and continuing with K. J. Dover and many others. These scholars
have shown that same-sex relations were openly practiced, largely with
official sanction, in many areas of life from the 7th century BC until
the Roman era.
Although this perspective is the scholarly consensus in North America
and Northern Europe, some scholars believe that homosexual
relationships, especially pederasty, were common only among the
aristocracy, and that such relationships were not widely practiced by
the common people (demos). One such scholar is Bruce Thornton, who
argues that insults directed at passive homosexuals in the comedies of
Aristophanes show the common people's dislike for male homosexuality.
[15] Other scholars, such as Victoria Wohl, emphasize that in Athens,
same-sex desire was part of the "sexual ideology of the democracy,"
shared by the elite and the demos, as exemplified by the tyrant-
slayers, Harmodius and Aristogeiton.[16] Even those who argue that
pederasty was limited to the upper classes generally concede that it
was "part of the social structure of the polis."[15] Outside academia,
both opponents of LGBT rights and Greek nationalists have latched on
to the argument that homosexuality was limited to the elite for
political purposes.
The subject has caused controversy in modern Greece. In 2002, a
conference on Alexander the Great was stormed as a paper about his
homosexuality was about to be presented. When the film Alexander,
which depicted Alexander as romantically involved with both men and
women, was released in 2004, 25 Greek lawyers threatened to sue the
film's makers,[17] but relented after attending an advanced screening
of the film.[18]
Notes
1.^ Herodotus Histories 1.135
2.^ Plato, Phaedrus 227a
3.^ Xenophon, Memorabilia 2.6.28, Symposium 8
4.^ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 13:601-606
5.^ a b c d e f Oxford Classical Dictionary entry on homosexuality, pp.
720–723; entry by David M. Halperin.
6.^ T.K. Hubbard, Review of D.M. Halperin How to Do the History of
Homosexuality in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2003.09.22
7.^ D.H. Mader, "The Greek Mirror: The Uranians and their Use of
Greece." in Same-Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity and in
the Classical Tradition of the West, ed. B. C. Verstraete and V.
Provencal, Harrington Park Press, 2005, pp.411-412
8.^ Keith DeVries, in M. Duberman, ed., Queer Representations: Reading
Lives, Reading Cultures (New York 1997)
9.^ W.A. Percy, III, "Reconsiderations about Greek Homosexualities,"
in Same-Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity and in the
Classical Tradition of the West, ed. B. C. Verstraete and V.
Provencal, Harrington Park Press, 2005, pp.47-48
10.^ Golden M. - Slavery and homosexuality in Athens. Phoenix 1984
XXXVIII : 308-324
11.^ Plato, Laws, [1]
12.^ Plutarch Pelopidas 18.
13.^ Plato, Symposium 191e
14.^ Rictor Norton, Critical Censorship of Gay Literature
15.^ a b Thornton, pp. 195-6.
16.^ Wohl, pp. 6-7.
17.^ "Bisexual Alexander angers Greeks". bbc.co.uk (BBC News).
2004-11-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4032245.stm.
Retrieved 2006-08-25.
18.^ "Greek lawyers halt Alexander case". bbc.co.uk (BBC News).
2004-12-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4064727.stm.
Retrieved 2006-08-25.
Literature
Cohen, David, "Law, Sexuality, and Society: The Enforcement of Morals
in Classical Athens." Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0–521–
46642–3.
Lilar, Suzanne, Le couple (1963), Paris, Grasset; Translated as
Aspects of Love in Western Society in 1965, with a foreword by
Jonathan Griffin, New York, McGraw-Hill, LC 65-19851.
Dover, Kenneth J. Greek Homosexuality. Vintage Books, 1978. ISBN
0-394-74224-9
Halperin, David. One Hundred Years of Homosexuality: And Other Essays
on Greek Love. Routledge, 1989. ISBN 0-415-90097-2
Hornblower, Simon and Spawforth, Antony, eds. The Oxford Classical
Dictionary, third edition. Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN
0-19-866172-X
Hubbard, Thomas K. Homosexuality in Greece and Rome.; University of
California Press, 2003. [2] ISBN 0-520-23430-8
Percy, III, William A. Pederasty and Pedagogy in Archaic Greece.
University of Illinois Press, 1996. ISBN 0-252-02209-2
Thornton, Bruce S. Eros: the Myth of Ancient Greek Sexuality. Westview
Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8133-3226-5
Wohl, Victoria. Love Among the Ruins: the Erotics of Democracy in
Classical Athens. Princeton University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-691-09522-1