Homosexuality in Ancien Greece - The Myth Is-Collapsing

I... ADONIS ATH.
GEORGIADES
In ht> crt>att's a school, Gn' ek
Education. wht>rt' andt>nt Grt>t'k is
taught. and St't'S it npanding in
Atht>ns and tht> rt>st of tht'
1\lt>anwhilt>, ht> puhlisht>s a nt>wspa-
pt>r undt'r tht' samt' namt' with similar
SUCCt'SS.
In 1998 he collahonttes with the radio
station Ht>rodotus 107A in a serit>s of
broadcast dedicatt>d to tht> Grt>t>k
eh ilisation. lit> also prepart>s a hm-
hour t>mission wt>ek to he trans-
mittt>d to 19 radio stations tht'
cmm t
In 1999 he lollalwrates with tht> TV
channt'l IUue to tht> creation of a
nt>w emission, Wt>ekly at first and then
As a continuation of this colla-
lwration, in 20111 l'omes tht' creation
of a l' lll1ft'rt'nl't' room, whert'
congresst>s and otht>r acth itit>s rela-
ted to tht' prunwtion of'(;rt>ek studit>s
takt' plact'.
In 2002 the newspapt>r (lreek Educa-
tion ht>comt's a rt'\ it>w, whilh
mt>t'ts immediatt' smct>ss among tht>
similar publications. Aftt>r a whilt>, ht>
starts a nt'w rt>\it'w, Greek llistm:r.
lit> has writtt>n artidt>s, intt>r-
wnt>d in se\t'ral radio and TV emis-
sions and giwn lecturt>s allowr
tht> His contribution to
Gret>k studies is recognized.
HOMOSEXUALITY IN ANCIENT GREECE
THE MYTH IS COLLAPSING
Title: Homosexualit y in ancient Greece The myth is coll apsing
Publi sher: GEORGI A DES L113R ARY OF THE GREEKS
Author: Adonis Ath. Gcorgiades
Translation int o engli sh: Andri ana Hahla
Copy Edit or: Adonis Ath. Georgiades
DTP: Alcxios D. Mastori s
copyri ght Georgiades Publi si ng 2004
First publishing in Jul y 200-1
ISBN: 960 - 316 235 - 3
!!4, Akadimi as st r. , Athens, GR 106 7!!, tel. ++30 2 10 3!! 36 23 1
Bookstore:
I t4, Solonos str., Athens GR 106 !!I, rei. ++30 2 10 38 47 3-17
PO.IJOX 36!!1 Athens 102 IOGreece
www .georgi adesbooks.gr - e mail: info@georgiadesbooks.gr
o parr of thi s publ i cation may be reproduced or transmi tted, in any form by any
means, electronic or mechanical , including photocopying, recording or any information
storage or retrieval sys tem, wit hout eit her prior permi ss ion in writ ing fr om the
publi sher or a licence, permitting restricted CO[Jying.
ADONIS ATH. GEORGIADES
HOMOSEXUALITY
IN ANCIENT GREECE
THE MYTH IS COLLAPSING
ATHENS 2004
GEORGIADES
To my mother,
whom I always remember with love
ZEYI: KAI AII:XYNH
!IEV
vEOt1XE, ! tovt M ai frrAa8ETo. Ct orrEQ &, , l xuv<'ov,
m)0v (( tlTilv d oayay!l , EXEAfliOEV ((LI T liV bt a TOll OQXOll d <lA0iv.
t'l b TO !IEV JTQUJTOV aVTEAEy X((L rri. b OljA)Oga
uth D rrxEtr o, EljHI' aU' ywyE l:rri
Ei'<l1.! 11 a v ftEQOV !IOl EiTEtOEA8 !1 arro
TOliTOll xutOl1VEj3q avmox11VTOll dvat.
8' YQ(l(pl]
... av 11i1 do/..0!1 ...
6 bq/..oi:, on [1rr' avwoxtl-
Elvw Oll!tl3atvEt.
A lm(mo V M uOOL
ZEUS AND SHAME
When Zeus created men, he plll in them every moral quality, bur
forgor ro pur Shame. He couldn' t find where he should int roduce her
from, so, he ordered her roger in rh rough anus. She objected, ar fi rst,
and became resentful. As she went on di sagreeing, she sai d: ' J won' t
agree, unl ess I have rhe ri ght roger om, if someone else gers in, after
me. rrough rhe same passage".
After that , everyone who prostitut es onesel f i s considered
shameless.
2nd version:
"( ... )Love should nor ger in trough rhe same passage."
That means that those who rhus express their love are shameless.
Aesopus, Proverbia
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE 11
INTRODUCTION 13
CHAPTER ONE
Social context 19
CHAPTER TWO
Sparta- Athens 25
CHAPTER THREE
Athens' legi slati on about homosexuali ty 49
CHAPTER FOUR
Lover- Loved one 77
CHAPTER FI VE
Vases 99
CHAPTER SI X
Mythology Ill
CHAPTER SEVEN
Comi cal poets 127
CHAPTER EIGHT
Female homosexuality 135
CHAPTER NINE
Alcebi ades 145
CHAPTER TEN
Alexander the Great 157
CONCLUSION 197
BIBLIOGRAPHY 203
PREFACE
P
eopl e who deal with questi ons of histori cal self- knowledge
are famili ar with the tact that , until recentl y, as far as Greek
hi story and culture were concerned, ignorance was prevaili ng in
our country. We had to accept whatever we were told about who
our ancestors were without the possi bili ty to react. Luck il y
enough things have changed. Readers' interest is wider and the
number of publi shed books relevant t o these i ssues becomes
larger.
Lectures on Ancient Greece organi sed by both the Nati onal
Met sov i on Pol y t echni c School of A thens (when M r. N.
Mark atos was rect or) and '16w8i arQov by Andoni s Anas -
tasaki s were among the fi rst attempts aiming, these last years,
t o revi ve, i f I may say, Hell eni sm. Becoming graduall y more
and more successful , they demonst rated that modern Greeks
had finall y decided to take things in hand in the most Hell eni c of
ways, Knowledge.
These lectures, whi ch were in essence presentat ions of ori gi -
nal scientifi c works, were gi ven by impressi vely inst ructed per -
sonali ties and decisi vely overthrew certain stereot ypes staining
tor years our country. Questi ons such as Homer ' s identit y, the
alphabet ' s ori gins or the continui ty of our manners and customs
were t reated scientifi call y with subst anti al evidence.
Personall y, I t ook part in the organi sati on of these lectures
during their second ( 1994), and their third and last year, since the
Pol yt echni c School deni ed further coo per ati on, once M r.
Markat os' term was over.
I was then asked to gi ve an account of a so far unspoken sub -
j ect , the real extents of homosexuali ty in Ancient Greece, whi ch
from the very beginning rose great interest in the overcrowded
amphitheat re and kept me busy ever since.
11
Adoni s A. Georgiades
I am deepl y convinced, and my convicti on is support ed by
subst anti al evidence rather than personal beli ef, that, in thi s sub -
j ect too, different peopl e have told us impudent li es for different
reasons.
All the necessar y proof leading to thi s conclusion will be gi -
ven to you in the following pages. I can only say in advance that
thi s proof is but a small part of what I managed t o track down.
I hope other searchers will undert ake and compl ete thi s re
search.
12 ---------------------
---- -- INTRODUCTION ----- -
I
t is not in the purpose of thi s research t o take a posi tion in
favour of, or against homosexuality, but t o find out ancient
Greeks' own views on the issue.
I believe that the idea, that Greeks were, so t o speak, much
more t olerant as far as homosexuali ty is concerned, and that it
was not onl y accepted by, but almost imperati ve to every educat -
ed Greek, is deliberatel y diffused.
There is no doubt; in the context of the New Age we li ve in,
where everything is being tri viali sed, this diffusi on is neither in -
nocent nor accidental , but maintained by those who use the au-
thorit y of our cl assi cal ci vili sati on to corroborat e their own
views. Let us not forget that, nowadays, there are peopl e who not
onl y try t o protect the ri ghts of indi viduals having made thi s per -
sonal choice, whi ch we find absolutel y legitimate, but also t ry t o
convince us that homosexuali ty is natural. Those who don' t
adopt it would be sort of inferi or compared t o the rest. Models
standing in the centre of the stage tend to foll ow thi s directi on.
We li ve in the age of ext ravagance, moving from mass hysteri a
against homosex ual s, whi ch dominat ed Europe onl y some
decades ago, t o the other extreme by making all equal. Does any-
body consider how devastating can such acti ons be to tradi tional
instituti ons such as famil y? To throw down some so call ed taboos
seems to be the onl y thing that counts for the moment. There are
limits, though, to everything and once hubri s i s committed, i t is
inevitabl y foll owed by Nemesis.
The idea is simpl e. If during the, as generall y admitted, great -
est era of classical Greece, peopl e found it natural to be invol ved
in homosexual relati ons with adult or even under age indi viduals
to ser ve " educati onal purposes", then pederasty and homosexu-
ality acquire a di fferent, favourabl e dimension.
13
/\don i:. A. Georgiadc.::.
Zeus an d Ganymedes: thi s parti cul ar myt h aroused several commenraries.
Socrates' int erpretati on is h011 ever wonh retaining
1-l
Homoscxouality in ancient Greece The myth is collapsing
Yet , was thi s reall y the case? Or thi s is what it is conveni ent for
the era of the politicall y correct t o think? Here is the real ques -
ti on.
To sustain my fundamental point of view, that homosexuality
was never accept ed by Greeks, I f oll owed the onl y rel i abl e
method I could think of, the onl y one signifi cant to the objecti ve
sear cher regardl ess of what Dover, Si amaki s or anybody else
says, extensi ve reference to ancient texts.
It is ri ght here that stands the huge probl em of educati on in our
country. How can one ask peopl e to study a Greek text when,
during their school years, they onl y learn to abhor them? Thi s is
by all means no fortuit ous. But answers li e there onl y. So trust no
one-no matter how many diplomas one mi ght have- speaking to
you about ancient Greece. Just study the texts yoursetr.
Let me cl ear once and for all that I don' t cl aim homosexuality
t o be unknown in anci ent Greek society. That would be both
senseless and unnatural, since homosexuality has always existed
in every human society for ei ther bi ological or psycho- social rea-
sons. Bei ng as old as our species, thi s sexual choice existed also in
the ancient Greek world.
But how was homosexuali ty treated then? It was treated in a
parti cul arl y negati ve way, as you will find out through thi s book.
So i t cannot be permitt ed t o those who want to attribute t o
classical Greece contemporary attitudes to do so.
IS -------- - - -
Teacher and pu[>i 1
CHAPTER ONE
SOCIAL CONTEXT
tt ic black urn (6 15 605ant. l )) representi ng fi ght 11 i th the Centaur

SOCIAL CONTEXT -----
H
omosexuality in ancient Greece i s a maj or issue, whi ch
has been keeping me busy in the past, as it has done with
many of you, I dare say. For no other reason than the continu -
ous accusati ons sustained by sources, ranging from cheap week -
l y reviews and newspapers to the so call ed " reli abl e" and " scien-
tifi c" books, whi ch, when bringing it forward, try to convince us
that ancient Greece was homosexuals' paradi se.
If thi s was to be true, it would deser ve thorough study, ince
Greeks were widely known to leave nothing to luck. Their social
life and ci vili sation have provided answers to the sli ghtest de-
tail s of human needs. So such an attitude of theirs should be sub -
j eer to further anal ysis.
Being myself, as I imagine most of you, convinced about the
accuracy of such views, I started my research. To my great amaze-
ment, I found, in the process, that I was deepl y mi staken and that
nothing of the kind was happening. The treasure was a hoax.
I will proceed by presenting all different points of view rele-
vant to thi s questi on. Researchers who promote the idea of gener -
all y spread and totall y accepted homosexuality in ancient Greece
don ' t usuall y do so. They never allow readers to nouri sh some
doubts or just inform them of the existence of opposite views.
Thi s is rather impressi ve and even suspi ci ous as to the under
laying obj ecti ves, since arguments put.forward by some of the
most seri ous scienti sts are not good enough to justify the con -
clusions they reach to.
Up to date studi es vary from scientifi c books to cheap read-
ings full of vul gar designati ons. As we cannot answer t o every
single work , we will use two books representing each one of the
t wo ex tremes. We chose Dover ' s Homosexuality in anci ent
Greece as an exampl e of a scientificall y attempted approach of
19 ---------------------
Adonis A. Gcorgiades
the subject. In Greece as well as worldwide, thi s book, consid-
ered as the most seri ousl y documented, is the main reference of
those who claim that homosexuality was widely adopted in the
ancient Greek world. Thi s is why it deser ves our attenti on and
the answers I beli eve I can gi ve to its author, despite the fact that
I deepl y respect him as a professor.
(Other import ant studi es such as Love in ancient Greece by
Robert Fl aceli ere or Marri age, hetaerae and pederasty by Caro-
la Rei nsberg are also avail abl e in our country and will uncondi -
ti onally be quoted when necessary.)
To represent the second group of readings, I chose a book
whi ch it is impossibl e to classify among the seri ous studi es re-
gardl ess of whatever good faith one may have, since its l ack of
self- control in the characteri sati ons takes away the slightest ele-
ment of a scientifi c approach.
Mr.Si amaki s' book The perverted obviously echoes hi s per -
sonal views with some etlort to support them by quoting an
cient writers. What it finall y does, as far as I am concerned, is to
di stort them.
Si nce I onl y want ed to treat the subj ect from a sci enti fic
point of view, it would be better not to deal with such a book and
the whole category it represents. Yet , hi s author is a professor of
theology and gi ves the, one has t o admit vague, impression t o
t alk on behalf of the Ari st oteli an Uni versit y ofThessal oni ca
whi ch didn ' t bother t o condemn the book for the insulting i m
age i t gi ves of our ancestors. So I found mysel f compell ed to re-
spond after quot ing it, as nobody can prevent us from defending
with irrefutabl e argument s the sacred memor y of Leonidas,
Socrates or Pl at o. Reference to thi s part icul ar book i s by no
means intending to insult the author, whom I don' t even know.
It simpl y aims to inform readers upon matt ers which have to be
treated wi th a far more keen sense of responsibility and respect.
Aft er all , when publi shed, a study i s automati call y subj ect to
20 --- -------
Homose>.ouali ty in anci ent Greece - The myth is coll apsi ng
positi ve or negati ve judgment. I will just avoid insults and try to
put things within their real proporti ons.
Wishing to gi ve readers the possibility to form a cl ear view
about homosexualit y in ancient Greece, I will examine, at fi rst,
what ancient writers generall y say about Sparta and Athens and,
then, compare it to what researchers say in order to check thei r
fidelit y t o the sources.
The wholl y preser ved Atheni an legislation will be foll owing.
Then, it will be necessar y to clear up, according to the sou rces
the exact meaning of the words (lover-
loved one). This is where lays the most signifi cant mi sinterpre
rat ion. I will finall y focus on specifi c questions such as myths,
great personaliti es and vase represent at i ons, which have re-
peatedl y been used as an indi cati on of ancient Greek society ' s
approval of homosexuality.
A lover" offers a gift to hi s love one"
2 1
Humorist ic vase represen ting a stele of Hermes (used as a road indi cator) with
a pointed phallus. One ca n wonder how it sli pped the arren t i on of several
"serious" researchers.
CHAPTER TWO
SPARTAHJ\THENS
Thi s\ b a 11 or k ol rht:: arti st ol trt:: tri a. l t rht::
music teacher with hi s student Musaeus. 1usaeus' naked body means nothing
mort: thantht:: accc: pranct:: or nakednc:ss in the Antiquit } .
SPARTA>-<ATHENS
I
n this chapter I will focus on the two major cities of the
ancient Greek world, Sparta and Athens, for very specif-
ic reasons.
First of all, a considerable amount of information con -
cerning these two cities is available. Let us not forget that
we are trying to find out what was happening 2500 years
ago. So, we ' d rather search in those cities we are most fa-
miliar with, thanks to their frequent mentions or descrip-
tions in ancient sources. Occasional hints to other regions
such as Crete or Elida are too brief and vague to draw any
reliable scient ifi c conclusion from them.
Second and most important, the two cities being leading
powers in their time, one can normally expect them to
function as models for the rest. After all , our knowledge
about Sparta covers the whole period of the city's leader -
ship, while in the case of Athens we know mainly what was
going on between 6'" and 4'" centuries B. C., the city's Gold
en age.
One can generall y expect minor cities to follow, more
or less, either Spana or Athens. So, studyi ng them should
be enli ghtening for what was going on in the ancient Greek
world in general. Athens will inevitably draw most of our
attention, since an overwhelming rate of the available
sources thoroughly describes most aspects of life (and not
only the Athenians' attitude to homosexuality) in the city.
We try to reach safe conclusions and not just to support one
view against another.
Let us then begin with a first , very important, observa-
tion, typical of the generali sed prejudice in favour of homo-
sexuality being sociall y accepted in ancient Greece.
---------- 25 ----------
Adonis A. Georgiadcs
In the light of a so called progress ism which enables him
to approach the question objectively, Pr. Dover tries to
convince us that our idea of homosexuality did not stand at
all in ancient Greece and almost invites us to share ancient
Greeks' ' liberal ' opinion in the matter. In the first footnote
of hi s book 's first page claims that Greeks knew that hu -
man' s sexual preferences differ, their language though had
no substanti ves equivalent to the Engli sh terms "homosex
ual ' and " heterosexual " since they believed that a) indeed,
in different moments, everybody react s in homosexual and
heterosexual stimuli and that b) no man has both act i ve and
passi ve sexual intercourse in the same period of hi s life.
Something goes wrong with this very first argument. I
can hardl y imagine pr. Dovertrying to write such an impor-
tant book without consulting a Greek lexicon. To start thi s
very book I went to at least seven major ones, most of then
being editions of ancient lexicographers, which thi s scholar
is undoubtedl y familiar with. How is then possible for him
to make such a tragic mi stake from the very first page?
Were it true, hi s argument would be most valuable, but it
is not. Greeks had created the perfect language, an instru
ment of the greatest possible accuracy. If they didn ' t make
the difference between the two sexual choices, they certain
l y had a serious reason. I s that so? Or is there something
else going on, which inevitabl y dri ves us to the exact oppo-
site conclusions despite the fact that we follow the same
reasoning about word meaning as pr. Dover does?
It is true that terms " homosexual " and " heterosexual "
are not found in the ancient texts, but not for the reason pr.
Dover sustains. In our ancient language homosexuals were
descr ibed with a very hard word, they were referred to as
Ki,vm6m.
------------------- 26 -------------------
Homosexoualiry in ancielll Greece - The myrh is coll apsing
This word' s meaning is clearl y insulting and highl y di s-
approving of those having made this particular choice. In
modern Greek it could be accurately tran slat ed as
" damned". Homosexual in ancient Greek is equival ent to
" damned" in modern.
To eliminate any doubt , I quote the most authori tati ve
Greek - Engli sh Lexicon by H.G.Liddell and R.Scott in page
951:
Ktvcubda: unnatural lust, Aeschin. I. 131 , Demetr.
Eloc. 97
to be
lewd person.
This issue deserves our attention, for it is a most impor -
t ant one: Pr. Dover is right to start with the language, but
for a reason I cannot explain, seems to ignore the most
valuable clue.
Nowadays, by the use of terms such as " homosexual " and
" heterosexual ", we simpl y describe a phenomenon, wi thout
making either a positi ve or a negative appreciation.
In ancient Greece, on the contrary, language showed the
greatest possible accuracy. Epictetus used to say: " Inquiry
about words is the first step to cleverness". There is nothing
fortuitous in thi s language, and in thi s case it takes a clear
and pat1icularl y negati ve position.
It has also to be noted that Ai6wc:; (Reverence, Awe, or
Respect) was a very important divinity and whoever defied
her would be most severel y puni shed by Nemesis (di vine
Retribution), always coupled with her. Ai6wc:; is etymolog-
icall y connected to Atoxoc:; (shame, di sgrace/ ugliness, de-
formity), which means that thi s particular deed meant di s-
honour to the doer.
So, although the majority of public opinion, in our coun -
try, as well as abroad, and writers like pr. Dover share the
27 --------- -
Adonis A. Georgiades
view that homosexuality was approved, if not imperati ve
in ancient Greece, one can already suspect from thi s very
first remark that quite the opposite was true.
A) SPARTA
As previously explained, I will examine closely the two great
cities of the ancient Greek world.
I will begin by quoting Mr. Si amak is' book The Perverted. I
already qualified it as a non scientifi c book and it would be un
ethi cal if I didn ' t present some of the ext ract s whi ch, from my
point of view, justify thi s qualification. I will refute these ex -
tract s referring to Sparta and then follow the same procedure
for those referring to Athens.
To refute them it will be enough to quote some anci ent writ -
ers. Readers can then draw their own conclusions and no one
coul d say that , what I claim i s my own dev ice put forward t o
serve personal views.
So here is what Mr. Siamaki s says:
I . "As far as sex i s concerned, Sparta was reall y nothing less
than a whorehouse, a queer and hermet i call y close lunat i c
asylum for abnormal. " (page 36)
2. " Whil e unmarri ed, a Spart an woman was used by many
sodomites; but when she got married, she was forced to ab -
st i nence and then harassed by envi ous old hags with wild les -
bi an inclinations; and after several years of marri age she
could have many men, her own brothers included, and the
duty to treat other young girl s or newly - wed women in the
same way; she was finall y becoming a heartl ess hag herself
who was sending her own husband or son to the war gi ving
him a shi eld and saying to him " "H rav 1j bd uit;" , that i s
28 ---------------------
Hornosexouality in ancient Greece - The rnyth is coll apsing
"come back either ali ve with it or dead on it". Thi s so call ed
and unjust ifiabl y admired farewell i s but a sadi st ic "go to
hell " ,worth y of adulteresses, whores and unnaturall y used
hags and lesbi ans who hated men because they felt they did
not need them." (p. 38)
3. " Lycurgus' laws specifi ed that young men were to t rain
themselves naked for older ones to watch them. Thi s was a
sight worth seei ng according to Xenophon the pederast.
Sodomite peepers were arranging pl easures for their old age
by such laws." (p. 40)
" By "speaking laconicall y is the soul of wit" they meant that
pederasty is some kind of philosophy." (p. 44)
Let us now read some revealing extracts from our ancient
writers relevant to what Mr. Si amakis claims:
Xenophon, Respublica Lacedaemoniorum I I , 13
'0 OE evavria xai naat t: lpf.v
WV OlOV cki l/JVXiJV JrElQ<fjW rlp E-
pnwv cpi}..ov dnouJ..f.aaa8w xai avvt:i:vw, enJJVEt xai xa}..}..i-
an7v nau5ciav 7:WJ7:1'jV ev6ptl;t:v d OQE-
cpavci17, ataxwwv wiJw enoirJat:v ev /laxt:6ui-
poVtfl17Mv 1JrWV nau)txwv anf.xwBw fj nui-
6wv fj xai 6.6dcpoi d6t:Acpwv dcpQoOiata dnf.xovwt.
" Because Lycurgus was against all these, he approved onl y
of when a person, being such as he had to be and admiring a
boy's moral and intellectual self, tried to be his blamel ess
friend and associate with him; he (Lycurgus) even thought of
thi s as rhe most nobl e form of education. But , when one turned
out to yearn for the boy's body, which was the basest thing to
do according to Lycurgus, he ordered that lovers should hold
themsel ves off the loved boys, just as parents or brothers ab-
29 -----------
st ain from having sexual inter course wit h their children or
brothers."
Xenophon, Symposium VIII , 55:
/1 (J.XcOWj,UJVWl OE o[ Eclv xai OQEX8fi u c; aw-
flaT:oc;, flrJOEVOc; av ETl xaA.oD xdya(}oD roDwv rl JXElV, o{!rw
rdiwc; Wile; EQWfLEVOVc; dya(}m)c; we; xai j,lEra
xav ,uiJ f.v rfi w !rfi [ noA.t:t/ wxewm up EQG.OT?J, opoi-
wc; alooOvrm rm'1c; na.Qovwc; dnoA.cint:Lv. f9t:av yaQ rn! rryv
}\ vaiot:taV d.A.A.a A low
"Lacedaemonians, on the conrrary, believe that a loved boy
cannot succeed anything noble, when one yearns for hi s body,
and they bring the loved ones to such moral perfection that ,
when they find themsel ves in battl e among strangers and not
with their lover, they never think of desert ing their comrades in
arms, because they honour Alowc; ( Reverence) as a goddess
and not /4 vaiot:w (Shamelessness).
Plutarch, Vitae parallelae, Lycurgus XVII , 4:
' Exotvwvovv M o[ f.Qaarui wi:c; nawi rijc; f.n'
apqJ<JrE(}a XU.t A.iycrat JCOTE Jratr)c)c; EV up paxw(}w rpwvryv
U)'I:.'VIJ JCQOcpivov rov EQaarryv lJJrO rwv doxo-
vrwv. 0 Drw M wD EQQV iyxEXQlf,tEVOV nao' avroi:c;, ware xai
rwv JCG.Q8ivwv EQQV rac; xaA.ac; xai dya8ac; yvvaixac;, ro
dvrcoav mi x 1]v, d.A.A.a paA.A.ov d.QX f.nowDvw rptA.iac; nooc;
d.U1jA.ovc; o[ nji w ! nji f.Qaa8ivrcc;, xai otcriA.ovv xotv,ij
onwc; Ci.QWWV dnt:Qyaawvro rov EQWf,lE-
VOV.
" Lovers took part in the boys' good or bad repute. It is said
that when, once, a boy shouted improperl y during the combat,
the authoriti es puni shed hi s lover for that. So, thi s kind of love
30 ----------
H
o
m
o
s
c
:
-
.
o
u
a
l
i
r
y

i
n

a
n
c
i
e
n
r

G
r
e
e
c
e

T
h
e

m
y
r
h

i
s

c
o
l
l
a
p
s
i
n
g

3
1

C
l
J

~

~

:
a

~

E

0

u

Adonis A. Ueorgiadcs
was approved and honourable women were encouraged to love
virgins, but there was no rivalry in such relationships. On the
contrary, lovers of the same boy found to thi s a motive to
become friends and work together to bring the loved boy to
moral perfection. "
As far as women of Lacedaem.on and their love for their
husbands are concerned, here's another revealing and totally
denyi ng Mr. Siamakis' claims extract from Plurt arch 's work.
Leoni das' wife, Gorgo is questioned on this subject and her
answer demonstrates how women of Sparta " hated" their men.
Plutarch, Vitae parallelae, Lycurgus XIV,4:
"OfJEv mirat:c; xai Aiynv b n] t: L xai cpQOVEtv o[a xai nt:Qi
ToQyovc; [aroQ1Jrat njc; /l t:wvi6ov yvvwx6c;. Elnovaryc; yaQ
uvoc;, we; EOLXE, EV1] c; l!QOc; wi n]v we; M OVaL r wv dv6QWV
Ci.Qx ErE V,UEtc; a[ /1 UXWVW. ,UOVW yaQ Ecp!], rlXWflEV
aVOQac;.
" So every woman of Sparta used to think and speak as Gorgo,
Leonidas' wife, is said to have done. When a stranger woman told
her " only you, women of Lacedaemon, rule your husbands", she
repli ed " this is because only women of Lacedaemon give birth to
real men".
That is the true extent of Spartan women's esteem for their
husbands.
Pl utarch, who i s, by the way, the main source to those who
write about homosexuality, also makes clear that:
EQdv rwv rYJV 1./JVX1]v anov6aiwv nu.iowv icpt:i:ro 6 M
EYXA1JfJEic; we; f.n' alaxvvn nk!]atal;wv aUflOc; OLQ (3iov ~ V
that is " The aim was to love the moral and intellectual self of
32 -----------
Homosexoual iry in anci ent Greece - The myth is coll apsing
earnest boys and, when a man was accused of approaching them
with lust , he was depri ved of civic ri ghts for life." (Aax.cb. 'Em-
n] b. 7 ,237c ).
And Maximus Tyrius confirms t hi s t est imony in hi s work
Lectures (20. 8de):
<d Q(i &. vi]g fl el(!Wdov AU.XWVliWii, &. A.X EQ(i w5-
vo xaA.oD xai noA.A.oi, xai TCOAAWV. 'H
ftEV yag 1]6ov1]
" A man of Spart a loves a boy, but he l oves i t the way many
people love and admire a beautiful statue or one many statues.
But sensual pl easure coming from lust i s prohibited among
them."
Finall y let us see what Aeli anus says about Spart a in hi s wor k
Vari a Hi stori a Ill , 12:
M alaxoov 01Jx eloev d re yao ftetQ6. -
xwv EUJA,UJ]OeV v{3(!tV {JTCO,UelVat d re v{3Qiaat, &. A.A.'
iJ..vmriA.J]ae n7v L:n6.on7v iyxaw,ue'ivat ij yag
QTC1]AAay1]0U. V fj xai ro EU (} Q,UcJ U(}OV xai rofJ
{Jiov m)ro i! .
" Spart an love had nothing base because nei ther the boy dared
to accept lewdness, nor the lover dared to be lewd, since it was no
good for any of them to di shonour Sparta. I f thi s ever happened
they were either exil ed or, what was worse, kill ed."
Such extensi ve quoting may be weari some to some readers,
but such li ve testimoni es seem t o me more important than any
personal views. And it has t o be said that the preser ved ancient
33
Adon is A. Gcorgiades
texts represent no more than a 3% of ancient Greek literature.
Those who chose whi ch texts were to be saved and whi ch to be
burned were peopl e interested in tarni shing the ancient world,
since they were fi ghting against it. We must not forget that the m a-
jor part of these pri celess treasures whi ch were not left to peri sh
was preser ved by monks in monasteri es in the first centuri es of
the Chri sti an era.
Peopl e were obliged by the laws of the first emperors to hand
over whatever text they may have in their possession for thi s se -
lecti on to be made. Penalti es for those who did not foll ow the laws
were virul ent, ranging from confi scati on of their fortune and ex
il e to tortures and executi on. Edits of thi s kind were i ssued by em
perors such as Theodosius (the unjustifi abl y call ed Great), Arca-
dius, Justini anus and others.
It is, in my opinion, compl etel y documented that, in contrast
to the later development of Chri sti anity, when Orthodoxy rose as
a prodigious uni on of the t wo Worlds, there was a huge confli ct
between Chri sti anity and ancient Greek legacy during the first
centuries of our era. The so call ed Greek Fathers of the Chri sti an
church were, certainl y, remarkabl e scholars capabl e of studying
thoroughl y the Greek texts, but the general tendency, ser ving of
course the dominating ideology, was to portrait the former world
as sunk in vice and corrupti on, a world awaiting for the new mes
sage Chri sti anity was about to spread.
So, it would be a rather valid hypothesis to presume that all the
preser ved texts refuting the theory of generali zed homosexuality,
at least as far as the classi cal er a is concerned, are onl y those
whi ch escaped destructi on.
I considered it then not merel y li kel y, but absolutel y certain
that much more strai ght evidence for moral questi ons would be in
our dispositi on, i f so vehement an ideol ogical confli ct had not
taken place. In any case, though, what is left is undoubtedl y more
than enough.
34 --------------------
Homoscxouality in ancient Greece - The myth is coll apsing
Also of great importance is the meaning of the words
(lover) and (loved boy/one). Although a whole chapter
will be devoted to their exact interpretati on, i t must yet come dim -
l y into sight that they were not used in a sexual meaning, as they
ar e today, but in another, obviously educational one.
The reading of the so far menti oned extracts must have al -
ready made us suspi cious about that, since, despite the use of the
word " lover " , any sexual affinit y of the t erm seems inconcei v
abl e. Yet , i f " lover " had its modern meaning, thi s would be irra-
t ional. So t here should be another meaning for thi s word and it
will be soon revealed what thi s was.
B) ATHENS
We will now hear what Mr. Siamaki s says about the other pole
of the ancient Greek ci vil isati on, Athens. I shall onl y remi nd my
readers that I quote faithfull y Siamak is' book The per vert ed, to
make clear to everyboby how t hi s parti cul ar mi sunderst anding
carri ed on through the years.
I . "Actuall y, as a pederast, Solon was sexuall y invol ved also with
young Peisistratus, by several years hi s eldest, who succeeded
him and became tyrant of Athens." (p.25)
2. " Piutarch and Athenaeus confi rm that Aeschylus was pervert -
ed and praised pederasty. " (p. 54)
3. sophocl es was al so a per verted and uncontroll abl e ped-
erast. " (p. 54)
4. " Euripides prai ses pederasty and dressing li ke women." (p. 54)
5. " Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Parmenides, Empedo-
cl es, and Zen on of El ea, are among those who were or seemed
to be scienti sts and, in t heir texts, refer to per version or are
proved to be per verted themsel ves." (p.59)
35
6. "Plato proves why sexual intercourse between male and fe -
male i s unnatural , whil e it is natural between t wo males or
t wo females." (p.61 )
7. "The first [the author r ef er s t o phil osopher s preceding
Socrat es] were hard working sci enti sts, whil e the second
were idl ers, wast ers, envi ous imitat ors and babbl ers who
f aked up lewd st ori es in st ead of l abori ous proof. As f or
Socrates and the charl atans of hi s lot , they had no other occu-
pat ion but the dail y and daylong pursuit and seducti on of
beautiful underage boys to sati sfy their lust. In the symposia,
after guzzling and vomiting and practi sing sodomy, they al -
so occupi ed themsel ves with emitting their fanci ful concep-
ti ons. Parmenides and hi s foll owers invented thi s so call ed
phi losophy, but it was Socrates and hi s circle who gave it i ts
final shape, although Socrates is mainl y a creati on of hi s stu -
dents." (p.62)
8. "Comi cal poets, such as Telecl eides, Ari stophanes and others,
gi ve testimony about Socrates before hi s own students, and
they all portray him as a scab ,fooli sh beggar, looking forward
to when and where symposia are gi ven, in order to throw him
sel f to food and booze, and offer in exchange to hi s host and
fellow- diners hi s funny rubbi sh to make them laugh. He obvi -
ously was the show of contemporary banquets. " (p.62)
9. "Although Xenophon 'sand Pl ato' s portraits of Socrates di f -
fer subst anci all y, they shar e one widel y known feature,
which was surely the person 's main one: he should have been
the cheeki est and grossest pederast to ever exist in the an-
cient world" (p.63)
I could go on with endl ess quotati ons, since the whole book
is wri tten in the same spirit. Yet , I don' t intend t o expose its au-
thor, but to gi ve a tribune to hi s views and then answer t o them
t o avoid the di storted cl aim that no answer can be gi ven.
36 - - --------
Homosexoual ity in ancient Greece - The myth is collapsing
Let me say again that r find thi s book extremely insulting to
my ancestors and, i f it hadn ' t been publi shed by a t eacher, I
wouldn' t have bothered mentioning it. I would have regarded it
as an insignifi cant text written by someone who is obviously not
aware of the importance of hi s sayings to the uni versal and not
onl y the Greek ci vili sation.
Still , the real probl em is that such, though not always so ex -
tremel y phrased, vi ews are unfortunat el y often put for ward.
Thus we have to take a cl ear position. (In fact , according to Sia-
maki s' book , the onl y ancient peopl e ro have held out against
degenerat ion were the Jewi sh, since they were protected by the
Law of Moses. They met serious danger when conquered by the
" per verted" Greeks, but finall y managed to resist. )
r will begin my refute by quoting ancient text s referri ng to
homosexuality, as r did in the case of Sparta, especiall y Pl ato,
since he is the one to be mostl y accused as the main supporter of
homosexuality.
What is the real paradox in thi s case, is that Pl ato specifi call y
makes clear hi s positi on about homosexuali ty, whi ch is a com-
pl etely negati ve one. In hi s most mature work , Leges, where he
cr ystalli ses hi s whol e phil osophy, he goes as far as to propose
the institution of a severely forbidding law against homosexual -
it y. Judging by the numerous references found in all hi s works, I
can conclude that he was rather preoccupied with thi s issue. One
can onl y wonder, then, how the parti san of pl atoni c love ended
being considered, nowadays, as the theori st of homosexuality.
Thi s must be rather attributed to mi sinterpreted extracts of an-
other of hi s major works, Symposium, t o whi ch I will further
thoroughl y refer to.
Pl ato, Leges 636c:
'Evvorrrt ov on r;fj ()17 Adr;t. xai rfi r wv dQQEvwv cp1)an
XOLVWVlQV LOVOJ7 fj JrC(!t 'taV'ta qbovq xara
37
Adonis A. Gcorgiadcs
Elder men harassing" a young man . Thi s i s one of th e approximati vel y
s v n t ~ vases used to support theories about pederast y in the ancient wor ld.
Let u nor overlook the fact that the arti st hesitates to pi cwre an audacious
homosex ual scene.
38
Homosexouality in ancient Greece The myth is collapsing
({JVUtV aJ'lOhEhoufJat boxEf, M ij 07]-
M:uov 01JM:iaq q;vmv.
" It is understood that, since their birth, nature urges females
and males to have sexual intercourse with one another, and it is
obvious that sensual pl easure i s gi ven to them accordi ng to
n at ur e, whil e again st nature between two mal es or two
females."
Thi s is quite the opposite of what Mr. Siamaki s claims to have
read in Plato.
Plato, Leges, 836c- e:
... cl yaQ ns dxo.Aovt9wv rJ] cpvaet t9van rov JrQ(J wD
Aatov VcJfWV, Aiywv ws DQtJWs elxev ro dQQivwv xai viwv fl1J
XOtVWVelV xatJanEQ tJYJAEtWV lrQOs flEtl;,tv acpQOOtaiwv, fl(J.QW-
Qa naQay6ftEvos rrJv tJYJQiwv cp11atv xai OEtxv1'1s nQOs u1 wt-
aDw ovx an"COfl EVOV Ci.QQE::Va Ci.QQE::VOs Ota "CO F cp1JOE:: t wfiw
El vat, r ax' av XQWW ndJu.vqi .A6yq.> ...
" If someone, following nature, proposes the re institution of
the law as it was before Laius rthought to be the mythical inventor
of homosexuality, after he raped Chrysipus, and puni shed by
being murdered by hi s own son] and claims that it is not ri ght for
men and boys to have sex with one another , as they have with
women, and call s upon male animals which do not touch sexuall y
one another , si nce thi s is not in their nature, he would have a
rather strong argument."
Plato, Leges, 840de:
... ws ov xEiQovs 1]1dv elvat wvs noAims 6Qvit9wv xai
a.A.Awv tJ1]Qiwv lrOAAWV, ol' xara fleya.Aas dyiAas YEVV1]tJE-
VrEs, ftEXQt ptv natooyovias 1jit9w t xai dxfwawt yapwv u
ayvoi l;wmv, owv o' Els wDw 1]Atxias EAtJWat, avvovaatJEVUs
39 -----------
liQQYJV fJYJAEl(,l xauJ. XclQlV xai fJ1jAElQ liQQEVl, r ov J...omov xgd-
vov oaiwc; xai btxaiwc; W U l V EflftEVovur; {Jc{3aiwr; rate; TCQW-
ratc; rfic; cptA.iac; OfWA.oyiwc; bci:v 01] fJ17Qiwv yE w i ro1',c; dpci-
vovc; clvw .
"Our citi zens should not be inferior to birds and many animal
speci es, which are born in great herds and li ve purel y and chastely
without copulating to the age of bearing children, but , when they
reach this age, males mate with femal es and females with males to
their will , and live the rest of their li ves sinl ess l y and justly,
remaining faithful to the commitment they made in the beginning
of thei r r elationship. So, citi zens must prove themsel ves even
better than beasts."
Pl ato, Leges 84 Id:
"H flYJOEVa roA.,uav flrJOEvoc; anrwfJat rwv ycvvaiwv afla
xai EJ... wfJigwv nXY, v yaflcrfic; EU.UWV yvvatxdr;, a&vra M
naJ...J...u.xwv ani g,uu.ra xu.i v6fJa wh andgnv, ,w7M ay ova
CtQQEVWV naga lpl JOlV" fj ro ftEV rwv UQQEVWV ncipnav dcpcJ...oi-
,ucfJ' a V ...
"No one should dare have sex with the brave and free but their
own wives , nor should he be allowed to have illegitimat e
otlspring by concubines or childless and unnatural intercourse
with men; even better, sexual intercourse between men should be
once and for all prohibited."
Can you imagine how such a proposition would be qualified
nowadays?
Those were only some of the enli ghtening extracts of Plato. I
can now proceed to quoting X enophon, another student of
Socrates, whose views undoubtedl y refl ect, as well as Plato's,
those of hi s teacher, which have also been completely distot1ed.
40 --------------------
Homosexoual i ry in ancient Greece - The myrh is collapsi ng
Xenophon, Memorabili a, A, II 30:
KQtriav rdv roivvv alafJaw)ftEVoc; sowvra E1! fJvcn],uov
xai JrEtQWVW XQfi af} at, xaf)a:rrEQ o JrQOc; r ' acpQOOiaw rwv
awrt6.rwv d:rroA.avovuc;, d:rri r QEJrE cpaaxwv dvcA.EvfJEQov u
dvat xai ov :rroi:rrov dvooi xaA.<jj xdyafJ<jJ r ov SQWftEVOV, cJj
(Jm)A.crat JrOAAOD we; cpaivwfJat, JrQOOWrEtV wa:rrEQ rm)c;
:rrr wxm'1c; xEuvovra xai OEOftEVov :rroom)oDvat, xai r afi r a
ft 'YJOEvoc; dyafJofr roD M KQtriov rote; row1l ratr; ovx ?i:rraxov-
ovroc; 01JOE d:rrorQEJrOftEVOV, Uycrat rov L.wxoarnv Ci.A.A.wv r E
:rroA.A.wv :rrao6vrwv xai rofj El:rrEtV on vi:Xov m)r <jj
ooxoin :rraaxEtV 6 KQt riac;, m evftWV JrQOO-
xvijafJat WOJrEQ Ul Iiow rote; A.ieotc;, wv Mt xai pian r ov
L.wxQanJVO KQtriac;.
" When he reali sed that Criti as was in love with Euthydemus
and tri ed to use him like those who just want t o enj oy sexual
intercourse, Socrates was trying to di ssuade him, by saying that it
was unworthy of a free and improper of a morall y well instructed
man to importunate like a beggar the one he loves, and of whom
he wants to prove himself worthy, by asking him t o concede to
something not good. But Criti as didn' t want to hear ,nor was he
di ssuaded, so Socrates is said to have remarked, in the presence of
others and of Euthydemus himself, that Criti as seemed to him to
suffer like pigs, since he wants t o rub himself against Euthydemus
like pi gs against stones. And that is exactl y why Criti as hated
Socrates."
From thi s parti cul ar extract one can safel y conclude that the
words ieaoti}s (lover) and i ew,.u:vos (loved boy) had, by that
time, a compl et el y different meaning than they have i n the
present time. Otherwise, just imagine how absurd thi s text would
be, had they r eferred t o actual sexual intercourse, as they do
today. It would be totall y senseless.
4 1
It is so far obvious to me how unfounded the usual arguments
of those who share Mr Siamakis views are. They can only be dit
fused thanks to ignorance of the texts that most of us have due to a
poli cy, systemat icall y promoted tor sever al decades, if not cen-
turi es, by those who rul e. This poli cy permits just anybody to mi s-
lead us by expressing sci entificall y inadmi ssibl e theories. We re
mai n, alas, too ignorant.
As to the particular way of writing Mr. Siamakis shares with
other writers, who want to ser ve specifi c ideol ogical purposes
and because these views are recently diffused through television, I
woul d like to open a small parenthesis to my subject, in order to
show i n whi ch way texts are distorted.
I repeat that thi s could not be happening, if Greeks had imme-
diate access to ancient Greek texts. Unfortunatel y, this does not
happen in the majority of cases, and if someone has in hi s library
the necessary texts, he cannot study them, since he got used, dur
ing hi s school years, to abhor them.
One can, rh en, write whatever he wants, claim to have found it
in an ancient text and have it accepted and even as a totally docu -
mented theory. That is why I insi st on quoting the ori ginal ancient
Greek texts, to avoid any suspi cion, and to ensure compl ete and
utter, not apparent reli abili ty.
Mr. Si amaki s, prolific as he is, has published, among others, a
book about the ori gins of the alphabet. In page 3 10 of this very
book he says verbatim (my emphasis):
"That Phoenicians were not exactly the barbarians who
invented, used and transmitted the alphabet to Greeks, after
the Dorian descent, is a piece of information whi ch the Greeks
became familiar with in the 4th century before our era, when they
took control of the Eastern countries and acquired further knowl -
edge of them. It i s then made clear that the Syri ans, and in parti cu-
l ar the Jewish invented the alphabet. Diodo111s Siculus, who, in hi s
hi storical work , appears to have conducted hi s own or consulted
42
Homosexouality in anci ent Greece - The myth is coll apsing
others' serious researches, says: ' Syrians are the inventors of the
alphabet; Phoenici ans learned from them and then transmitred it
to Greeks. They navigated to Europe after Cadmus, so, Greeks
called the letters Phoenici an. And Phoenicians are said not to
have invented the letters in the first place, but just to have changed
their position. But, because most of them used the letters, they
were named after them.' Apart from the alphabet's Syrian, that is
to say Jewish, as I am going to prove, origin, Diodorus also point -
ed out its unique and universal character."
Mr. Siamakis is so determined to prove his theory about the
origins of the alphabet by sustaining it through Diodorus' Siculus
text, that he even quotes it (5, 74, I ) to eliminate any doubt on its
authority.
Where does he lean? No doubt, to the regrettabl e fact that less
than few Greeks can check hi s quotation, they do not have access
even to the most well - known texts of the ancient writers, not to
mention Diodorus Siculus' work (which, however, has been pub
li shed in our editions, " Georgiades- Library of the Greeks", several
years ago).
You can then imagine my surpri se, when I first read Mr. Si a-
maki s' book and his reference to Diodorus. I immediatel y l ooked
to our edition of the original text , which follows the Leipzig edition.
Diodorus Siculus, book fi ve, paragraph 74 (my emphasi s):
Taiq M ovuatq boOijvat Jra(!a TOV JCaT(!Oq TTJV n:Ov y(!ap-
ptiunv W(!Eutv xu.i rv rwv b r:wv m!vfJEmv rv nooau.yoowo-
t-dvryv fl(!oq M TOVq Uyowaq, on L1J(!Ol f-tEV EV(! E-
mi rwv y(!at-tt-t6.r:wv clai, naoa M rm!rwv C/JoivtxEc; pu.86vuc;
wic; "}..A.1JUt na.oaacowxaaLV, mhot o' claiv o[ pcra K6. opov
Jr:AE1Jaavuc; clc; rv E1J(!WlrrJV, xai Ota wDw rm!c; ")).1]Va.c; ra
y(!6.ppam @otvixEw neoaayoodmv, qJaui mvq iPoivtxaq
ovx tg ti(!zijq clJ(!Etv, a.Ma TOVq rvJCovq TWV y(!apptirwv paa-
Ocivat povov, xai rfj TE y(!aqJfj ravry TOVq JCA.ciurovq rmv
43
Adoni s A. Gcorgiades
avfJ(.JaJJrmv X(.JrJUaufJat xai t 'WV'W rvxt::iv rfjq Jr(.JOEt(.JTJPi-
VT}q Jr(.JOUTJYO(.Jiaq.
"The in venti on of th e l ett er s and the co rn bin at i on of
words t o make poems was gi ven t o the Muses by their fa-
ther. And as an answer to those who claim that it was the Syri -
ans who invented the letters and the Phoenicians learned the let -
ters from them and then, transmitted them to the Greeks, I say
that it is about them who sail ed wi th Cadmus to Europe. And so
the Greeks named the letters Phoeni cian. Phoeni ci ans ar e said
not t o have in vent ed the l ett er s in the first pl ace, but just t o
have changed their posi t i on. But, because most of the peopl e
used rhe l etter s, they wer e named aft er them. "
So Di odorus says qui te the opposite of what Mr. Si amaki s
cl aims. He even feels the need to expl ain the reason of hi s state-
ment. Because when he wri tes, in the first century before our era,
Jewish have come to the front of hi story, whil e, before the Hel
leni st ic years, there was no menti on of them, apart from the Old
Testament of course.
I t is then possible that some of them, with their known, and in
some way legitimate, tendency to extend their passage from hi sto-
ry (see the Judaic Archaeology of l ose pus) have claimed that Syri -
ans invented the alphabet, in order to corroborate their positi on.
Anyway, the deciphering of the Linear B tabl ets has made all
thi s meaningless. Besides, even the Athens Uni versity Rector,
Mr. Babini oti s, in an arti cl e in th e news paper BiWa t ii c;
KugLa xfjc; (Jul y 7'
11
2002), makes clear that there is no scientific
doubt about the Greek ori gins of the alphabet.
Mr. Siamaki s uses then the same tactics in treating other sub-
j ects as in the case of the homosexuality in ancient Greece ques
ti on. According to me, he has recourse to mi squotati on, twisting,
di stort ion. If onl y I knew why.
44
.

G
r
e
e
c
e

l
i
t
y

i
n

a
n
c
i
e
n
t

H
o
m
o
s
e
x
o
u
a

)
-
-
-
4
5

i

Satyr trying to rape a Maenad
CHAPTER THREE
ATHENS' LEGISLATION ABOUT
HOMOSEXUALITY
Man phil andering a boy. Scene pain red in a light mood.
ATHENS' LEGISLATION
ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY
W
e have the incredibl e luck, whi ch would have normall y
freed anyone from any doubt about ancient Greeks' atti -
rude t owards homosexuali ty, to have in our hands the whole
Atheni an legi slati on rel ati ve to thi s questi on. It came to us
through a speech of the orator Aeschines, the speech Against Ti -
march us. I will proceed to a general presentati on of the pol iti cal
context in which the speech is pl aced, in order t o make the ex -
tracts more underst andabl e.
In the middl e of the 4'
11
century B. C. the Second Athenian al -
li ance li ves a maj or cri si s due t o the huge increase of power of
Philip 11 , Macedoni a' s king, who was also the father of Al exan-
der the Great.
Atheni ans, li ke most Greeks of their time, are di vided i n t wo
parti es: the anti - Macedoni an, whi ch considers Phi lip t o be a
barbari an conqueror wanting to enslave Greece, and whi ch has
Oemosthenes and Hyperides, the t wo orators for leaders; and
the pro Macedoni an, whi ch beli eves that Phi lip is the onl y hope
for Greece to be united under one government and conquer the
barbari ans, and whi ch has l socrates, the orat or, as theori st and
Phoci on and Aeschines as leaders.
The t wo parti es are vi olentl y opposed to each other, as it of -
ten happens to us Greeks. Accusati ons for treason, bribery and
other mi sdeeds of the kind are being made from both sides. Thi s
is a battl e t o the last and no strat agem is spared.
Aeschines is parti cul arl y det ested by the anti - Macedoni an
part y, not onl y as an adversary, but mostl y as a defector, since
he was against Phili p in the beginning of hi s poli t i cal career.
Then, he went t o Philip, along with a ten member 's delegati on,
and concluded the Phil ocratean peace, which practi call y pur an
49 --------- -
Adoni s A. Gcorgiadcs
end ro the Second Athenian alliance to the benefit of Phi lip, and
was thus considered as a great achi evement of the pro - Mace-
doni an party.
The anti Macedonian part y wants by all means to revoke
thi s treaty and confront again Philip. Thus, they bring Aeschines
to court accused of faithlessly executing hi s embassy, of bribery,
in other words. It was widely known that Philip used ro offer
generous "gifts" to hi s friends, having by thi s way subdued quite
a few cities.
Aeschines must have recei ved some presents from Philip, al -
though we cannot be absolutel y sure that he signed the treaty for
that , since, by that time, he was pro- Macedonian after all. He
certainl y represents the vulnerable spot of this peace ro hi s op-
ponents. They will , hence, accuse him, not without committing
one, fatal to them, mi stake.
They chose Timarchus, until that moment a di stingui shed
member of their party, to be hi s accuse r and prosecutor.
Aeschi nes chooses, then, not ro defend himself from this speci f -
ic accusat ion in court , and to take hi s adversari es by surprise. To
avoi d j udgment at all , he invokes a law in force since the age of
Solon, as he cl aims, according whi ch a citi zen can be completely
depri ved of hi s ci vic ri ghts, if hi s conduct was reprehensibl e.
And i f he has a convict i on of this kind, he cannot accuse anot her
citi zen, since thi s i s considered as part of hi s ci vi c ri ghts in
Athens.
So , Aeschines sued Timarchus tor unchast it y (nEQi
ErWQlJacwc;) and avoided the judgment of hi s own case. In hi s
speech, he preserves every single detai l of the whol e hearing,
from the secretary of the court reading the laws to the testi
monies, and gi ves us full access to the Atheni an legi slation for
homosexuality.
Just for the record, Aeschines won hi s case and Timarchus
was sentenced robe depri ved of hi s civic ri ghts. The l atter, ro
50 ---------------------
Homosexouali t y in ancient Greece - The myth is collapsing
avoid public di shonour, is said to have committed sui cide before
the verdi ct , whi ch would probabl y order hi s execution.
Let me warn you that I will make t he best of thi s work, whi ch
i s a gift from God to the unraveling of our case.
A first general remar k is that there is no other republi c in the
world t o have adopt ed such a ri gor ous legislati on about ped-
er ast y and homosexuality as A thens did. Sources all ow us t o
conclude that even Solon' s legal system, the first organi sed one
that we know of, as tar as Athens is concerned, had relati ve laws,
whi ch were rather severe.
We insi st on the dating of these laws because it has been sus
rained that onl y the extent of the " probl em" in classical Athens
can expl ain rhe severit y of the laws dealing with it.
But, as legislation was ri gorous enough in the archaic period
as well , we understand thar the extent of rhi s phenomenon and
the severit y of the legislati on were t wo separate issues.
Laws in force in Athens have nothing in common with con-
temporary tolerance. If someone had t ri ed to pass them roday,
he would have easil y been qualifi ed as raci st.
Gi ven thi s, t he gener all y accept ed idea about anci ent
Greeks' perception of homosexuality is not onl y false, but corn -
pl etel y r eversed. Whether thi s was done on purpose or not , I
will let my readers to decide.
I will quote the laws unedited and without abridgments lo en-
abl e further commentary and examinati on of the obj ecti ons Pr.
Dover and others have on the laws. To ensure credibility, I will
cite the ancient Greek text , in the Leipzig editi on as foll owed by
the Library of the Greeks of Georgi ades' Editi ons.
Aeschines, Against Timarchus 12:
0 [ M. r wv naiowv ou)aaxaA.ot avotyi r waav pf. v Ul c5toa-
axaA.cia f-liJ 71:QOTEQOV 1]A.iov XAELEiOJOQV M 71:(20 IJAL-
ov K ai fl ll e i ar w vnEQ r iJv r wv naiowv IJAt-
51
xiav m)mv cladvm rwv JW.lOWV lvoov ovrwv, EC.lV pi; v[oc; Ol-
OaaxaA.ov aodcpoc; evyarQoc; EQV OE ne; JW(]Q wvi
8avaup. Z17pwva8w xai o[ yv;.tvaataQxm wt:c; 'EQpai-
otr; pi; Hawaav avyxa8dvmp170Eva rwv v 1JAtxir;. rQoJU.p .un-
Ocvi. 'Eav M b raQb rn xaip1] t:ir!Y?7 w ii yv;.tvaaiov, l voxoc;
l arw 6 yvpvumaQXYJ s np rijc; A.t:v8iQWV cp8oQ6.c; v6;.u.p. 0[ M
XOQ1JYOi o[ xuewrapcVOl vno wv l arwaav rryv ryA.t -
xiuv {mt{] u:rwQaxovw l n7.
" Teachers should not open the school s before sunri se and they
shoul d close them before sunset. No one above the age of thirteen
is allowed to enter the school when children are still in, unl ess he is
the son, brother or brother in - law of the teacher. The law break
er s wi ll be sentenced to death. During Hermes ' celebrations,
gymnasts must let no one of age, and in no way, sit with the chil -
dren. The gymnast, who permits this and doesn' t chase the law-
break er out of the gymnasium, is guilt y according to the l aw
about the corruption of free children. Patrons named by the peo-
ple should be above fort y years old."
Iris obvious from thi s first law that , in Athens of the antiquity,
no effort was spared to keep the children pure in every way. Pre-
cauti ons taken could appear exaggerated.
To anci ent Athenians, someone' s presence in the school s was
impl yi ng lewd intentions and was enough to cause hi s sentence to
death. You can imagine the impact of the mere proposition of
such a law nowadays.
Of course, it has been said that such severity only reveals the
ext ent of the probl em. But, thi s i s also what I want to prove;
whenever and no matter to what extent thi s probl em appeared, it
was faced as a probl em and not as an institution or something of
the kind.
Unl ess, one wants us to beli eve that contemporary laws
52 ----------
Homosexouali ty in ancient Greece The myth is collapsi ng
Man having sex wi th woman. Even such scenes in the vases are used to sup
porr the theory of general ised homosexuali ty.
against drugs - whi ch can be severe, but never as hard as death
penalty prove undoubtedl y, not onl y how much frequent this ad -
di cti on i s, but , also, how necessary it is considered to chil dren' s
educati on. At least , that is the all egation of those who, to prove
their ideas about homosexuality in ancient Greece, appeal to the
severity of the law.
But , from a juri st ' s point of view, severe laws do not always
confi rm the ex i st ence of a probl em; they ar e also appl i ed t o
crimes j udged as hideous. When thi s possibility is combined with
53
va, e represent ing satyrs. creatures widely known for rheir per version
54
Homosexouali ry in ancienr Greece - The myrh is collapsing
the meaning and impact of xlvmboc;, as exposed above, i t then
becomes more than probabl e.
Aeschines, Against Ti marchus 16:
v ru; :4. ()1Jvaiwv EAE1J(}EQOV na'ioa 1){3Qian, y(}o.cpsaew
6 rofi rlfl. 1J.ua Enty(}a-
o' av ro (uxaan]QWV xara'ljJ1JcpL017WL, na(}a-
ffvOExa rcevarw w ! ()1Jf LEQOV. 'Eav M dQy1)-
owv xara'ljJ1Jcpw()fi, dnorcwarw i v ,una
I'YJV OLX17V, iav f l 'h J'CUQUXQ1],ua 01JV17WL dnorLVElV' oi:: rov
d;:corc'iam cl{}xMt rw. "Evoxot M l!arwaav ra'iaoE a
xai o[ ra olxcnxa ao),uara
" If an Atheni an insul ts a free boy, hi s tut or should sue him
rthe wrong doerl in front of the si x j unior archons r Athens' leg-
islatorsl and ask for hi s punishment. If he is found guil ty by the
court , he should be consigned t o the eleven execut i oners and
gi ven death t hat same day. I f he i s convi ct ed t o pay a fine, he
must do so within eleven days' time; i f he i s not abl e t o pay it im-
medi ately, he remains in pri son until he does. Those who do
such things to slaves are equall y guil ty."
In thi s second law, we must note the verb " insult" r vf3Qisw 1
which has also the meaning of " being lustful to someone". And
here is another law attributed to Solon whi ch says that
Demosthenes, Against Meidi as, 4 7, I
'Eav vf3ois1J nva fj na'iOa fj yvva'ixa fj rlvoQa rwv
EAcvesowv fj rwv om)J,.wv fj naQ6.voft6v n nol1]an rm!rwv
uva, y(}acpsa()w 6 :4.()17-
vaiwv, ok l!wnv ol M ()w,uofJirm claayovr wv rijv 'HJ..tcd-
av I(}LQXOVW 1Jfl E(}WV, QV y(}acpfj Ea V ,U1J U 017,UOOWV XW-
AVJ7 cl M .u'h orav ll J'C(}WWV o[6v re. "Orov o' av xaray vcjj, 1J
55
'H?..wia Uf.J./J.r:W Jrc(!L m)r:ov naQaXQfif-W, or:ov av ooxfi
tlvw na8t iv dnor:cwat.
" I f someone insults a child, woman or man, free or slave, he
shoul d be denounced by any Athenian to the si x junior archons
and they should bring the case before court within thirt y days, if
there aren' t other urgent public affairs; if there are, whenever
thi s i s possible. And, when he i s found guilt y, he mu st
immediately be sentenced to pay a fine or be executed."
It seems, then , that insulting a child was considered as a
seri ous crime. I insist on thi s because both Pr. Dover and Mrs
Reinsberg try to convince us, that l overs sought to wi n their
would be loved ones favour by some gifts (money or hares).
What I am saying is that , if there was sexual intercourse in
pederasty, officiall y and legally, it could only be done with the
parents' permission. But if the would- be lovers were secretly
attempting what they wanted to do, then, according the above
laws, they were putting their li ves in danger; if the parents of the
children got to know their intenti ons, they could sue them and
ask fortheirexecution.
A well intentioned lover, on the contrar y, had nothing t o
hide from hi s loved one 's parents, as many sources confirm. It is
then more than obvious that something else was going on.
Aeschines, Against Timarchus 2 I :
'Eav ur; /\ envaior; EWL(J1JO.YJ, f-1.1J m'mji r:wv t vvi a
6.Qxdvr:wv yt vi a8w, f1'YJO' tEQWO!Ivqv tEQwaaa8w, f-l'YJDE avv-
otxijaw uj) CJ1Jf14J, f1 1JOE aoxiJv 6.Qxir:w f1'YJOcf1lQV, EV01]-
pov ,w]r:c {mEQOQWV, XA'YJQWr:ryv f-l1Jr:E fl'YJO'
t ni XIJQVxdav6.noar:d?..ia8w, f-l'YJOE yvw,unv ?.. cyir:w clr; u1 01J-
f-Wr:dij tEQa clair:w, ,U1Jo' tv wir; xotvair; ar:ccpavncpooiwr; ar:c-
cpavo 1la8w, f1'YJO' i vr:or; fr:ij r; 6.yoQ6.r;J r:wv nt:QtQavr:noiwv no-
----------- 56 -----------
Homoscxouality in ancient Greece - The myth is coll apsing
Qwiaew. 'Eav Oi raDw. :rwq], w i roii
EWt(! Eb l euvcmp
" It an Athenian turns out to be unchaste f that is, if
he is invol ved in a homosexual relationship], he is not al lowed
to become one of the nine archons; or to become a pri est ; or to
be prosecutor in a public tri al ; or to have any office, within the
boundaries of the Athenian republi c or beyond them, whether
he is appointed by lot or after an electi on; or to ser ve as a public
messenger or judge other public messengers; or to enter public
sacred places, to participate in [religious ceremoni es of] wear -
ing of wreath, to be in the parts of the market - pl ace sprinkl ed
with lust ral water. But, if he breaks the law and does any of the
above, once he is found guilty of being unchaste, hi s sentence
must be death."
So, the l aw not onl y deprives the offender of all hi s ci vic
ri ghts, but also reduces him to nothing, from a social and politi -
cal point of view, and, in some cases, leads him to the execution -
er. This is revealing of the contempt Atheni ans showed to such
deeds, of the fact that they wanted, by all means, to send lewd
persons away. They didn ' t harm someone who declared such a
preference, but they deni ed him the possibility to be a part of the
city' s life. He was no longer treated as an Athenian citi zen, but
as an ali en resident in the city of Athens
And, if an ali en resident or a slave had such an inclination,
this meant absolutel y nothing to the At heni ans, who were a
rather closed group, almost never lett ing someone else to join
them, and who, in any case, treated the other residents of Attica
as sociall y inferior.
They had nothing against homosexuality itself, only they did-
n' t want it to come out within their circl e, probabl y because, to
them, it signified corruption and degenerat ion.
57 ----------
Adoni s A. Georgiadcs
In Athens, as already said, any citi zen could accuse, in front
of just i ce, a l ewd per son of unchas tit y (yQacpry :rct Qi hw-
Q1]aEwc;) and ask hi s expul si on from the group of citi zens or hi s
conviction to death. We know that not onl y from Aeschines, but
al so from Demosthenes, Timarchus' defender. In hi s speech
Against Androtion he makes a reference t o the same law (para-
graph 2 1 ), and, further (paragraph 30), to a law of Solon, whi ch
said that those, who were found unchaste, should not speak nor
accuse anybody in a court ofl aw.
f.i fJTE Ai yctv f.11JTE y(! acpctv EEtVW Wtc;
As to thi s third law, we should examine in parti cul ar the verb
h mow which is the key to our case.
Pr. Dover writes pages over pages in hi s book to analyse the
laws and refut e the theory that they refer to homosexuality in
gener al. ( But , he never quot es the t ext of the l aw t o let the
reader form hi s own opini on.)
He claims that the law puni shed onl y male prostituti on. But,
he doesn ' t ex pl ain , why th e l egi sl at or uses not the ve rb
JtoQVEUW, " to prostitute oneself", but the verb hwow, " to keep
company with" , which can also mean from "to have a meretri -
cious fri endship with someone" to "to be unchaste", but it is not
the same as prostituti on.
According to the law whi ch Aeschines describes in 29 32,
with sel ec ti ve ve rbatim cit ati o n, a citi ze n who was
peporneumenos or hetairekos was debarred from the exercise
of hi s ci vic ri ghts:
... because the legislator considered that one who had been a
vendor of hi s own body for others (o treat as they pl eased ( I it.
'for hubri s'; cf Secti on 4) would have no hesitation in selling the
interests of the community as a whole.
The t wo cat egori es of conduct which the l aw expli citl y
named are in fact two di stinct species of the genus 'sale of one's
58
Homosexouali ry in ancienr Greece The myth is coll apsi ng
own body'. Peporneumenos is the per fecti ve parti cipl e of the
verb porneuesthai , 'behave as a porne or pornos'. Porne, cog-
nate wi th pernanai , 'sell ', was the normal Greek word (first at -
tested on the seventh century B.C. [ Arkhil okhos fr .3021) for a
woman who takes money (if a slave, on her owner's behalf) in
return for the sexual use of her body, i.e. 'prosti tute'. We fi nd al -
so a masculine form pornos applied to men or boys who submit
to homosexual acts in return for money (Xen. Mem. ? 6. 13, Ar.
Wea lth 153 - 9; first in an archaic gratl ito on Thera, JG X II. 3.
536) .Het airekos i s t he perfecti ve parti cipl e (infini ti ve het -
airekenai) of the verb hetairein, cognate with hetairas, the nor -
mal word for 'compani on', 'comrade' , 'partner'. Het ai ra, the
feminine form of het airas, oft en denoted a woman who was
maint ained by a man, at a level acceptabl e to her , for the pur -
pose ofa sexual rel ati onship wi thout formal process of mar -
ri age, impli cit promise of permanence or intenti on of rai sing a
famil y, but not without hope on the man's part that she might
l ove him; hence it i s somet imes nearer to 'mi st ress' than t o
'prosti tut e' . In the classical peri od the verb hetairein and the ab-
stract noun hetairesis do not seem to have been used of a het -
ai ra, but exclusi vely of a man or boy who pl ayed a homosexual
role analogous to that of a hetaira.
Whether a woman was regarded as a common prostitute or
as a hetai ra depended to some extent on the number of di fferent
men with whom she had intercourse and oh the durati on of her
relat ionship with each man. Pl ainl y a woman in a brothel, deal -
ing wi t h a queue of cust omers ever y day , was a porne, and
equall y pl ainl y a woman who was kept in luxury by a wealthy
man for a year or more, during whi ch time she never (well , hard-
ly ever) had intercourse with anyone else, was a hetaira, but the
di viding line bet ween the t wo categori es could not be sharp;
how, for inst ance, should one classi fy a woman who had inter -
course with four di fferent men in a week, hoped on each occa-
59 -----------
si on t o est abl ish a lasting and exclusi ve relati onship, and suc-
ceeded in doing so with the fourth man? Moreover , whether
one appli ed the term ' porne' or the term 'hetaira' to a woman
depended on the emoti onal attitude towards her whi ch one
wished to express or to engender in one's hearers. Anaxil ag, fr.
2 1 draws a di stincti on in terms of loyalt y and affecti on, but fr.
22, an indi gnant vilifi cati on of the greed and deceitfulness of
women who sell themsel ves, begins and ends (lines I , 31) by
calling them hetairai but in the middl e (l ine 22) call s them por
nai. Peri kles had children by Aspasia, who was cert ainl y di stin
gui shed and accompli shed, probabl y fastidi ous and probabl y al -
so fait hful to Perikl es; but Eupoli s fr .98 represents one of these
sons, Petikl es the younger , as shamed by the appell ati on 'the
whore's son '.
The law cited by Aiskhines, in saying" ... or peporneumenos
or het airekos" , impli es a di stincti on in respect of homosexual
conduct analogous to the di st incti on between the porne and the
hetai ra ... "
In paragraphs 29- 30 of hi s speech, Aeschines makes it clear
that the legislator didn ' t use EW.LQW by accident:
... T(!LWV rim owJ..iysrw; 1l cp1]0LV, fj
TOV ya(! TO OWIW TO EU.UWU cp'v[3Ql J[JCQU.'XO-
ru. , xui TQ xotva 1JYrJUU.W anoowa-
afJat.
" ... thirdl y, whom does the cl ause include? Th ose who
pr os t i tut ed th emse l ves o r th ose who kept co mpany t o
someone? For the l egi slat or th ought the one who sell s and
abases hi s own body capabl e of selling publi c interest in the
same easiness."
The answer to the question li es in the interpretati on of the
verb hmQW.
60 ---------------------
Homosexouality in ancient Greece - The myth is collapsing
Those who cl ai m t hat homosex uali ty was f r equent and
t otall y accepted in ancient Greece expl ain it as ' pr ost itute'.
But , I r epeat that Aeschines makes an ex pli ci t difference
bet ween the t wo, which can onl y mean that we have to do wi th
t wo separate noti ons.
A pr ost itute i s cer tainl y much mor e condemn ed t han
someone who has an affair with another man, but, as I see i t, a
sexual affair even with a single man was enough to condemn
him.
At least thi s i s what another extract of the speech proves,
when witnesses against Timarchus begin to test i fy.
Aeschines, Agai nst Timarchus, 5 1:
M wyoA.as- N txiov n El(!alE1Js f-W(!W(!EL 'Ettoi ty EVEW EV
aVV'YJ8Ei9- TittaQxoc; 6 bri rov Et!8vMxov la-r:QEiov nod xa-
8EsOf-tEvos-, xai xadt. n]v yvwaiv flOV ngougov mhov
noAVWQWV Els- n]v vDv m! odA.mov.
(( El fiE V wivvv, w Ci.VO(!Es :4 8rJValm, TittaQxos- ovroai od-
flElVE nag a njj M wy6A.9- xai fl17XEU we; Ci.A.Aov i;xE, flET:QU.bug'
av OlEJrEJr(!QXW, El 01J u T:WV Wl01J7:WV EOT:if-thQWV, xai ywyE
m!x av EUJAfl1Wa av-r:ov 01JOEV alwJ.a()m r; OJrE(! 0 VOf-lO()En7s
na(!Q1Wuisnm, 1JWlQrJxivm tt6vov 6 yaQ nooc; f!vu wDw
nganwv, nittw8t.jj at nQ6.l;tv nat01Jf-tEvoc;, m!nji ,uot ooxEt
7:01J7:qJ [ vox os- Elvm. 'Eav o' Vf[tic; QVUflV1]aas- fmodl;w, {JJrEQ-
{Jaivwv WVO()E wvc; dygiovs-, KrJOWViOrJV xaiA1hoxA.EiorJV
xai etgaavoQov, I xai tmodl;w 1 w!rovs- [ 01 Uywv wv v wfc;
olxims- dvctA17flflEVovs- yiyovE, fi.Ovov naga -r:t.jj MwyoA.9-
fi. Efi.W()aovrJxow mhov ni -r:t.jj awtt.an, d.A.A.a xai naQ' hiQqJ
xai m:Utv na(!' Ci.A.A.cp, xai JrQ(!Q wvrov ws- EU(!OV EA'YJAV8ow,
ovxi-r:t o'ljnov cpavEhalft.OVOV 1JWl(!'YJXWS", aA.A.a (tt.a 7:011 Llto-
vvaov ovx olo' onws- OVV1JOOfl.al JrE(!tnAEXElV OA'YJV 1Jfi.E-
oav) xai nEnogvEvtt.ivoc; 6 yaQ Elxfi wi!ro xai nQos noA.A.ovc;
nQanwv xaif-ua8oD, m!-r:t.jj f-Wt ivoxos- clvat.
61
Adonis A. Georgi ades
" I , Misgolas, son of Niki as, resident of Piraeus, t est i fy that
T imarchu s se ttl ed down in Euthidi cus' surger y, became
in vol ved with me and since our fi rst acquaint ance I never
st opped taking care of him."
ow, if T imarchus has settl ed down onl y in Mi sgol as '
house and in no one el se ' s, I could say that there was some
moderati on in what he did, if the word ' moderati on' can be used
t o describe such acti ons. Anyway, I , tor mysel f, would accuse
him only of having an affair with a man, as the law determines i t.
Because guilty of thi s offence is, whoever does thi s with a single
man and gets paid for i t. It I leave these savage peopl e aside, and
remind you Kydonides and Autokl eides and Thersandrus, who
all recei ved him in thei r houses, again Mi sgolas is not the onl y
one whom Timarchus gave hi s body to tor money. There is also
a second and a third and a fourth one. So he is not onl y guilty of
having an affair with one man, (may Di onysus help me wi t h
periphrasi s all day l ong) . He i s guilt y of prostituting himsel f
with many men, since whoever does i t so easil y wi th so many
men is guil ty of it. "
Things start to clear up.
The first witness against Timarchus is also hi s first l over, in
the modern sense of the word. Misgolas testifi es that he was li v-
ing wi th Timarchus, he says nowhere that he was paing him, on
the cont rar y he insists on the fact that he was tak ing care of him,
in the same way a man, who, nowadays, li ves with hi s girlfri end,
takes care of her, especiall y i f she is not work in g. Does thi s make
her a prostitute? No, they are just not a marri ed coupl e.
The tact that , at least tor Mi sgolas, thi s was not a cli ent - t o
prosti tute rel ati onship, but a l ove affair, is proved by hi s reac -
ti on when Timarchus abandoned him and went to li ve with An
ticl es, after he had found out that Mi sgolas could no longer of
fer him what he wanted. Mi sgolas was so hurt , that he decided
62 - ----------
Homosexoual it y in anci enr Greece The myth is coll apsing
Man and boy preparing to have a re morum diducrio , an inrercourse where
one squee7es hi s peni s berween rhe rhi gh. or rhe other. Thi s is rhe kind or "ho
mosex ualiry" thought robe all owed in ancient Greece. The arri sr obviousl y
wanrs ro represent a real homosexual scene. bur he dares not , he is af raid of
publi c hue and cr y. This i s rhe mosr scabrous scene, berween human, robe
round in rhe vases.
63
to test ify in court against hi s lover. Thi s is a t ypi cal case of love
frust rati on. Mi sgolas wouldn ' t feel that way for a prostitute.
The idea of paying a lover has nothing in common wi th pay -
ing a prostitute. To be guilt y of unchas ti ty, one should not sell
hi s body for money. In thi s case he is a prostitute. But, i f he was
taking gi fts, that the lovers use to offer to their loved ones, then
he could be accused onl y of unchastity. So even thi s aspect of a
relati onship bet ween two men, natural by our standards, was il -
legal in ancient Athens. Although i t would be irrati onal to think
that these coupl es didn ' t exchange gi ft s at all .
To make thi s compl etely understandable, as i t represents the
whol e essence of our subject , anci ent At hens was, what we
woul d call , a most conser vat i ve soci ety, whi ch, in these ques -
ti ons, reminds us of how was Greece some decades ago.
A young woman, who was not slave or prost i tute, but had a
sexual relati onship outside marri age, wi th someone not being
her legitimate husband, was a courresan wig a. It was uncon-
cei vable for a woman in classi cal Athens to have an affair out -
side marri age.
Just thin k of how many women we know, whi ch were quali -
fied as courtesans once and for all , al though they li ved t heir
whole li ves with t wo or three men, onl y because they were not
marri ed to them.
Aspasia is cert ainl y the most famous of all.
She was a well known courtesan, but also Pericl es' concu-
bine. As long as they li ved together, that is for twenty years, (in
whi ch they also had a son, Peri cles j uni or, who was a general in
Argi noussae), di d she prostitute hersel f to other men for mon-
ey? Of course not. She would then be a whore and Peri cles would
be the scoff of his contemporari es, if he was li ving with a prosti
tute that anyone could have. In thi s case he would be considered
as a procurer, a pi mp.
64
Homosexoualit y in ancient Greece - The myth is coll apsing
But, why was ever yone bl aming Aspasia, since she was con -
sidered t o be faithful t o Peri cles for as l ong -and it was l ong
enough- as they I i ved together?
Because, she was li ving with him before hi s di vorce from hi s
legitimat e wife, and before she got marri ed to him. Th is was
enough t o have her qualifi ed as courtesan for the rest of her life.
They did marry after all , but Aspasi a remained a courtesan to
publi c opini on.
It is widel y known how scandali sed were Atheni ans by Peri -
cles li ving together with a courtesan. Hi s politi cal enemies al -
ways tri ed t o hi t him in thi s point. In hi s Life of Per icl es,
Plutarch report s that the comi cal poet Hermippus tri ed to sue
him for impi ety and procuring, although accusati ons fell in
court. Morals of the conser vati ve Atheni ans were so shocked
that they used t o hold Aspasi a responsibl e for ever y mi staken
political decisi on of Peri cles.
Here i s another exampl e. Timotheus, a great general , was
the son of K imon, another general, and a courtesan. One day, to
someone who was teasing him to be an ill egitimate child, he said
that he was grateful to hi s mother, who had chosen Kimon to be
hi s father. Themi stocles, the Salamina's wi nner, was also said t o
have a courtesan for mother.
Of course, most of these women were pushed to a di sgui sed
prostituti on, since their social rank was low and they were main -
ly ali en residents in Athens.
But they al ways di ffered from common prosti tutes, both be-
cause of their rare beauty and great educati on. In such a case,
they were seducing men with their spirit and knowledge, whi ch
could never occur to a free woman of Athens. So, some of them
became prostitutes and, hence, immensel y ri ch, since they were
in a positi on t o choose their " protectors" among the weal thi est
citi zens and li ve with their opul ent gifts. Phryne and Lais are
t ypical exampl es.
65
/\doni. A. Gcorgiades
The Liddell Scort Greek Engli sh Lexicon proves again to be
our most precious reference, in trying to determine the exact dit
terence bet ween :m)(}VIJ and hu.i(!u. (and, thus, the one who is
guilty of EWLoiJUtc;, unchastit y) . Here is what it says in page 700:
A counesan pl ays pi pe for a man.
66
Homosexoual i ty in anci ent Greece - The myth is coll apsi ng
' Etai.ea: 2. Courtesan, opp. noevtl (a common prost i t ute),
opp. (a legitimate wi fe).
As the Lexicon also veri fies, hatga i s not simpl y a pr osti -
tut e wi t h l ess cli ents than a :rroQV1J but a woman with whom
someone is in love with but cannot marry, despi te hi s own will.
And, to leave no doubt at all , i t al so specifi es (page 342, volume
Il of the Greek editi on):
Erat(!Et pi:v oiJv X at JCO(!VclJlO'fat 0 JraOXTJ'fUJJV, all' Erat-
(!Et pi:v vJCo E(!aurofJ, JCO(!VEVErat vJCo -rofJ that is
to say, " The man who gi ves himsel f to unnatural lust is unchaste
and a pros titut e, unchas t e when he i s with hi s l over , and a
prost itute when he is wi th an occasional lover ".
The legislat or uses then the verb hatQw, for i ts meaning is ' to
have a sexual r el ati onship, t o have an affair not seal ed wi t h
marri age'. It is the onl y verb signi fying what he wants to say. Jf he
had wanted to focus on the money exchange, he would have used
:rroQVt:lJOftat. He seeks to be as preci se as possibl e, because he
wants to expand the criminall y puni shabl e noti on.
Could he have made it even cl earer in order to leave no ground
for mi sinterpretation?
But, it is clear enough to him as to the Atheni ans he addresses
himself to, that, since two men could never marry each other, no
matter how much they wanted to, any sexual bond between them
was ill egal. Thi s law was written to be underst ood by Athenians of
the 6\h century B. C., not by whoever reads it 2600 years later.
Aeschines himself tri es to leave no doubt that he does not onl y
mean prostitution, when he further insists: <<'0 ovxi n
brjJCOV q;atVE'fat pOVOV tlAAa xai JCEJCO(!VEV-
that is " Nothing proves Timarchus t o have been guil ty
onl y of unchastity, but al so of prostituti on".
67
Adonis A. Gcorgiade,
\ oman caressing anot her woman. As it happens with men. women are never
represent ed in a real ilomose ual scene. lt seems unconcei vable for tile
morals of that age to show homose>. ual scenes in public. J usr compare with our
days.
68
Homosexouali ty in ancient Greece - The myth is coll apsi ng
I t is unambi guous; these two are not the same. So, and beyond
any reasonabl e doubt , homosexuality was not at all socially ac -
cepted; on the contrary, i t was di sgraceful and puni shable by law.
Read what Aechines says in another part of hi s speech (paragraph
185):
185. "EnEt8' o[ fl.EV nariQEr; vwiJv ovrw JrEQi uiJv alaxQwv
xai xaA.wv ()tEyiyvwaxov, VftE"ir; M Tifl.aQxov rov ro"ir; u.laxi-
arotr; EntT1]0E1JflaOtV [voxov acp1JOETE; Tov aVCJQa fl. EV xai
CiQQEVa ro OWfla, yvvatxE"ia M 6.,LtaQT1]flaW 1],LWQn7x6w; Tic;
o 11v {Jf tWv yvva"ixu. A.afJwv a6txo11aav Ufl.WQ1]aerat; "H Tic; ovx
anaiOEVror; Efvat J O ~ E t Tfj pi:v xadt qxvatv 6.fla(}WV01lOJ7 xa-
AEJrU.lVWV, r{O bi Jra{!a q;vmv iavrov 1J{JQiaavu avfl.fJmJA.q;
XQWftEvor;;
"Thi s i s what our ancest or s thought of mor al and immor al
women. And you, are you going to pr onounce Timar chus not
guil ty, although he is guilty of the most obscene habits? Thi s man,
who, although he was born a man, did wrong in a way that onl y
suits to women? If thi s happens, whi ch one, among us, wi ll ever
have the ri ght to puni sh a woman for the same error? Who will be
so uneducated t o be severe t o a woman who does wrong, but
f oll owing her nature, and use as a counsell or someone who
di shonoured himself, by behaving unnaturall y?"
Thi s does not onl y prohibit prostitution, as some would li ke us
to beli eve, but homosexual relati ons in general.
One could cl aim th at the l egi sl ator di sapproves of the
relati onship bet ween two men, not t he sexual act i tself. If t here
were j ust occasional intercourse wi th prost itutes, how were they
judged by society according to thi s law? The one who prostituted
himsel f was rejected, of course, but thi s wasn' t so important, since
he was no Atheni an citi zen for sure. The one who gave hi m t he
money to sati sfy hi s own lust, though, could he remain unpunished?
69
Adon is A. Gcorgiades
The text answers all these logical questions in turn.
When money is given to a child's tutor by someone who wants
children to satisfy hi s lust, no doubt is left.
Aeschines, Against Timarchus, 13:
Mv nva f:xpwewan hwQsiv nari}(2 () sioc;
rwv X VQlWV xar' avrov ,utv roD
mi x E(i elvw, xara M roD xai roD j.ll-
aewau..uivov, roD ,utv on il;cpiaewas, roD M on, <prJaiv, EfLL-
aewaaro.
" If' a child's father, or brother, or uncle, or tutor, or relative
of an y kind, recei ves money ro gi ve the child for unchaste
purposes, the child is nor prosecuted, bur the one who paid and
the one who received the money are."
Nor even a slave or an alien r es ident could do so. Had he
wanted to gain some money in this way, he was purring both
himself and the potential "cli ent" in danger.
It is imponant to stress on the fact that thi s was considered as
crime among slaves too. Those who repeatedl y confuse Greece
and Rome, when slavery is concerned, rend ro think that every
one, with unnatural inclinations, could easily find satifacrion
with some slave. This was not true.
QV oz}v (}aV/l(l UCLeV ri Ory
nor' E I! uj) VOf.lqJ uj) nooaey(!a<p'Yj ro Oro ro QijfW,
ra r wv 6m)J..wv. ToDw M Ea.v axonijre, (V 'A()17VU.lOL,
eVQf}aere on navrwv aoww l!xn ov ya(! vnto rwv olxnwv
t ano1! 6aasv 6 dJ..J..a EfJiam
noJ..1'! unfxcLV r wv EAcveiowv n{!oaiy(! a1/Je f.1176'
V{3Qil;cLV. M iv O'YjfLOX(!U.rl(,J. rov
70 ----------
Homosexoualil y in ancient Greece - The myth is col lapsi ng
6vuvoDv {;{3(}WT:1JV, i 01JWV OVX b rmjOEWV clvat
OVfOWAtrEVEafJat .
" Maybe someone, who has heard the law, cannot understand
why the legi slator included the slaves in i t. But, if you think bet
ter about it, you will see that i t was the best thing t o do. The leg-
islator was not so eager to prot ect the slaves; but, as he wanted
to accustom us to avoid any lewd insult against free people, he
also defended insults to sl aves. And he thought that those who
li ve in a democracy and behave in such a way do not fit i n the
political li fe of their city."
And what about adul ts? Who was guilt y, the acti ve or t he
passi ve l over? The text is once again most enlightening.
'Eav p i v f. 8d1]an 6 M OEDQo JraQdfJwv
rdA1]8ij paQIVQElV, ra Oixaw noojan f.av M JrQOrJ.t(!ijrat
f XXAYJ rEVfJijvw jl.6.AAOV rdA1] fJ1] paQWQElV ] , r o OAOV
nQdy,ua avviOnE. El yaQ 6 pev alaxvvst:rw xai nQo-
pdAAOV dnorc"iaw up OYJflOOLqJ, .
ware &t:;m ro JrQOOWJrOV ro iavroD v,u"iv, 6 M
6 6 oDrw
t.;ci(!ywv dno wD
" If Misgol as wants to st and and test i fy about the truth, he
will do the ri ght thing. If he prefers to avoid testi fying, you can
draw your own conclusi ons. Because i f he, who was the act i ve
one, i s ashamed and prefers t o pay one thousand drachmas to
the state i nstead of showing hi s face in front of you, but the oth -
er, who was the passi ve one, dares to come and pl ead, then the
legislator, who prevents these corrupted peopl e from pl eading
in court, was reall y wi se."
71
So, according to the above extract, the law depri ved both of
them of their ci vic ri ghts. But things become even clearer in the
foll owing paragraphs.
Aeschines, AgainstTimarchus, 72:
0 1) ya{} EYWYE {mOACJ.fA.(Javw
clvw, WOrE apVYfflOVElV WV oAiycp Jr{}VrE{}OV 1JXOlJOCJ.rE avu-
ytyVWOXOfA.iVWV f r:wv / VOftWV, v ok yiy{}anwt, Eciv f ll-
afJwmJrai uva. f\ fJ1711CJ.iwv ni w 1Jr:1JV rY,v Ed.v
i wnov fA.WfJwan voxov clvw xa.i [aot ;

" I. at least , do not think that you forget so easil y, as t o nor
remember what you have heard a littl e whil e ago, during the
r eadi ng of the l aws, in whi ch it i s said that whoever pays an
Athenian to do such things, or gets paid [for the same reasonl, is
guilty and severel y puni shed, in both cases."
In other words, in ancient Athens, he, who had a homosexual
inclinati on, could not have an affair with another man, nor could
he pay somebody to have sex with, and maintain, at the same,
time his ri ghts as an Atheni an citi zen.
This does not mean that there were no homosexuals. The so
far quoted laws, with their many detail s, point out , as I did from
the very beginning, that there were.
Yet, they had to declare it in publi c and, consequentl y, loose
their ci vic ri ghts. They could continue on li ving in Athens, since
no one would harm them, but they could not be a part of the
politi cal, social and religious life of the city. They were becoming
pri vate indi viduals and doing what they were doing away from
limelight.
A could not represent hi s cit y, in no case and in no
way. If he did, being sacril egious himself, theoreti call y, he was
72 - ------- --
Homosexoual iry in anci enr Greece - The myrh is collapsing
also putting the city in danger. And he should be puni shed for that.
His homosexuality forbade him any publi c office.
Will still some peopl e continue on considering ancient Greece
as the homosexuals' paradi se? I don' t think they can.
H.I. Marrou, in hi s work Hist ory of educati on in Anti quity ,
resumes the situati on as foll ows:
" They wanted to depi ct anci ent Greece as the paradi se of
the per vert ed, whi ch was an exagger ati on. Greek vocabu -
l ar y and mos t citi es' l egi sl ati on confirm t hat per versi on
never st opped t o be t reat ed as unnat ural. "
Whil e Robert Fl aceri ere in page 230 of the Greek edi tion of
hi s book Love i n ancient Greece (Papadimas editi ons) says:
" I t i s wr ong t o pretend t hat thi s f orm of l ove enj oyed
gener al approval and appreci ati on."
73 --------- -
CHAPTER FOUR
EPQMENOI:
LOVER>-< WVED ONE
whose friendship with Patroclus has been mainl y misinrrpretated. I n
X enophon's Symposi um Socrat es says that their friendship was " not of the
but of the soul s and the great deeds".
----- LOVER>-< LOVED ONE ---- -
I
f what was so far said is true, those who say that homosexuali -
ty were not onl y accepted in ancient Greece, but almost corn -
pul sory, at least in the upper class of Atheni an society, bet ween
the 6'h and the 4'h B.C. century, where do they lean on? Mainl y
on t wo elements.
Firstl y, the words (l over - loved one)
and n:ntbEQnotl.n-;uubEQ(UJttiv (pederast y) are t oo oft en
found in t he text s. Secondl y, there are vases, whi ch, as they
claim, depi ct homosexual -al ways pederast love scenes. I will
then examine these two elements, to find out whi ch are worth of
beli eving and what t o respond t o those who appeal on them.
It is import ant to say that those who support the existence of
pederast y, in the meaning of a sexual intercourse with an under -
age, confine it in the classical era onl y, between the 6'h and the 4'h
B. C. centuri es.
Robert Fl aceri ere, in the first chapter of hi s book Love in an--
cient Greece where he examines the Homeri c peri od (page 22),
says:
" There is no doubt about it : Homer never attributes t o a god,
nor to a human ' l ove f or t he boys ', as will do the poets t o
come. "
And later on, in page 40:
" It i s necessar y t o have in mind that in Homer we fi nd no
trace of mi sogyny or homosexuality."
I start with Homer for a simpl e reason. Ninet y per cent of
my compatri ots assure anybody who wants to hear, that Homer
describes Achill es and Patroclus as a not ori ous homosex ual
coupl e, although they have never read a single Homeri c rhap-
sody. Unfortunatel y, thi s happens also in many sites in the In -
ternet , where Achill es is celebrated as the first known homose-
77 ---------------------
xual hero. Although Ili ad i s but the epi c rel ating the gri eves
Greeks suffered f r om Achill es' wrath, because Agamemnon
took his concubine, Vreseis, away from him.
Let me al so note th at th e meaning I gi ve of the words
7tmbt Qeto-r:i.a-7tmbEQeto-r:Eiv in ancient Greek i s not a personal
interpretati on, but also supported by other schol ars too.
Robert Fl aceri ere, in page 65 of hi s book, says something
else, whi ch I find very important :
"As everybody knows by ' Greek love' we mean the love for
boys, and in parti cul ar pederast y. But , in French, thi s word,
' pederast y' means almost al ways ' per versi on', whil e in the
Greek texts ' pederasty' is a pure and di sinterested love, and not
homosexual relationships."
You remember, as J imagine the extract of Xenophon ' s Me
morabili a, where Socrates advises hi s pupil Criti as not to have
sexual desire for Euthydemus, hi s loved one. The first thing to
conclude from thi s extract is that the word ' lover ' is not used in
the current meaning. Other wi se, why should Socrates accuse
Criti as, to the point of l ater humili ating him, of something he
had every ri ght to desire as a lover?
And we also talked of peopl e in Sparta, who wouldn ' t tol er
ate someone t ouching the young men's bodi es, specifying that
they meant the l overs who are responsibl e for the moral s of
their loved ones. Once again, words do not seem to mean the
same thi ng to us and to ancient Greeks.
Here is what Pl ato says in Euthydemus, 282b:
Ku.i naea nu. YE OJjnov roiiw olopt:vov i.>t:lv naeu.-
?..ap[kl VELV no?..11 ruH?..ov ij xai naQ' inirQonov xai
cpi?..ov rwv u a?..?.. wv xai rwv cpaaxovrwv EQaarwv clvm xai
xai no?.. trwv Ot:opt:vov xai Zxcrt:1!ovw pt:rai.>t -
78
Homosexoualiry in anci ent Greece - The myrh is coll apsing
(5ovm m!Mv alaxo6v, Jy KA. ctvia, 01!M vqtwrrrov evt: xu. r01!-
w v Vlr'YJQErEtV xai OOVAEVElV xai EQaarfj xai navri aveow-
nwv 6rwvv UJi A.ovra vm?Qt rEi:v rwv xaA.wv Vn17QEr'YJf.Nhwv
nooevflOVfl Evov aocpov ycvi a()m.
" As I see it , wisdom more than money one must have from
hi s father or hi s tutor or hi s fri ends and other, but also from those
who claim t o be lovers, and from strangers and from cit izens;
for, there is nothing di sgraceful to the one who begs for wisdom,
Cleni as, nor is there something worthy of indi gnati on in ser ving
and subduing onesel f to one' s lover or to any person one wants
to ser ve, with honor abl e ser vi ces of course, i f it i s out of
eagerness to become wise. "
Pl ato adds the phrase ' with honorable ser vices ', because in a
previ ous work, Symposium, I 85d4, he had said exactl y the same
thing, and despi te hi s clari ficat ion, Ott ngnij; y' EvEX, that
i s, ' aiming t o virtue', some mal evol ent r eader s may have
mi sinterpreted i t.
T hi s same ex tract of Sy mposium, f r om 184c7 and on,
liter all y cl ears up any mi sunderstandi ng, since i t says that
questi ons of ' pederasty' should be sol ved according to the same
law that treats quest ions of phil osophy and virtue. That is t o say,
as it sui ts an insti tut ion which aims to the acqui sit i on of Virtue.
How, then, can these sacred t exts be confused wi t h sexual
impul ses, is reall y puzzling. But, maybe, thi s was j ust what served
the purposes of those who encouraged thi s confusi on.
In the Greek editi on' s second volume of the Liddell Scott
Lexicon, whi ch I often quote as it i s the most authori tati ve, one
can read:
desire st r ongl y, love, be in l ove wi t h, l ove pas -
sionately.
79 --------- --
(comes from lover of somebody.
(comes from l ove. Usuall y signi fying
passi onate love between indi viduals of different sexes) .
strong love, sexual passi on bet ween indi viduals of
different sexes.
We see that the general meaning of these expressions is " t o
l ove someone strongl y", but curi ousl y enough t he l ex i con
al ways st resses on " between indi viduals of different sexes". But,
as far as love between indi viduals of the same sex is concerned,
as in the case of the controversial texts, it doesn' t enli ghten us.
To gi ve definit e proof about the interpret ati on I think as
correct , I will use t he mos t mi sint erpret ed work of Pl at o,
Symposium. I am more than certain that all of you have, at least
once, heard that Pl at o i s the theori st of homosexuality. I s thi s
reall y true though?
Pl at o, Symposium I X (Oxford editi on):
Oiirw of} xai To eiiv xai 6 "ewe; ov niic; au xaA.oc; 01!M.
yxw,uuH;wem, dHa 6 xaA.oc; J!(!OT(!EJ!WV E(!iiV.
'0 ,UEV m1v Tfjc; ll U.VOIJ,UOV 'Acp(!OOLryt c; we; QAJ](}wc; naw)ry-
,uoc; EUTl xai o, Tl av n !xn xai OVTOc; EUrLV 011 o[
cpatJAOL TWV dveewnwv E(!WUtV. 'Eewm at o[ wwihot,
newwv ftEV m!x ij r wv yvvmxwv na[owv, enELra wv xai
E(!WOL TWV aw,u6.Twv ,uiiAA.ov TWV 1/JVXWV, EJ!ELW we; av 01J-
11WVWL QVOJ]WTaTWV, neoc; TO ,u6vov {3Aino-
vrcc;, dflcA01JVTEc; M wii x aA.wc; ij Fir oecv eh] 0Vfl{3u.ivEL
m)w Jc; OTl av n !xwm wi!w ne6.rrEl11, 6,uoiwc; flEV dya()6v,
6,uoiwc; M wvvu.vriov ... '0 OE Tfjc; Ot!eaviac;, J!(!WTOV ,utv 01J
flETEXOVU'I] c; (}JjA.wc; dA.A. ' a(!(!EVoc; ,u6vov -xai EUrLV m hoc; 6
TWV nu.iowv liewc;- EJ!ElW newfJvri(!ac;, i!{J(!Ewc; d,uoieov
o()Ev of} EJ!L TO aeecv T(! EJ!OVTat o[ EX 7:01JWV T01J "E(!wwc;
80 - ---------
Homosexouali ry in ancient Greece - The myth is coll apsing
linmvot, r:o qn)an EQQWflEviarcQOV xai vovv lixov ,uaUov
dyanwvrcc;.
" Thus, being in l ove with someone and Love i s not always
good and praiseworthy, but onl y the one whi ch leads to a noble
relationshi p.
So, love of the n avo1JfWs (belongi ng to all people, vulgar)
Aphrodite is, j ust as i ts name signi fies, vul gar and acting occa-
sionall y. And it is the one whi ch takes control of the vul gar peo-
pl e. These peopl e, first of all , tall in love unconditi onall y with
women or with young boys; second, whoever they tall i n l ove
with, they care for their bodi es rather than their soul s; third, they
love the most fooli sh, since they care onl y for the sexual act itself
and are neglectful of whether i t is moral or not. Thus, they do
whatever they do, good or wr ong, without di stinct i on, onl y
by chance.( ... ) But love of Ovuavia (celesti al) Aphrodite is the
one where women do not take part, onl y men. Thi s is pederasty.
And it is the older and the chastest kind of love. So, those who are
animated by thi s form of love, turn to males, because they love
the most vigorous and thoughtful. "
In other words, men who want t o be ' lovers' of young Athe-
ni ans are dri ven by celesti al Aphrodite, who, in opposit ion t o
t he vul gar Aphrodi te , car es for the soul s and the beaut iful
wor ks. Thi s may seem obscure to us, but when we try to under
stand a ver y compl ex society ot 2500 years ago, we must expect
t o find such di ffi culti es.
Let us now see another extract fr om the Symposium. The
wor k reaches its culminati on, all dinner guests have al ready
spoken, yet the one who expresses Pl ato' s own point of view,
Socr at es, r emains to be heard . Ot her guests' v i ews ar e
presented onl y t o have a full range of opini ons on the subject.
The defi ni te conclusi on of the whole work is expressed through
Socrat es, who is supposed to have di scovered the nature of true
81
love t hanks to Dioima. Lisen o him: noUoi1 yE oc'i E.cprr
dA.A.' VJrE(! Q(!Erijr; aeavarov xai iOlQ1J"C'YJr; oo;'Yjr; n i xA.E-
oiir; Jr(lVTEr; navw JrOlOVOlV, oacp QV d,udvovr; WOl, WOOl l iqJ
ftd'Uov roii yaQ aeavarov EQWOlV. 0[ ftEV ot3v t.yx1J,UOVEr;,
f.cpYJ, xura ra aw,uaw ovrcr; nQor; rar; yvvr.dxar; ,uaA.A.ov rQi -
novwt, xai rm!rn E(!Wrtxoi cLOlV, Ota natooyoviar; aeavu.-
aiav xai xai wr; OtOVWl, avro'ir; clr; rov
EJrElW. XQOVOV navw JrO(!lSO,UEVOL. 0[ Oi: xara dv l/JvxiJv-
clai ya(! icpYJ, ol' t.v w'ir; 1/mxa'ir; xvoiimv, f.n ftd'A.A.ov lj t.v
ro'ir; OW,UQOlV, a'ljJVX.fi XCll XVijOW xai rEXEtV ...
TOl l iWV M av, owv nr; EX viov EYXVflWV :if rijv
Bcior; wv xai 1JXOIJOI'}r; njr; rixrctv re xu.i ycvvav fioi'J
f.nt 8VfLf7, S1]iEi c)1j, xai JrE(}UWV ro xaA.ov t.v QV
t.v up ya(! alaxQ0 01i Mnou ycvv1jact. Tare
aw,uaw ra xaA.a ,uaA.A.ov 1J ra aloxQa danal;,crat arc xvwv,
xai QV E.vn !xn 1/JVX?7 xa?..,ij xai yEvvu.i<;t. xai Evcpucl, navv 01]
aanal;,crw ro ;vvapcpOU(!OV, xai JrQOr; wfnov rov av8QW-
nov E!i 81''r; Eli no(!E'i A.oywv nEQi dQErijr; xai JrEQi owv XQ1J clvw
rov a VOQCl rov U.ya8ov xai a EJrtn]OElJElV, xai EntXELQEi JrQl-
OElJElV. :4nro,ucvor; ya(!, wv xaA.ov xu.i OfllAWV w i r<jj, a
naA.w EXl JEl, rixn:t xai ycvva, xai JrU.QWV xai dnwv flcflVYJ,UE-
vor;, xai TO YEVVYJ8EV OVVEXi(}EC{JEl XOLV,ij per' EXclVOV' WOrE
noUJ pdl;,w xOLvwviav rijr; rwv naiowv nQor; dA.A.IjA.ovr; o[ rot-
ovwt [axovat xai cptA.iav (Jc{JawriQav, arc xaA.A.tovwv xai
aeu.vurwriQWV naiowv XEXOlVWVI'JXOUr;. Kainar; QV M;mw
iavr<j'J rot015wvr; na'ic)u.r; ,uaA.A.ov yEyovivat lj rm'Jr; dv8Qwni-
vour;, xai clr; "Opi'J(!OV dno{JA.iljJar; xai ' Haiooov xai roiJr;
aA.A.o1' r; notJ]iar; ro1'Jr; dya8ovr;, sYJA.wv, o[u E.xyova i avrwv
xawA. cf.novatv a f. xdvOLr; a8avarov xA.ior; xai flV'Ij,UYJV JrClQE-
XEWL, U1JUl wwii w ovra cl 01] (JOlJACl, EC{J I'J, orovr; .11 u-
xoiiQyor; na'ic)ar; xauA.int:w t.v .11 u.xEc)u[ftOVt, awn?Qar; rijr;
.11 axcoaipovor; xai, wr; E.nor; clnc'iv, rijr; 'EA.A.aoor;.
82 ----------
Homosexoualiry in ancient Greece - The myrh is collapsing
" I beli eve that everybody does everything t o gain eternal
virtue and an illustri ous reputati on; and the better they are, the
more they try, because they are in love with immortality. Those
who have fecund bodi es, turn t o women, fall in love with them
and, thus, assure, through their children, immortalit y, remem-
brance and happiness, as they beli eve. But, there are also those
with fecund soul s, those who bear , in their soul s more than in
their bodi es, the things that deser ve t o be born from the soul
( .. . )So, if someone is fecund in thi s way, has a di vine soul and
feels that it is time for him to gi ve birth t o such things, he search-
es for the proper setting t o do so; for , he cannot gi ve bi rth t o
something good in an ugly environment. And, since he is wait -
ing to gi ve birth, he embraces beauti ful bodi es rather than ugly
ones, and, if he meets a beautiful , brave and nobl e soul , he em-
braces more eagerl y thi s combinati on of body and soul. To such
a person he speaks, without diffi culty, of virtue, of how an ho-
nest man should be, of whi ch acti viti es suit him; and he t ries t o
educate him. So, I beli eve that , when he i s in cont act with a
beaut iful compani on and, in associating with him, he gi ves birth
to the things he was bearing in hi s soul , he has beaut y in hi s mind
regardl ess of it being present or absent. And, al ong wi th hi s
partner , he nourishes what he gave birth to. Their communi on is
greater than that of a father with hi s offspring, and their friend-
ship more assured, since they are united by their common chil -
dren who are more beauti ful and immort al. Everyone would
prefer to have such descendants, of the mind than of the body,
especiall y when he thinks of Homer and Hesi odus and the other
poets and admires their posterit y, whi ch, by their quality, gi ve
them eternal fame and memory. Or, think of the children Lycur-
gus has l eft in Lacedaemon, whi ch saved their city, i f no the
whole of Greece".
83
Pl ato' s Symposium then supports not sexual love, but tri es to
expl ai n, in many different ways, why intell ectual love, love of the
soul s and of virtue, is the trul y worthy one.
Xenophon roo, in that chapter of hi s Res publi ca Lacedaemo-
niorum where he describes Spart a' s education system and ex -
pl ains the duti es of the Super visors of education
the Teachers and the Gymnasts, also refers to pederas t y in the
most natural way, as one ver y known educati onal means. He
says,At:xri ov pot clvat xai Jrt:{Ji rmv
i {Jwrwv l nrt ya{J rt xai roiJro that is, " I
think I must speak of pederasty, since it is a way of educating" .
So, i f you r epl ace t he word EQetotiJ; ,' Iover ' by the word
' btbaoxn/..o; ', ' teacher ' in the texts, then you will be, in my opin -
ion, very close ro the truth. We should, of course, take ' teacher ' in
a wider sense, probabl y closer ro 'adviser ' or ' mentor ' .
To confirm my theory about the meaning ' teacher/mentor ' -
' pupil ' of the terms EQCtotftSEQWp.t.Evo; I will cite Socrates' own
view about what is the correct attitude of a lover ro hi s loved one,
whi ch may al so cl ari fy the meani ng of th e ex press i on
' JtmbEQetotEiv OQ9ffi; ', ' loving boys properl y', that Pl ato fre
quenr ly uses.
Xenophon, Symposium, Vlll7:
"On yE ,w]v m!, w K aA.Aiu.., EQ(i.. c; A 1JroA.vxov ndaa ,ui v
nO Ale; oloc, noA.A.m)c; o' olj-Wl xai rwv ; t vwv. Tovwv o' UlUOV
ro n u.. riewv re OVOflU..OiWV ap cp ori Qovc; Vfldc; clval xai
w!w iJc; emcpuvdc;. :4clflEV EywyE 'ljyapr;v fP lJOlV,
vii v M xai no ,udA.A.ov, enEi OQW OE E(!WVW 01JX a(1Q6r r; u
XAlOWVOf-lEVOV m!M f-WAaxir;. ()QunWj-lEVOV, dA.A.a ndmv enl-
c5 clXVlJfl EVOI! QWj-l1]V U: xai XU..QrEQlU..V xai aVOQElClV xai aw-
cp(!o011V1]V. To M w un!rwv em()v,uE"iV rEi<ftYJQUJV eau xui rijc;
wii euaawii cp z!acwc;. Elj-tEV m3v fllCl ear iv :4cpQOOhr; fj c)lrwi,
OlJQCl via iE xai n av01],UOc;, OIJX olou.. xu..i ya(! ZdJc; 6 wlroc;
84
Homosexoual ity in ancient Greece - The myth is collapsi ng
ooxwv clvm .noAACt" f..nwVVflLa" EX Et on YE wi vrm bca-
riQ<;J. f3w11oi re xai vao{ Elm xai ()vaim rfi flEV Q<;J.Ot-
ovQy6rcQat, rfi M 0 1!Qavi9- ayvorcQat, oloa. Elxaaat" o' av
xai WV" EQWW" r i;v fl EV n avOrtflOV rwv OWflQIWV f. m.ni -
fl.nEtV, ri;v o' OvQav{av I ij" 'ljJVXiJ" rE xai Iij" cptAia" xai rwv
xaA.wv EQywv. ' Ycp' m) 01] xai av JJ K aA.Aia, xadxweaifWt oo-
XE'i" TExflaiQOftat M rfi roD EQWftEVov xaA.oxdya(:){<;J.
xai on OE OQW r ov .nariQa m)roi! .naQaAaftf36.vovra cl" ICt"
nQO" roi! rov avvovaia". Ovotv yaQ rm)rwv f. ariv d.nc5xQv-
cpov.narQO" rep xaAcj) re xdya()cp EQaarfi.
"Everyone in thi s city and many of the strangers, as I think ,
know well , Calli as, that you love Autol ycus. Thi s is due t o the fact
that you both come from renowned fathers, but also are remark -
abl e yoursel ves. I al ways admired your character, but now I ad-
mire you even more, because I see you in love with a young man
who does not li ve in spl endour, revelling in luxury, nor is he un -
manned; on the contrary, he is known to everybody for hi s vigour
and perseverance and bravery and prudence. Loving such a man
is a proof of the character of the lover. And I can' t say i f t here is
onl y one Aphrodite, or two, celesti al and vul gar; although Zeus
seems to be one, he has many surnames. What I do know is that
there are altars and templ es for each one of the two, where sacri -
fi ces are being offered separatel y, base t o the vul gar Aphrodi te,
pure t o the celesti al. You can thus conclude that love of the bodi es
is sent by the vulgar one, whil e love of the soul and of fri endship
and of beautiful works is sent by the celesti al one. Thi s is, I think ,
the love that possesses you, Calli as. I can see that from the virtue
of your loved one, but also from the fact that you admit hi s father
to your company. For, an honest lover has nothing to hide from
the father of hi s loved one. "
And he goes on as foll ows:
85
Xenophon, Symposium, VIII 26:
Ku.iwiJ v x u.i TWV nau) t xwv oc; ptv av cl6;fj OH 6 wiJ
t:loovc; i nagxwv agn wiJ i gaawiJ, clxoc; azhov rd.A..A.a
Qc;tOwugyciv oc; 6' av ytyvwaxn on av fl1l xa.A.oc; xaya()oc; Tt ,
OV x a ()iu 'f'YJ11 cpt.A.iav, WiJrOV JrQ001JXEL ,uiiAA011 agcrfjc; Ent-
p EAE'ia()w. M iywwv () ' aya()ov up OQEYOf-tEVqJ EX JrWOLXWV
cpi.A.ov aya()ov noo]aaa()at ou a vayxq x ai a v r ov aaxdv
g c r ~ v m! yag o[ov 'fE JrOVJ]Qa m!rov nowDvw aya()ov TOV
avvovru. anoc)c'iw, m!M YE avawxvvdav xu.i axgaaiav
nagcxopEvov iyx oarfj x ai ali501!f-t Evov r ov EQWf-t Evov
JrotfjOW .
"Those from the young men, who know that their body's
beauty will command their lover , tend to intrigue in everything;
but those, who know that without being virtuous they will loose
thi s friendship, care more about virtue. Besides, it i s a maj or
good to the one who seeks the fri endship of a virtuous young
man that he finds himsel f bound t o behave in the same way. For,
it is not possibl e for him to act basel y and make hi s companion
good; nor is it possibl e tor him to be vul gar and uncontroll abl e
and make hi s compani on temper ate and modest. "
In thi s extract, Xenophon, through Socrates, and by using the
Greek rati onali sm, leaves no doubt. What is he saying? He says
that it someone corrupts a young man to the sati sfacti on of hi s
lust, he cannot expect to form an ideal and nobl e citi zen. So, there
is no room tor the usuall y supported theory, because it makes no
sense i n such contexts. No one seems to questi on the educati onal
dimension of ' pederasty' in ancient Greek texts. But the lover is
supposed to gi ve presents to win hi s loved one's favour; he offers
him wi ne to be abl e then to ask him to make 'concessions' . Yet,
Xenophon i s unequi vocal and sol ves the myster y. To ask hi s
loved one to be honest and noble, a lover should, first of all , gi ve
86 ----------
Homosexouali ry in ancienr Greece - The myrh is collapsing
the example of such conduct. So, thi s excludes any possibility of
sexual intercourse, as modern theori es about homosexuali t y in
ancient Greece want us t o believe.
Pl ato, Respubli ca403b:
Oi!rw ()Jj, we; EOl'XE, VOJ..w()c;r'ljactr; EV rfi olxd;opivn no-
AEL, cptA.civ J..tEV xai vvEi:vat xai anrweat wanE{! vlior; nat-
dl'XWV E{!aan]v.
"So, it seems that, in the city whi ch is about t o be inhabited,
you will appoint by law that a lover should l ove and be wi th and
touch hi s l oved one just l i ke a father does t o hi s son."
What was then reall y going on? In anci ent Greece, apart
f rom the teacher t o- pupil relati onship in school , the famil y
bonds and the friendl y relati ons between indi viduals of the same
age, there was another t ype of relati onship, a most educational
one. I ts aim was t o ini t i at e the adol escent Athenians not in
mathemat ics or musi c, but in the secrets of soci al life, the way
the syst em of government was functi oning, the good manners,
the moral values, virtue and, also, the dangers of li fe.
An elder At heni an was assumi ng t hi s r o l e t owar ds an
adol escent , bet ween 12 and 18, that is, until the boy was old
enough ("unti l he st arts having a beard", the texts say) t o have
no need of such guidance.
That i s why it was a di sgrace t o continue thi s rel ati onship
beyond adolescence; it had no reason to exist , since the l over
should have already t aught hi s l oved one all he had t o learn ;
other wi se, it would rai se suspi ci on as t o its r eal natu re and
signi fy that there was a homosexual invol vement, which, as we
have explained, was inadmi ssibl e.
Thi s ex pl ains the l ac k of equalit y in t hi s r el ati onship,
recogni zed by everyone, even Pr. Dover, yet unconcei vable in a
l ove rel ati onship, as we underst and it t oday. I t al so explains
87
f .
,.-,
'
\
\
I ,..-
Even scenes wirh heterosexual sex scenes are rarher rare in the vases. l t seems
th<ll cla:,sical soci ety was at ease with naked bodies but nor with represenra
ti ons ol sexual int ercourse. 13ut when it comes ro a male ro female scene. it can
IJe depicted, alrhough nor frequentl y. whil e a male t o male i s as if prohibited.
gg
Homosexoual it y in anci ent Greece - The myth is coll apsing
why, as another text confirms, it was so shock ing for a lover to
be younger than hi s l oved one (Xenophon, Anabasi s, 11. 6.28).
A thenaeus, the hi storian , when he wants to stress on the
unreliability of Menon, accuses him of having Tharyp as a loved
one, whose beard has already grown, whil e he didn ' t had his own
beard yet. It also explains how it was possibl e for someone to be
lover and loved one, but not in relation to the same person.
ln other wor ds, if we accept what is usuall y said about
homosexuality in anci ent Greece, the same man shoul d be a
passive and never an acti ve homosexual , with hi s lover, but an
act i ve and never a pass i ve with hi s l oved one. What ki nd of
people were these ancient Greeks, after all?
We can' t help being irrational. Yet , no one of those who
support the opposing theory about homosexuality in ancient
Greece questions what I have quoted so far. They just form the
most extravagant hypothesis to expl ain the above cited ancient
texts.
A t some point thi s r elationship was over; yet, a deep
friendship remained, and the attachment was so close and so
exempt of j ealousy, that the former loved one could si r in a
symposium along with hi s former lover, though the latter was
accompani ed by hi s new loved one.
Thi s explains how Aeschines, while he accuses Timarchus of
unchastit y and wants to see him depri ved of hi s ci vic ri ghts, does
nor hesitate to admit, in another extract of hi s speech, that he
had been lover to many boys, aiming always to good.
'Eyw Of; oi 5u EQWW Mxawv 'ljJi yw, oi )u; wix; xaA.A. n cna-
cpf],Ul ntoJWQVEvafJw, ov r' E/;U.QVODpw fl 1J m!
yc; yovi vm /T'j xai n xai vDv elvw ... c) '
elvm To p f. v t oav Twv xaA.wv xai awcpQ6vwv cplA.avfJQwnov
xai TO Of. daeA.yaiVElV ClQYVQlOV
89
uva ;..uaeov;.uvov {;{3gwrov xui dnwot:vrov EQYOV
clvw {l]yoD;..tat}' xai ro ;..dv f.gda()a[ fP17f..lL xaA.ov
cl vat, TO c)' f.nu,Q()ivra j..Ua()qy JrEJrOQVEfia()w alOXQOV ... 0 [ ya,Q
1Jf..UVV, o()' VJrEQ rwv f. ntrryacv,uarwv xai rwv E% cp1lOE-
dvuyxaiwv f. vo;..w()i rovv, a f.A. t: 1]yovvro clvw
ngaxriu, raDra dnt:inov notciv .. . LloiiA.ov
O .. t:vetgov ,wj r' f.gav pijr' i naxoA.ovet: t:v, fj n 1nrwew
rfi 017,UOOl(/. j..LQOUYL JrEVTij XOVW :4,1,,1, ' OIJ TOV f. A_n)(}t;:-
QOV f. xwA.vat:v f. giiv fxai o,utA.civ} xui axoA.ov()t:iv, mic) {3A.a-
{31711 TqJ JraLOi, QAAa ,UClQWQlUV 1Jyijaaro Ollj..l-
{3avt'LV ... TO()' f.naxoAou{J[11 %Ql f.cpO,Qii.V fP(}OUQCl11 %Cll cpu-
ACl%1]11 1JY17aaro clvw ;..tt:y iar17v .
" I don't accuse beautiful love. I don ' t call a prostitute who-
ever stands out because of his beauty. Nor do I deny that I have
loved and still love boys( ... ) And let me have determined that
to lo e beautiful and wise boys is a passion for nobl e people.
But to be lewd and pay for such acts is typical of an unchaste and
uneducated person. And it is good for a young man to be loved
without being corrupted, whether it is base to be given money
and, thus, be treated as a prostitute ( .. . ) When our ancestors de
termined by law, which occupations and human nature's needs
were fi t to free people, they forbade them to the slaves( .. . ) The
law says that a slave cannot be lover to a free boy, nor can he
follow him in this purpose. If he does, he must recei ve fift y
whips in public. But the law didn 't keep a free man from loving a
boy and following his growing up; it didn ' t think of that as harm
to the boy, but as a sign of good upbringing ( ... ) The legislator
thought of following boys and keeping an eye to what they do as
a way to secure their upbringing."
What more and better than ' keeping an eye to ' , or, 'secure
their upbringing' could ancient writers have said to us?
90 ----------
Homosexoual ity in ancient Greece The myth is coll apsing
Can you imagine Aeschines admitting that he has been and
still is lover of many boys, and, thus, putting hi s own lite in dan-
ger, whil e he is trying to get Timarchus convicted tor hi s homo-
sexual affairs? It would be as it he was accusing himself for the
same reason.
Another revealing comment of whether ancient Greeks tol -
erated homosexuali ty is the one made by Xenophon in hi s Sym-
posium, when he speaks of a boy who prost itutes himself and hi s
invol vement with hi s cli ent during the intercourse.
Xenophon, Symposium, VJJI , 2 1- 22:
OvOi:: ya{! 6 r cj) av6Qi WOJr{! XOlVWVEL rwv EV
EVcp[!OOVVWV, a .. U.a 111Jcpwv fl dh!ovw v:rro
f:J6.rw.
" The boy fwho prostitutes himself] has no communi on with
the man, as the woman does in sexual pl easure, but watches him
enrapture indifferentl y. "
From anci ent Greeks' point of view, it was unconcei vable tor
a passi ve lover to feel pl easure. Only the corrupted who was using
him as a woman could feel pl easure. The former was forced, out of
vi olence or need for money, to suffer such a humili at ion, but he
couldn ' t have possibl y sought pleasure through i t.
This al so expl ains the l aw of Solon, whom Mr. Siamaki s
condemned as the most absolute protector of homosexuals.
Plutarch, Life of Solon, I , I:
"Ex re rmv not1Jparwv avrov J..aPEiv ion xai vopov
bofJJ..ov piJ p1Jbi: nat&-
Eiq riJv rmv xaJ..mv xai oEpvmv imr1Jl>Evpa-
rwv nfJipEVoq l"O xai rtva rovq a;iovq
xaJ..ovpEVoq dJv rovq ava;iovq aJrrJAaVVE.
91
" We can reach to thi s conclusi on both from hi s poems
and f r om a l aw he made out. Thi s l aw of Sol on didn ' t all ow
to sl aves t o rub dry with oil rthat i s, to practi ce sport sl or to
love a boy, because thi s, Solon thought , belonged to the no-
bl e and revered occupations; so, by thi s law, he wanted to
encou r age hones t citi zens t o nobl e work s, from whi ch he
was excluding the un worth y."
Can you imagine a young Atheni an having as a mentor, as an
initi atorto social life, a slave, who had no ci vic ri ghts at aii ?Thi s
was not just impossibl e, but also irrati onal and insulting, beyond
the specifi c person, to the entire cit y.
This expl ains too something puzzling to me as to many oth -
ers who deal with these questi ons: how was it poss ibl e for the Sa-
cred Company at Thebes to be composed of three hundred cou
pies of l overs and loved ones? How was total (according to
Pol yaenus' account) di scipline achi eved under these circum-
stances, whil e it has been, and still is i n modern armi es, common
practi ce t o prevent unpl easantness due to ri valry, by avoiding
co- existence of men and women in a military unit ?
Well , it was poss ibl e, because when the t ex t s speaks of
' lovers' and ' loved ones ' , they refer to this speci al bond be
t ween a t eacher and hi s pupil , whi ch couldn ' t l et the former
show cowardi ce in front of the latt er and fall back without cov -
ering him (since in the phalanx one was covering the other), and
vice versa.
Epaminondas reli ed not on the sexual bond of ' lovers' and
' loved ones', whi ch could not happen in an army, but on their deep
t'Ji endship as a result of the lover being a model to hi s loved one.
Especi all y as far as the Sacred Company at Thebes is con-
cerned, it seems that , even during the antiquit y, parti sans of ho-
mosexuality beli eved its members to be sexuall y invol ved with
92
Homosexouali ty in anci ent Greece - The myth is col lapsi ng
each other. That expl ains why Plutarch, who writes in the 2""
century A.C., after having experi enced the demorali sat ion of
the Roman peri od, puts in the mouth of Philip, the winner of the
battl e in Chaeroni a, these touching words, when he speaks of
the lovers and their loved ones who fell heroicall y in the field to
the last, st ruck not in the back, but in the chest :
/\noA.owro xaxwc; o[ rovwvc; u JrOUolV f} JrCWXl11 alaXQOV
vnovooDvrt:c;.
" I wi sh a bad end t o t hose who dared to insinuat e t hat
something base was going on between these peopl e".
The onl y point still to be cleared up, then, is the importance of
the loved one being beauti ful too. Pr. Dover and Mrs. Reisenberg
base t heir whole reasoning on thi s. They say that , duri ng the
cl ass ical age, as vases and some text s tend t o confirm, all the
prominent citi zens of At hens were compet ing, even through
present offers, for the favours of the most beaut i ful boys. Thi s
i nterest for physical beauty hi des, according to them, desi re for
sexual intercourse.
To be fair, I have to admi t that both Pr. Dover and Mrs.
Reisenberg think that when there was sexual intercourse, it was
no sodomy, but a peculi ar habit, t ypical of ancient Greece as it
seems, call ed femorum diducti o.
Mr s. Rei senberg says about t hi s in page 262 o f her book
Marri age, het ae r ae and peder ast y in anci ent Greece (my
emphasis):
" The r el evant ex tracts form comedi es, whi ch speak of
sodomy, confirm that thi s way of sexual intercourse was thought
t o be humil iating for the one who endured i t. Being actuall y or
hav ing been res i gned to sex through anus l eads al ways t o
the defamati on of the pass i ve partner and i s normall y con-
nected with reproach of prostituti on."
But remember t he impli cati ons of such a r eproach to an
Atheni an citi zen. He was compl etely depri ved of hi s ci vi c and
93 -------- - -
sacerdotal ri ghts. So, even those who support the idea of tolerated
pederasty, in its sexual meaning, accept that it was impossibl e for
an At heni an citi zen to have homosexual relati onships and pre-
serve, at the same time, hi s citi zenship. Then, are we still talking
about a paradi se for homosexuals?
In a vase of the age of the Persian wars, painted to signify the in
tenti on of humili ating the barbari an enemy, an Atheni an soldi er is
shown ready to sodomite a Persian one. The message, of course,
has nothing to do with initi ati on in social li fe and moral values . . .
But, to come back to the questi on of the beauty of t he loved
one, why was it so i mportant to generate a competiti on of gi fts
for wi nning the most beauti ful adolescent? (Thi s offering, though,
was not so necessar y; Socr at es was a destitute, yet he had the
greatest number of loved ones.)
In studying any other, anci ent or modern , ci vili sati on, we
mi ght have some diffi culti es in trying to expl ain thi s phenome
non, but, when ancient Greek ci vilisati on is concerned, the an
swer can be found rather easil y and qui ckl y.
This civili sati on raised elegance and beauty, K a).) .. oc;, to a m a
jor component of its political and social expressi on. That is why,
when i t wanted to build an impressi ve templ e, it didn' t choose to
make i t bi g one, just a perfect one in harmony and beauty, and
buil t the Parthenon. And, following again its need for perfect har
mony, it created the statues of Polyclitus, Praxiteles and Pheidi as.
In thi s ci vili sati on, where virtue and wi sdom had t o be fol -
lowed also by beauty, to meet the ideal of ;wA.oc; xai dya&oc;, dis -
tinguished ci t i zens, the onl y ones in vited to pl ay the part of
lover , were naturall y seeking t o have as a pupil and a protege
that young man who incarnated thi s ideal ; because, as ancient
Greeks put i t, physical beauty is a refl ecti on of the moral one. So,
it was the bi ggest success for an Atheni an to be known as the men-
tor and shaper of an ideal citi zen.
94 --------------------
Homosexoualit y in anci ent Greece The myth is collapsing
He could care for virtue and wisdom, but beauty has to be al
ready there. And if there was, then he wouldn ' t hesitate t o quar -
rel with hi s fellow citi 7.ens and to compete with them in trying to
win the boy with presents. But, if these presents were gi ven to
ensure him sexual intercourse with the loved one, then the lover
could be accused of unchast it y and even l oose hi s life, as I al
ready demonstrated.
To close this subj ect , I find it necessary to quote an amazing
ext ract of Xenophon 's Anabasi s. The writ er wants to qualify
somebody as a barbarian, not a Greek , and gi ves a most inter -
est ing expl anati on of thi s difference.
Xenophon, Anabasis Il , Vl 28:
'AQwiqJ M pa(Jpri(Jrp iivn, ou ,uELQwdou; xuA.oi; ijbE-
ro .. .
" Ari aeus was a barbarian because he was taking hi s pl easure
from beautiful boys ... "
What makes this statement ver y import ant is, first , that it
defin es ' t aki ng one's pleasure from beautiful boys' as a
95 -------- --
barbarian habit ; and second, that, to stress upon what it means,
I t . 'I
I'
)
(
CHAPTER FIVE
VASES
Only bet 11 een sat yrs is a real I) homose:-. ual intercourse ever depi cted on \ases. never bet ween men. nd s r ~ rs' beha\ 'iour
was never an e:-.arnpl e ro imit ate. onl y ro avoid.
VASES ----------------
V
ases ' indi cati ons relevant to our subject cannot be over -
looked, even i f we wanted to. All those sustaining that ho-
mosexuality and, what is worse, pederas t y, was t olerated and
even approved of, in ancient Greece, make an extensi ve use of
them. What is curi ous, though, is that they all refer to a few spe-
cifi c vases. Thi s repetiti on can' t but make a searcher of good
faith suspi cious.
Let us not forget some ver y import ant things about vases
and the scenes they represent. Vases are found earl y enough in
the Greek world. In the Neolithi c settl ement of Seskl on (7000
B.C.) one finds the ' the potter ' s house ' . So, one can expect vas -
es t o have di fferent themes in different ages.
The vases I want t o present were made bet ween the 6'" and
the 4'" centuries B.C. and come almost exclusi vely from Athens.
That makes them an inevitabl y restrained sampl e, since they
were fabri cated, more or less, in the same time and pl ace and fol -
low the same techni que.
But , alth ough th ey ar e mainl y A tti c, and sometimes
Corinthi an, they were destined to be export ed all over the an-
ci ent world. Greek vases have been found ever ywhere, from
east and the Bl ack Sea t o the north of Europe and Gibraltar.
Their themes vary, as I said, through the centuri es. Between
11 '" and 9'" centuri es, they are exclusi vel y geometri cal , painted
with canon and compass. The whole era was named, after them
geometri cal. Then, in the years of our interest , they usuall y rep
resent mythol ogical and heroic themes; arti sts turn, graduall y,
to other subjects without abandoning their favourite ones. But,
in thi s enormous amount of vases, you inevitabl y find whatever
scene you are looking for, even if it i s about anci ent fl ying ma-
chines or food habits.
99 --------- --
What I am trying t o say i s that ther e are scenes on the an-
cient vases referring to practi call y any aspect of li fe, ways of
combat , dressing habits and hairdressing styles or anything one
could think of. If you are pati ent and sharp enough, i t won' t slip
your attention. And even a parcel of imagination is enough to
dri ve you to incredibl e ' di scoveri es'.
So, Pr. Dover, trying hard t o reconstitute a vase coll ect ion
with homosexual scenes, cites in t otal almost 600. I choose t o
exami ne thi s coll ecti on and, hopefull y, deny hi s conclusi ons,
because it is the reference point of the rest of the authors (i .e.
Reisenberg), who use the vase argument.
Fi rst of all , thi s is cert ainl y one immense coll ecti on, al though
not all of the 600 vases have homosexual scenes. Still , the rest of
them are considered as appropri ate to enli ghten the questi on of
homosexualit y in ancient Greece.
Pr. Dover himself, when presenting the catalogue of thi s col
lecti on, states that ' The vases li sted here are those menti oned in
the book. By no means all of them portray homosexual behav
iour or bear eroti c inscripti ons; a great many vases whi ch did por
tray such behaviour or do bear such inscripti ons are not li sted."
That is to say, those of the presented vases whi ch have noth
ing to do with hi s subj ect are cited because they are thought to
be subsidi ary; and there are many others, (but how many and
where, i s left peculi arl y vague) mor e r elevant to hi s point of
view, which he omits.
This does not make hi s sayings accurate. He ought to have
t old us, first , how many of the 600 vases have reall y homosexual
scenes, and, second, how many exactl y, or even appreciativel y,
are those he does not refer t o or repl aces with others less rele
vant.
Now, the truth is that according t o my generous calcul ati ons,
no more than 30 out of 600 vases have a homosexual scene. The
other 570 are tot all y irrel evant , showing her oes, battl es or
-------------------- 100---------------------
Homosexoualiry in ancienr Greece - The myrh is coll apsing
mythol ogi cal themes, or represent het erosexual scenes, on
whi ch Pr. Dover comments in a way that I will further present.
Mrs. Reisenberg also presents some vases, but nor one nor
bel onging ro the Dover ' s coll ection, and sends ever yone wi sh -
ing to find some more to consult it, because she holds it to be the
most exhausti ve. Yet , according to its creat or, many relevant
vases are nor included in it.
In a small research I have conduct ed in the Web, i n sites
where such vases should be found, I di scovered no menti on of
any other than the already known. Pr. Dover is the onl y one ro
sustain they exist. Bur since hi s book is not exempt of errors or
omi ssi ons, I am all owed nor ro gi ve much credit to thi s pi ece of
informati on. Had he other vases t o use as proof of hi s theory, he
should have used them, in stead of the compl etely irrelevant he
---------------------- 101 ---------------------
presents. Or, he should have, at least , mentioned them, in order
t o enabl e us a further examinati on of them.
One of our country's finest publi shing houses, Ekdotiki Athi -
non, publi ched a maj or coll ection about Greek art through the
centuries, in several volumes. In the one dedi cated t o the vases,
when the questi on of their number erases, it is stated: ' ' Atti c vas
es only, whi ch came whol e t o us, are es timat ed to 80.000
(without counting the pot sherd). Gi ven that we have less
than I % of the atti c decorated cerami cs produced in the ar -
chai c and cl ass i cal peri ods, we can, gr ossl y, fi gure out the
huge amounts of such producti on during the anti quit y. "
It is obvious that , in such a context , 30 vases out of 600 are
too small a sampl e to lead us in safe and scientifi call y valid con-
clusi ons; it onl y intends to impression us.
As to the scientifi c substance of the commentari es on vases
with heterosexual scenes, you can judge by the foll owing:
" I t. one l ooks carefull y, he will remark that the coitus i s
through anus. That means that the arti st subconsci ousl y wants
t o paint a homosexual scene, but he can' t. "
Yet, it is the remarks on what I call the irrelevant vases that
are beyond any imaginati on. I will quote, word for word, some
ext racts, reall y comi c I must say, from Dover ' s book, whi ch, let
me repeat that , st ands as the most authoritati ve reference to
ever yone. Th ey ar e fr om th e ve r y enli ght ening chapt er
' Predi lecti ons and fantasies' .
" This small peni s is combined as a rul e with a scrotum of nor-
mal si ze, and the contrast is sometimes striking; the youth in
R373* has a normal scrotum but a minute peni s, and the youth's
scrotum in R638 is massi ve. ( ... ) even a hero such as Heracl es is
no excepti on to thi s rul e; in R328* he has very small genitals, and
hi s large scrotum in RL28 is unli kely, in view of exampl es gi ven
above, to be a deliberate reference to hi s virility." (page 126, 126)
102 ----------
Homosexoual ity in ancient Greece The myth is coll apsing
" Patroclus in R39, whil e hi s wound i s being bound up by
Achill es, sits on hi s ri ght heel in such a way that hi s genitals rest
on the upper surface ot hi s toot; it i s as it the painter were under
a powerful constraint not to conceal the genital s. R2 16 is in
some ways simil ar , on a humbl er pl ane: a man shown in the act
ot climbing a wall , at the moment when hi s genital s are rest ing
prominentl y on the top ot the wall. Alternati vely, when a male
is seen in profile squatting, crouching, halt - kneeling, jumping or
in vi olent movement, the genital s may be partially visi ble be-
low the thigh. In portraying such positions and movements the
painter commonly makes the geni tal s wholl y vi sibl e, and he
makes them far larger , in proportion to the other dimensions ot
the body, than when a si mil ar person is standing, sitting, lying
down, walking or fighting." (page 130)
But, it is in page 133 that Pr. Dover surpasses himself, when
he develops the arti st 's subconscious homosexual hints that ac -
cording to him ' must ' be hidden in some si mpl e and quite usual,
in anci ent Greek art , scenes ot battle.
-------------------- 103---------------------
" The foll owing exampl es have no obvious humorous inten-
ti ons, and may reveal unintenti onall y the ' penil e' fantasies of
t heir creat ors: R 177* , Orestes, advancing to kill A igi st hos,
holds a broad bl aded, curved, sharp pointed sword in a positi on
where it covers hi s genitals and appears to be proj ecting from
him; R837, a spear , carri ed pointing hal t downwards, prolongs
the li ne of a youth' s peni s, and its blade and bl ade- socket sym
boli se the glans and retracted foresk in; R82 1, a youth holds a
long javelin so that it appears t o pass through the genitals of an
other youth; ( . . . ) B588, l olaos holds hi s club so that it looks like
hi s own erect peni s, and Heracles, fi ghting the li on, appears t o
have his scabbard going up hi s anus."
What can reall y be said about these comment ari es? Fan -
tasies they are, onl y not of the ancient arti st who simpl y paints
warri ors holding javelins; they bel ong t o those who are not
afraid of becoming pi cturesque, as long as they can hence sus
tain that homosexualit y and pederasty were tolerated and wide-
ly approved of in ancient Greece.
Of course, in the di fferent coll ecti ons whi ch are supposed to
prove, in so pompous a way, the above theor y, there are some
vases whi ch have true homosexual scenes, but never a scene of
actual sexual intercourse bet ween t wo men. Onl y sat yrs t ake
part in such scenes, and sat yrs were known to be pervert ed and
were represented as such. And when a homosexual scene was
painted on a vase, obviousl y to avoid general outcr y, it shows ei
ther si mpl e caresses or a curi ous positi on call ed, as 1 found out,
femorum diducti o.
In thi s positi on, both men are showed head- on and the lover
tri es to press his peni s bet ween the thi ghs of hi s loved one, whi ch
is supposed to gi ve him pl easure.
From my point of vi ew, such an intercourse didn ' t exi st ,
strange enough as it is; but the arti sts who wanted to show t wo
--- ------- 104-----------
Homoscxouali ry in anci cm Grc;ccc - The myth is col lapsi ng
men having sex and couldn ' t do it openl y (perhaps there was a
law, whi ch didn' t come to us, forbidding it), had no other means
but thi s strange positi on to illustrate their obj ecti ve.
Pr. Dover, on the contrary, beli eves it existed. He consi ders
it to be the onl y permitted way for a lover to have an intercourse
with hi s loved one; for he recogni zes, along with everyone, that
i t was inadmi ssibl e and punishable for a man t o offer his body
pass i vel y, i n the way a woman does. The vase treasure was a
Red arr ic wine cup, around 500 13 .C., which shows Achi l les bandaging the
wounds of Patroclus. One of the many scenes to have been misinterpreted.
105 --------- -
hoax then! Readers can understand that it is roo ri sky, after all ,
to reach any valid conclusi ons based on those few vases. orh -
ing excludes their making by a homosexual arti st or for a homo
sexual cli ent , probabl y li ving roo far from Atti ca, or even a bar
bari an; arri c vases were exported to where they were command
ed, rhar is, all around the world.
When someone uses the vase argument (even if mor e of
them were to be found, their percentage would be still negli gi
bl e) ro cl aim that ancient Greeks were homosexual s, hi s theory
has the same, if nor less value, with the theory of a furure hi srori
an, who based on a single epi sode of a random sir com having a
homosexual among the three or four main characters, sustain
that in Greece of the earl y 1990's one our of four men was ho
mosexual ; or, he claims rhar homosexualit y was an instirution in
Greece of the beginning of the 2 1st century, based on a homo
sexual magazine, one remaining our of the many in circul ation
in the news rand.
Men having a remorum diducri o.
106---------------------
Homost:-.oual ir y in ancient Greece The: myth is collap,ing
Heracles holding a 1 ripod. Whar i s rile reason ro incl ude such a scene in rile
coll ec1 ion or revealing' vases'
7
The proportionatel y small. compared 10 !he res!
or 1 he bod). pen is. You are welcome ro draw your own concl usions.
107 ---------------------
What I am saying is that these vases, because of their, limit -
ed, number and because of their unreali sti c way of depi cting
things, are not enough by themsel ves to dri ve us t o reli abl e con
clusions, as some insist on beli eving. It must also be noted that
pottery was at that time a real form of art and, as such, it didn' t
mean to show ever yday life, but to provoke and even to shake
common beli efs.
And there was an undeni abl e commercial aspect, since pot -
tery was Atti ca's hard industry. It is possibl e then that fabricants
were t rying t o sati sf y all kinds of demand in order t o increase
their sales (j ust as contemporary television net works broadcast
all ki nds of shows, even pornographi c ones, to increase rating
and, consequentl y, profit ).
I will say i t again: what comes out from the vases is that , even
in homosexual scenes, the arti st never shows an actual inter
course, but onl y a femorum diducti o, whi ch means that sodomy
was considered too base to be shown, even in the relevant vases.
Vases convince no one but those who want t o be convinced
by passing and superfi ci al impressi ons. On the contrar y, they
reveal a most conser vati ve, compared to our standards, society,
where cert ain things, even when they are done- and they were
surely done, at that t ime as at all - , must never come to the li ght.
-------------------- 108--------------------
CHAPTER SIX
MYTHOLOGY
MYTHOLOGY ----- -
M
ythology is a major component of anci ent Greek ci vilisa-
tion and capital to its study and understanding. It contains
the most secret aspects of the Greek thought and offers to the at -
tenti ve searcher an epitome of the Greek conception of gods, he-
roes and ordinary people.
There are t oo many myths referring either to the two gods
who, according to this concept of Divine, r epresent l ove,
Aphrodite and Eros, or to love stori es of gods and humans.
Greeks have been particul arl y accused of their liberal treatment
of the gods, but thi s is subject for another book. Back to our sub-
ject, myths about heterosexual love are among the most touching
stori es ever created.
The war of Troy is the first one of them. According to modern
hi stori ans, who propose onl y rat ional interpretations, Achaeans
fought the Trojans for the control of the passages from the
Aegean to the Black sea, or, in other words, for economical rea-
sons, as it happens with every war through the ages. It is al ways a
question of power and who wi ll have it.
But these mot i ves are not sat i sfying the Greek spirit ; they
don' t seem good enough to expl ain why the Greeks engaged
themsel ves in such bloody and long ci vil war.
On the contrary, the need of Menelaus to have Beautiful He-
ten back explains perfect l y this war to the Greek mind. And in
every Homeric rhapsody, as I have already noted, the love which
unites a man and a woman is depicted in vi vid expressions.
Achill es wit hdraws from the battles and leaves hi s fellow
Achaeans to their dest iny, only because Agamemnon took Yre-
sei s away from him. And when she is leaving, Homer, wanting to
draw our attenti on t o the l ove that unites them, insi sts on the
fact that " her heart doesn' t want to follow". In the final rhap
-------------------- Ill ---------------------
sody of the Ili ad, after the august and most touching meeting be-
t ween the Trojan king Pri am and Achill es, the latter finds corn -
fort i n Vreseis' arms.
The other great hero of thi s epi c, Hector, has with Andromach,
hi s wi fe, the perfect relati onship. Her mourning for hi s death is
the one of a woman deepl y in love.
In rhe second Homeri c epi c, Odyssey, the main character,
Ulysses, fi ghts hard to find hi s way back home. He li ves many
advent ures, and l ove st ori es, wi t h Circe or Cal ypso, are an
important parr of them.
I deliberately insist on Homer because he was li ke the Bibl e
t o ancient Greeks. Even Pl ato, who does not count among the
poet s' parti sans, admit s that "thi s poet was Greeks' true in
structor". In hi s epi cs Greeks used to search the ori gins of every
model, every attitude, every value they thought worthy.
Yet, among all these love stori es Homer speaks of, there is
not the slightest reference t o a relati onship bet ween indi viduals
of the same sex.
And Greek mythol ogy as a whole, apart from the epi cs of
Homer, has great l ove stori es to show. No other peopl e ex
pressed such an admirati on to di vine Eros, the one presented in
the Antigone as unbeatabl e in battl e, "E(Jmq avixau pazav.
Let us remember some great and tragic love stori es from our
mythology, whi ch, as I beli eve, is our legendary proto hi story.
Myrtilus, king Oenomaus' chari oteer, fall s in love with hi s
mas ter ' s daughter, Hippodami a. She persuades him to t ake a
pin on the royal chari ot 's wheel before the beginning of a race
bet ween Oenomaus and Pel ops. Oenomaus gets kill ed and the
winn r Pel ops abduct s Hippodami a and kill s Myrtilus, who
curses him and hi s posterit y before he dies. In a single story two
great passi ons are described, Myrrilus' for Hippodami a, whi ch
i s strong enough to make him bet r ay hi s king, and Hippo-
-------------------- 11 2---------------------
Homosexouali ty in ancient Greece The myth is coll apsing
dami a' s for Pel ops, whi ch leads her ro practi call y accept the
idea of her father 's death. For Greeks, Eros is reall y unbeatabl e.
He is so unbeat abl e that makes another daughter bet ray her
own father. Ari ane, the daughter of Minos, saves Theseus and
helps hi m escape from the pri son her father had prepared for
him.
Do not think that Greek mythology gi ves accounts only of
women's great passi ons for men.
Amphi araus, the renowned seer, knew that , i f he took part in
the campaign of the Seven against Thebes, hi s death was certain;
so, he deni ed parti cipating. Pol yni ces though, manages t o
change hi s mind by using Amphi araus' l ove for hi s wi fe, Eri -
phyle. He gives her a spl endid present, the neckl ace of Harmo-
ny, and, for hi s wife' s sake, Amphi araus joins the campaign and
gets kill ed.
But , there are even more tragi c love st ori es, tragi c beyond
imaginati on. Among the most amazing and superbl y illustrated
in a vase, i s the myth speaking of the love bet ween Achill es and
Penthesili a, the queen of the Amazons. She went to Troy t o fight
by Troj an's side. During the battl e she finds hersel f in a tremen-
dous singl e combat wi t h the son of Peleas, the swift - foot ed
Achill es. He beat s her after a hard fi ght , but when he gi ves her
the final stroke with hi s sword, whil e l ooking her in the eyes, he
reali zes she i s the onl y woman worthy of him. A compl ete and
utter love takes instantaneously hold of him, yet, it is t oo late.
Penthesili a is already gone and the hero's heart is broken, for he
has just kill ed the woman he loved and is never going ro have.
Hopefull y, there are also l ove stori es with happy ending, like
the srory of Perseus, son of Zeus and Danae, and Andromeda.
He first saw her when passing from Ethi opi a; she was t ied ro a
rock, as an otler t o appease a sea monster.
At thi s sight, he can' t but fall in love with the young and beau-
tiful girl. He promi ses her father to save her and, if he manages
11 3---- ----- - -
A don b A.
Theseu' ki lling the Minut aur. Athena is standing hy hi s side ru signify that the
hero couldn ' t have accomplished such a feat 11 it hour di vine help.
11 4-----------
Homosexoualit y in ancient Greece - The myth is coll apsi ng
to do so, he asks t o become her husband. The father agrees,
Perseus kill s the monster and marri es Andromeda.
Heracles, the great est of all heroes, al so accused by those
with vi vid imaginati on, of homosexuali ty, was known, apart
from hi s labours, for the passi onate love he felt for quite a few
women. At the end, coming back from Lydi a and havi ng the
beautifullole, daughter of Euripus, with him, he will di e out of a
poisoned robe, sent to him by hi s j ealous wife, Di eanira, and im-
pregnated in the so call ed l ove poti on the Centaur Nessus gave
her.
One should ask whether there i s any menti on of l ove story
bet ween t wo men in the mythol ogy. Actuall y, there is, and a
very instructi ve too; it is, in a sense, the continuati on of Pelops
and Hippodami a myth.
The t wo l overs were cursed, as you may remember, by the
dying Myrtilus for having betrayed him. So, as the myth con t in-
ues, Laius, who was offered a refuge by Pelops, fell in love, st im-
ul at ed by the vulgar and not the celes ti al Aphrodite, wi th hi s
adolescent son, the charming Chrysippus, kidnapped hi m and
raped him.
Aft er that Pelops naturall y cursed Laius; and thi s forced se -
xual rel ati onship became the cause of all the mi sfortunes that
stroke the fami l y of Lavdacus.
For a Greek mind Laius is guil ty of such an odi ous deed, that
he deser ves t o be kill ed by his own son, Oedi pus. Thi s puni sh-
ment i s not enough though, more i s about t o come and hit the
coming generat ions. Oedipus, innocent in essence, but carr ying
the curse fall en on hi s father, marri es, without knowing it , hi s
own mother and has children wi th her. When the truth, finall y,
comes out, she kill s hersel f, while he t akes out hi s own eyes. But
the curse continues to pursuit Laius' posteri ty to its compl ete
extinct ion. Oedi pus' sons, Eteocl es and Pol ynices, will engage
themsel ves in a bl oody ci vil war and di e beaten by each other ' s
11 5 - - ---- -----
hand. Anri gone will be the last vi ctim of thi s curse and, with her
sacri fice, will free her sister l smene from it.
Having in mind thi s mythi cal famil y's hi story, I can' t think
of a more expli cit way for the Greek mythology to state its re
pul si on, the complete abhorrence of the ancient society towards
homosexual acts.
Their l anguage call ed homosexual s Ki.vrubm and their
mythology associates them with the greatest curse and tragedy
of the ancient world, the destructi on of the house of Lavdacus.
Yet, there is another chapter in mythol ogy whi ch needs to be
examined: Zeus and the myths connected t o him.
Zeus is widel y known as the father of all gods and men. He was
marri ed to Hera, but was not faithful at all to her. Thi s attitude of
hi s may scandali se modern morals, but is, in fact, symboli c, rele
vant t o the way di vine essence fertili ses anything. The greatest
Greek heroes were sons of Zeus and of several mortal women.
Hi s love affairs with simpl e women as well as with goddesses
are countl ess; the artifi ces he uses to approach them are often
beyon d imaginati on. Yet , a singl e myth , the abducti on of
Ganymede, was enough t o acclaim him, according to some peo
pi e, as the eternal protector of homosexuals. Pr. Dover has even
chosen a vase with thi s scene as a cover for hi s book , obviously
t o relate the father of gods and human, the king of Ol ympus with
homosexuality.
The myth i s known from Homer; Zeus sees Ganymede, an
incredibl y beautiful young man, and abducts him to Ol ympus,
where he makes him hi s cup bearer, because he didn ' t want such
per fect beauty t o be lost in the world of mort als.
There are many, although not perceptibl e at first sight, inter -
pretat ions to thi s myth, whi ch has been used, even since the an-
tiqui ty, to sust ain a homosexual aspect of Zeus.
Robert Fl aceri ere, in page 22 of hi s book , says (pl ease note
that thi s author doesn' t share my opinion, but beli eves that pe
-------------------- 11 6---------------------
Homosexoualit y in ancielll Greece - The myrh is coll apsing
Achill es. th e moment he kill s and, at the same time, f all s in l ove with ,
Penthesi I ia.
117 ---------------------
derasty had a physical dimension too; yet, he cannot close his
eyes to the undeni able):
"There is no doubt about it: Homer never attributes to a god,
nor to a human ' love for the boys', as will do the poets to come.
He does, of course speak of Ganymede, in the twentieth
rhapsody of the Ili ad ( ... ), but , to Homer , Ganymede is just
Zeus' cup bearer."
But it is Socrates, who gi ves a trul y di sclosing interpretation
of thi s myth, in Xenophon 's Symposium, where he also clears
up, once and for all , the question of the friendship between
Achill es and Patroclus.
Xenophon, Symposium, VIII, 28- 32:
... b ufJVjAW M OOL, EcprJ, w Ku)) .. [a, XUljAVfJo?coyijaw we; 01J
povov avfJownm d?cAit xui fJw i xai ifowcc; rYJV Tijc; '1/Jvxijc; cpt-
?ciav JCEQi n?cdovoc; fj roD OWfWWc; XQfiotv nowiivTw.
Zn)c; rE ya(! oawv ptv ()VrJTWV m)awv pO(!cpijc; avyyE-
VOfLEVOc; da WJTac; fJV?]TO.c; clvw oawv M '1/Jvxa'ic; dya()a'ic;
dyaa()EirJ, d8av6.wvc; Tm)wvc; no in wv 'H(!ux?cijc; ptv xai
L1toaxov(!oi elm, AiyovTw M xui li.A?cot. Kai yw at cprJpt xai
OlJ awpawc; dUO. '1/JVX?] c; EvEXa 1JJCO L1toc; Elc;
"O?cv;mov dvcvcxeijvw. Ma(!WQEl M xai w 15vOfW uvwD
l!au,u t v yO.Q xai yavvrat bi: r' axovwv. To Dro
M ou ijoc:rw M T' dxm)wv. "Eau M xai a?c?co () nov
JCVXtVa lfJ(!EUt p.qba Eibmqrofiro 0' AEY EL aocpa cp(}Wl {3ov-
AElJfLUW Elowc;. 'E avvafAcpori(!wv Tmhwv m1x 1]ovaw-
pawc; OVOfWOfJEic; 0 r avVfl?JO'Yjc; d?c?c' 1]ovyvwpwv v () w'ic; TE-
rlflrJWL. w xai 'AXtAAE1ic; 'Op1J(!qJ nc:nob]-
TW mix we; natOtxo'ic; llaT(!OXAqJ dA?,.. ' we; -ra{(!qJ dno()aw5vu
xn(! t:niaww upw(!ijaw. Kai 'Ooi un]c; M xai n v?c ao?Jc; xai
81]0c:iJc; xai n c: tQi()ouc; xui li.Um M JCOAAOL TWV 1JptfJi wv ol
li(! WWL VfAVOVVTW ov OLQ TO avyxafJE1JOELV dUO. Ota TO ay a-
-------------------- 11 8 ---------------------
Homoscxouali ry in ancient Greece - The myrh is coll apsing
'"a''''
0 1 o I f1 o .0 A
Euforbus, the hepherd, carrying l ittle Oedipus in hi s arms. Pel ops' curse to
Laius determined Oedipus' destiny too.
11 9---------------------
a()m ClA.A1JAOVS" rC.l ftEYWW xai xaA.A.ww XOLV,1] (nanEn(}fi-
X()W. Ti M, d.t vDv xaA.a E(}ya 01J navr' av EiJ(}OL ns EVEXQ enai-
vov lJJrO rwv xai JrOVELV xai XtVCJVVElJEtv ()Aovrwv Jr(}C.lHO-
f t EVa ,ufi.AAOV fj vno rwv e()t'(,OflEVWV 1JOovryv a vi E1JXAde.ts
alQEiaew;
"Fi nall y, I wi sh t o prove t o you, Calli as, by using mythol ogy,
that human as well as the gods and the heroes, prefer fri endship
of the soul r ather than use of the body. It i s well known that ,
after their intercourse, Zeus let the women he fell for to remain
mort al, if he loved them for their physical beauty; but he made
immort al whomever he l oved for the beauty of t heir soul s.
Among them you can see Heracles, the Di oscouri and others.
I also claim that Ganymede was brought t o Olympus for the
beaut y of hi s soul , not of hi s body. Hi s very name confi rms what
I am saying, as it is said about it in a passage from Homer, ' ya-
vvrat bi: r' a"ovwv'. That means one takes pl easure in li stening
t o hi m. There i s also another passage from Homer whi ch says
'ltv)(l.vti ((J(!Eui p'lj&a Eibwq'. That means again ' the one who
had wise thoughts'. So, i f Ganymede has got hi s name after these
two, he has been honoured among the gods not for hi s pl easant
body, but for hi s wisdom.
Achill es , my fri end Ni ke r atos, has al so been shown by
Homer t o have avenged in the most dignifi ed way the death of
Patroclus, not as the death of a loved one, but as the death of a
fri end. Orestes and Pyl ades too, Theseus and Peiri t hous, and
many of the best of the semi - gods are being praised not because
they were sleeping t ogether , but because they were admiring
each other and have accompli shed t ogether the great est and
most beaut i ful deeds. As to the contemporary works, one would
not al ways find them accompli shed by those who want to labour
and dare to ri sk, but by those who tend t o prefer pl easure rather
than glor y."
120------- ---
Homosexouali ty in ancient Greece - The myth is collapsing
Greek thought, as refl ected in the mythology, reveals a
world where soci all y approved sex tends to be confined in the
heterosexual model.
Er os, as a di vinity, i s nevertheless a rather compl ex case. I
already menti oned Aphrodite and the crucial differenti ati on
bet ween her vul gar and celesti al versions.
But what about Eros?
He was an attendant t o Aphodite, and as such, he fi gures
already in Hesi odus, where he is described as the primary cause
of everything that exists. Eros, the strong desire for something,
according to the di ctionari es, is then the Power that brings the
Chaos in Order.
Orphi cs pl ace him in the center of the uni verse. Phanes
Er os will come out of the Orphi c Egg and bring the whole
Cosmos onto the light. Just enj oy thi s uni que Orphi c Hymn t o
Er os/Love:
KtXA1JOXW j.lEyav, ayvov, EQ6.0j.1WV,
"EQWW rosaAxij,
nrt:QOEvra, nVQLOQOflOV, d )OQOflOV OQflfi,
?]M

n )n6.AaftOV, Otcpvij, n6.vr wv lfxovra,
01)Qav{ov,
novwv, ...
fjo' oaa EXcl .. .
" I summon the great , pure, lovel y, sweet Er os,
who is mi ghty wi th the bow,
the fl ying one , fi er y in hi s course,
swi ft in hi s ardour, pl aying wi th gods
as well as with the mortal humans;
the handy one, the one with double nature,
-------------------- 121 ---------------------
Adoni s 1\. Georgiadcs
who is praised by everyone,
by the celesti al ether,
the sea, the earth ...
and everything contained in Tart arus
fthe nether worldl . . . "
So, Eros, just like Aphrodite, has double nature. He is that
fl ying god we all have in mind, who can fluster anybody with hi s
tri cks, from Zeus and Appolo to the simpl est human.
But, he is not only that. He is also the creat i ve principl e of all
that exist. What gi ves birth to the Cosmos, the ornament, is the
harmony between the opposing natural forces of Love (C/JtA(J-
rq;) and Feud (Ndxo; ).
Er os the god is, then, the symbol of the Purest , Creative
Universal Power. Thi s Eros Creator, and not the ordinary love,
has Athenaeus in mind when he writes that:
-------------------- 122 ---------------------
Homosexoual iry in ancient Greece - The myth is coll apsing
" I t was so st r ange t o t he A theni an way of thin k i ng to
consider Eros responsibl e for any sexual relati onship, that, in
the Academi a, which was devoted to Athena, the virgin goddess,
a st atue was set up in honour of Eros and sacrifi ces were offered
t o him, as t o Athena."
Of course, thi s was not done to honour the love of the bodies,
but the one of the soul s and the beauti ful works, as Socrates has
expl ained t o us. Besides, Academi a, Pl at o's school , was the
perfect l ocati on t o pl ace a statue of thi s Eros, since Pl at o had
described thi s form of l ove. He couldn ' t have imagined how
di st orted his words would be after several thousands of years.
-------------------- 123 --------------------
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE COMICAL POETS
THECOMICALPOETS -----
H
omosexuals' descripti on in the works of different poets of
the classical era is cert ainl y import ant to those who try to
understand how homosexuals were treated by the citi zens of the
same peri od.
As far as tragic poets are concerned, there is never an open
menti on to the questi on, obviously because of the general con-
ser vatism we have already described. Anyway, tragic poets usu-
all y refl ect the opini ons of the hi gher, r at her closed soci al
groups.
The comi cal poet s, on the contrar y, express the vi ews of
larger, popul ar classes, and they do speak openl y about thi s is-
sue.
They often use the word "EV(!lJn(!wxwc;", ' wide- breeched' ,
needing no further expl anati on, if I may say so, but bei ng un -
doubtedl y pej orati ve.
Peopl e known to have thi s inclinati on, like the poet Agath -
on, are often designated with thi s word, in a clearl y depreciat ory
cont ext. In Ari stophnes ' Thesmofori azusae, Agathon i s al so
described as xar am! ywv, ' gi ven t o unnatural lust '. Thi s
word, of the same famil y as ' :rcv y1j' ,' buttocks' , clearl y means
t he pass i ve homosexual. It i s al so remark abl e that Ari sto -
phanes, willing t o express hi s aversi on t owards thi s act , never
uses the words ' lover- loved one' .
Homosexuals are also, pej orati vely, presented, according t o
Pr. Dover, as Aatx aar ai 'wenchers' , those who like to suck.
In the Nubes, when Ari stophanes wants t o make the differ -
ence between the moral and the immoral young man, he uses the
words awcp(!WV and xar a:rcv ywv. In the same pl ay, the
main character, St repsi ades, when he swears hi s son for having
heat him, call s him Aaxxon(!wxwv, ' loose - breeched ', and
-------------------- 127 ---------------------
Adoni s A. Georgiudcs
Jrargoxr6vov, ' parricidal ', considering the t wo t erms as
equal ly condemning, to hi s as to the spectat or s' ears.
In anci ent Greece there is a specifi c word to signify ' brav -
ery' , the word 'dv6gdu. ' . In Athens, t o reach the state of the ci -
ti zen, adol escent s had to gi ve a solemn oath t o the "Sacred
Arms" and serve in the army. A man who deni ed carrying arms
in barrle was ridiculous and could not have ci vic ri ghts.
A comical poet wrote a pl ay to satiri ze the " di ssenters" of hi s
age and call ed it Jlargau:vrot ' those who have never seen ser -
vice ', but al so Jlv6g6yvvm, ' the Effeminated' . That means
that womani sh men, homosexuals, were put in the same r ange as
the men who didn' t ser ve their city and were di sapproved for thar.
Ari stophanes is never tired of humili ating homosexuality at
every chance.
In Pax, Trygaeus has brought a beetl e to hi s house and feeds it
with excrement s t o use it as transport ati on t o the summit of
Ol ympus. The slave, who is responsibl e for it, asks someone t o
bring him an ' excrement - pi e' from an ' unchaste man', obvious-
l y because, as ' wide breeched', he should make the best pi es of
thi s ki nd!
Ari stophanes' comments sound ' raci st ' and ' sexist ' to us;
shoul d a modern writer use such depreciating terms for homo-
sexuals in hi s works, he would have been subj ect t o the hue and
cry of everyone, especi all y the intell ectuals.
Modern attitude towards thi s parti cul ar inclinati on is proba-
bl y fairer and more human, but , i n thi s book, we are trying to de-
termi ne the opini on ancient Greeks had on the subj ect , not ours.
There is another element whi ch can add to our argument a
tion; i t is known to those who support the opposite view, but
they tend to expl ain it in a differ ent way. It i s about one of
Ari stophanes most successful pl ays, Lysistrat a.
In thi s pl ay Atheni an women decide not to have sex with their
husbands, in order to force them to st op the war with Sparta. If
-------------------- 128 ---------------------
Homosexoualiry in ancienr Greece - The myth is coll apsing
homosexuality was so widely practiced, this deci sion would
mean nothing to men, since they could turn to each other to sat -
isfy their desires. But this is not what happens. On the cont rary,
men gi ve way r at her quickly, because they cannot stand this
compulsory abstinence.
Thi s is usuall y expl ained as an attitude t ypical of the popular
class, whil e upper class preferred pederasty.
But thi s is not true. Theat re was a major interest of all A then -
ian citizens and members of the ri chest and most illustrious fam-
ili es eagerl y assumed the, usuall y enormous, expenses of the re -
presentations. It would be incredibl e for comi cal poets, and, in
particular Ari stophanes, who was the most prolifi c one, to i nsult,
systematicall y and in the most provoking way, their pat rons.
They would, at least, attenuate, if not pass it over in silence, so as
not to ri sk their grantors' ire.
It is also sustained that poor Athenians didn 't need to turn to
homosexualit y, because, in popul ar neighbourhoods, women,
who hadn't enough slaves to help them, used to be more often
out of their house, and thi s made it easier for men to find a sexual
partner. It was much more difficult, on the contrary, for ri ch citi -
zens, whose wives and daughters were confined to their r esi -
dence. This ' lack ' of women made the rich Atheni ans to choose
men for partners and provided the comical poets with a ' differ -
ence of attitude' between ri ch and poor, which made a constant
source of juicy jokes
Yet, in ancient Athens, a ri ch man had more opportunities to
enjoy sex, if he wanted to, than a poor one. He had the possibility
to pay and have access to a brothel. There were dozens of them in
the city, but even more in Piraeus, the biggest port of that age.
He could also, as I mentioned before, turn to a courtesan and
have a permanent relationship, for as long as he wished, with a
woman of di stingui shed beaut y and culture, whose company,
though highl y expensi ve, was much in request.
129 ----------
'-'
c
A satyr chases a woman.
Homosexouali ry in anci ent Greece - The myrh is collapsing
He could, finall y, buy a female slave frof!J the market, to have
her as a concubine and maidser vant. After all , it was not a prob -
lem for a ri ch Atheni an who wanted t o find a woman to do so.
Thi s sill y assumpti on though is the one supposed t o expl ain
the di fferences in morals between ri ch and poor.
To conclude thi s chapter, I can onl y repeat that homosexuals
are presented in a most depreciati ve way in anci ent comedi es;
thi s means that these pl ays offer us one of our strongest argu-
ment s in our effort to prove that homosexuality was not the
widel y t olerated, i f not imperati ve, ' Greek way'.
---------------------- 131 ---------------------
CHAPTER EIGHT
FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY
---- FEMALE HOMOSEXUALITY - ---
I
n my f irst study about homosex uality in anci ent Greece,
whi ch was presented, some years ago, in the Nat i onal Metso-
vi on Pol ytechni c School of Athens, I didn 't t ouch the questi on
of female homosexuali ty. I t was not out of lacking evidence, but
because I considered i t of minor import ance, compared wi th the
issue on i ts whole. The scarce references in ancient texts and the
' accommodat ing' associati on of pederasty with male homosex -
uality expl ain, t o a cert ain ex tent , thi s negligence. Since onl y
men wer e qualifi ed as ' l over s' and ' l oved ones', the ' Greek
love' described by Robert Flaceri ere should be between men.
But, if thi s is the case, how can one expl ain the Greek ety -
mology of the word for female homosexualit y? In almost every
language, it is designed by the word ' lesbi an' and, thus, associat -
ed wi th the Greek island of Lesvos. The answer is simpl e; i t is be-
cause of Sappho, the most prai sed poetess of the ancient world.
Sappho, or Psappha, as was her name in the Aeoli an dialect,
was for ancient Greeks ' The Poetess', j ust as Homer was ' the
Poet ', without further specifi cati on. She li ved in the 7th century
B.C., when l yri c poetry reached its bl oom, and was recogni zed
by the Alexandri an scholars, as one of the nine greatest l yric po-
ets of all times. Her poems, mainl y written in a speci al metre
named after her, covered seven books, but onl y a few verses sur-
vi ved.
Even these few ver ses are so fr agmentar y, that they onl y
make it mor e diffi cult for those trying to under st and wher e
things stood, as far as Sappho's sexual profil e i s concerned. And
thi s is because, although Sappho is widel y thought to have been
homosexual , not hing in the real evidence we do possess can
confirm thi s claim.
Pr. Dover, in page 173 of hi s book, says (my emphasis):
-------------------- 135 ---------------------
"The evidence tor her homosexuality is fragmentary in the
literal sense: onl y one ot her poems survi ves compl ete (quoted
by a l i terary criti c of the roman peri od), the rest being repre
sented by scraps of ancient copi es, in whi ch a compl ete line is a
rarit y, and by later writers' quot ati ons of short passages, indi -
vidual lines or phrases. The ev idence i s al so fragil e and am
bi guous ( ... ).Comment on Sappho ' s er oti c r el ati onships
with women does not begin, so far as the ex t ant ev idence
goes, until Hell eni sti c times. "
Robert Flaceri ere, in page 98 of hi s book, in the chapter he
writes about the so called ' Greek love', says (also my emphasis):
" In the earl y beginning of the 6'
11
century B. C., when Theog-
ni s and other, maj or, l yri c poets were to their zenith, Sappho or
Psappha, a poetess from Lesvos reached her maturit y; she was a
uni que creature, a ' miracl e' according ro Strabo (X Ill , 6 17), the
onl y woman whose poems, even since Antiquit y, were corn
pared, as equal, to the Homeric ones, " the tenth Muse" as de-
scri bed in an epi gram of the Anthol ogia Graeca anributed t o
Pl at o.
Yet thi s is the moment to deal with a preliminary questi on: is
it fair ro include Sappho in a chapter dealing with homosexual
l ove? Th e accusati ons t or 'sapphi sm' and ' l esbi ani sm',
made against the poet ess in the Antiquit y, ar e, according
t o numer ous Hell eni st s and hi st ori ans, pure sl ander. "
What is the meaning of all thi s? Even the schol ars who tend
t o con ider homosexuality as a major social phenomenon i n an-
cient Greece, hesitate in calling Sappho homosexual , although
the rest of peopl e do so, without even caring ro prove it. Thi s is a
t ypi cal exampl e of something being considered as true, onl y be-
cause that is the general feeling about it.
-------------------- 136---------------------
Homosexoual it y in anci ent Greece - The myth is col lapsi ng
There is a simpl e test one can make to find out how many in -
valid myths of thi s kind concerning ancient Greece are wi del y
spread. Just ask ten persons to tell you in which rhapsody of the
Ili ad Homer describes the T roj an horse and the fall of Troy.
With a few excepti ons, almost everyone will choose one rhap-
sody, since everyone is convi nced that the Ili ad ends with the fall
of Troy. Yet, the Ili ad' s final scene is the one bet ween Achill es
and Pri am.
Mr. Vassili s Lazanas, Ph.D in the Uni versity of Tubingen in
Germany, wri tes in hi s book Ancient Greek epigram poets of
the Aegean (Athens 1995, page 170):
"A maj or i ss ue, r el ated t o th e poet ess ' mo r al s and
personalit y, is her relati onship with the circle offemale di scipl es
she had in Myt il ene ( ... ) St rabo says about her : ' Sappho was
such an admirabl e creature; we have never known so far any
other woman who could be, even remotely, compared to her as
far as the poet ic grace is concerned' , whil e, on the other hand,
many wri ters, especi all y Chri st ians, are more than unequi vocal
as to her morals. Tati anus, for exampl e, procl aims that Sappho
' is a slut , a sex - mani ac prostitute who makes poet ry out of her
own lewdness ' .
Ye t , during t hese l as t decades t he ques ti on has been
seri ousl y and insi stentl y examined by di st ingui shed scholars,
such as F.C. Wel cker and others. Their studi es concl ude as
foll ows: girl s taking part to Sappho' s ci rcl e came from di tlerent
areas of Lesvos and even from outside the island. Thi s circle was
obvi ousl y not some School for music, poetry and dance; nor
was it a circl e devoted to worshiping Aphrodite. It i s most
probable that these girl s were gathering there to concentrate on
learning musi c and dance, on reading and reciting poetry, on
teaching good manners and so on. Let us also not forget that , in
-------------------- 137 ---------------------
Lesvos, social structure and morals were compl etely di fferent
from Lhe rest of Greece. Women were emancipated, at least to a
cert ai n point. Mytil ene ci vili sati on was of a high level , at thi s
age, and girl s' educati on was consider ed import ant and
necessar y. So, the questi on of Sappho's relati onship to the girl s
who were frequenting her house must be examined through thi s
parti cul ar aspect , and not on the bas i s of irresponsibl e and
un trus t wo rth y informati on or of scandal in sinuat ions the
comical poets did. It is, after all , almost cert ain that the poet ry
Sappho wrote, descri bing and inspired by the rel ati on she had
with her di scipl es as well as t he rel at i on they had with each
other , would be mi sinterpreted. When Sappho expresses her
emotions about being separated from a girl who gets marri ed
and l eaves the 'circl e', when she describes admiringl y the
beauty of a fri end, when she speaks wi th deli ght about how close
she feels to another one, she couldn ' t help being mi sunderstood
and calumni ated by those who tended to be suspi ci ous for their
own reasons (polit ical ). But there i s not a single word in her
poems to be read as a hint to lesbian love."
So, what do we know for cert ain about Sappho?
First, she was a great poetess whose works were unfortunate
l y losL during the 11 th century A.C., when they were thrown to
fire, along with the works of Alcaeus. Lyri cal poetry was, obvi
ously, too ' daring' for the barbari an taste of the Middl e Ages.
We then know that , though she was excepti onall y praised by
several ancient wri ters, she was also accused, by several others,
of bei ng homosexual , especiall y after the Hell eni sti c years, that
is, centuri es after her death.
This accusati on made more than one ancient writ er willing
to defend her.
Lucianus in parti cul ar felt thi s need and wrote Calumni ae non
tenere credendum, that is, ' ' How nor to trust easil y the calumny",
138--------------------
Homosexouali ry in ancient Greece - The myrh is coll apsing
in order ro help readers understand why Sappho, the tenth Muse,
was unjustl y accused of " having indecent fri endships".
The Suidas lexicon uses the same terms, "2:ancpw, ow(-JoA. 1]v
liaxc alaxQO.c; cptA.iac;".
Another lexicographer, Hesychius from Alexandri a, says that
"alr{ac; clxov ar6novc; al &no /1 i a(3ov", that is " to the women
of Lesvos were addressed unfounded accusati ons" .
It is obvious that Sappho was a major surpri se to the ancient
Greeks who were deepl y impressed with her. She was a super
star.
Plurarch compares her with Anacreon and expresses hi s pro-
found admiration to both of them by saying that when thei r po-
ems are sung he i s ashamed of even touching hi s glass.
We underst and then why Sappho was a victim of false accu-
sati on. In an ext r emel y conser vati ve soci et y, wher e a free
woman should remain sil ent in her house, Sappho was repre-
senting the shocking model of a t al ented and independent
woman. And, what was even more provoking, as I beli eve, she
was experi encing a' lover - loved one' rel ationship with the girl s
who arrended her school. Thi s was reall y hi gh treason to ancient
Greeks.
As I have already expl ained, men onl y could have a lover
that is, a mentor and educator, since they were the onl y ones ro
become citi zens and, consequentl y, needed ro be initi at ed in
every aspect of the ci ty ' s life.
Women could nor have such a pri vil ege because it was no
necessary to them. That is why Sappho was so shocking and why
she became an easy prey to false accusati ons.
Chri sti anity undoubtedl y contributed t o thi s. The new reli -
gi on gained gr ound by promi sing ro eliminate ancient Greek
corrupti on. A homosexual Sappho was a conveni ent exampl e
for the beli evers t o repudi at e and her shockingl y libert ari an
-------------------- 139 ---------------------
texts were ideal for destructi on. Thi s ensured also the possibility
for anybody to say whatever they wanted against her, since her
poems could not be evoked to refute them.
But , there is another amazing thing we know about thi s so
call ed lesbi an poetess and it concerns the way she di ed.
She actuall y committed sui cide, by throwing herself out of a
cliff i n the i sl and of Lefk ada, in the I oni an Sea; she di d so be-
cause her love, Faon from Mytil ene, left her and that broke her
heart . Yes, the world's ' most famous lesbi an' kill ed herself out
of love frustration.
Suidas' lexicon:
. . . L:ancpw /1w{3ia E'X. MvrtA1JV1]r;, '1/HlAT:QW, af!n7 cJl' EQW-
r: a C/>cJ. wvor; wii MvrtA17Vaiov E'X. wfi /1 EV'X. UWV xaunovr:w-
OEV iu.vn]v
"Sapph o was a poet ess f r om Mytil ene, in th e i sl and of
Lesvos, and she threw herself from the i sl and of Lefkada be-
cause of her love for Faon."
This parti cul ar l ove story was much known among the an
cient writ ers, whi ch expl ains how the compil ers ol the Suidas
lex i con found the rel evant informati on. Athenaeus, for in
st ance, says the Sapph o ' s l ove for the beautiful Faon was
' nEQLBcnrws;', " famous".
So, ro strengthen my point that some searchers, either delib-
eratel y or our of carelessness, perpetuate some cli ches by mi s-
interpreting the t ext s, let me use another exampl e, whi ch Mrs
Anna Tziropoul ou was the first to draw t o our attenti on.
A certain Y ves Barri stini wrote a book about Sappho pub
li shed by Papadimas editi ons in 1996. In pages 4 1- 42 he men-
ti ons a quatrain of Anacreon whi ch is said to have been wrirren
for Sappho:
---------------------- 140---------------------
Homosexouality in ancient Greece - The myth is col lapsi ng
"Ho' i ariv ya(! an' EVrlXWV
A i af3ov, riJv fl EV Efl1]v XOfl'YJV,
A. cvx17 ya(!, xara
11
twpcral,
lr(!CJC; o' aJ...J...ov uva xaaXEl.
This epigram seems to me more than explicit.
"She who comes from Lesvos, the i sland of the well - born,
scorns my white hair and giggles for someone else".
I want to draw your attention to the last verse which Mr. Bat -
ti stini translates as follows:
" Someone else is the object of her desire: a girl "
You understand, of course, that this ' translation ' is ever y -
thing but an exact one. Mr. Battistini creates verses of hi s own.
Who can check what he writes by referring to the original epi -
gram? Only a few people actually can. The rest are sentenced to
the darkness of ignorance.
I have just proved, beyond any doubt, as I believe, that the
idea we have about Sappho i s far from being accurate. But,
st rong financial interests do not want anymore this image to
change, no matter how fal se and unreal it is for Sappho. Lesbian
unions from all over the world, as I learn, constantly promote
Eressos of Lesvos, as their birthplace and urge their sympathi -
sers to visit it on their vacation.
The truth, however, has to be spoken, regardless of the inter -
ests at stake.
---------------------- 141 ---------------------
CHAPTER NINE
ALCEBIADES
------ALCEBIADES ----- -
A
lcebi ades is one of the personaliti es that have been re pea-
redl y presented as part isans of homosexuality.
He was son of Cleini as and nephew of Peri cles and marked
the Atheni an hi st ory of the 5'
11
century B.C. It became apparent
that he would be a maj or tr oubl e to the citi zens of Athens from
hi s earl y youth. Plutarch relates many incidents having hi m as a
protagoni st , the foll owing being the most charact eri stic.
Timon the Mi santhrope, an Atheni an who hated deepl y hi s
fell ow- ci ti zens, was once in the market - pl ace, but not gloomy
and sil ent , as he used to be, whenever compell ed t o be among
them for hi s business. That day, on the contrary, he was wal king
smiling and hi gh spiri ted ...
Everyone present was watching him tr ying t o fi gure out the
reason of hi s good mood. They saw him then approachi ng the
young Alcebi ades, kiss ing him and saying " I am glad to meet the
man who will cause the great est calamities to the Atheni ans!"
It was also said that Greece could not have borne two per -
sonaliti es of such kind.
So, thi s man, who was thought to be the most beaut iful ado-
lescent and, later, the most handsome man of hi s age, is presen
ted as bi sexual. He is said to have had affairs with men or women
according to hi s whims. But was that reall y t rue?
When I first became invol ved with thi s ques ti on, some years
ago, I was convinced that Alcebi ades reall y had such inclina-
ti ons. References in ancient texts are, after all , numerous and al -
most unequi vocal. Plut arch, Di odorus, Lysi as and Pl at o have
wri tten about it, to menti on onl y some writers.
With the excepti on of Pl ato all wri ters present Alcebi ades in
r ather dar k col ours. No one doubt s hi s i mmense competence,
but , as far as morals are concerned, he is consi dered as the worst
145---------------------
speci men of man. So, in hi s case homosexuality is not j ust an as -
pect of a normal person' s life, but mostl y a naturall y immoral
sexual choice of an impudent man. Let me put things in a di ffer
ent , clearer way: in the 4'
11
century B.C. , whatever feature was
attributed to Al cebi ades was by no means an exampl e to imi -
rate, but onl y t o avoid. The facts should confirm that.
As a descendant of a nobl e Atheni an famil y, Alcebiades t ook
immedi ately part , once being of age, in the cit y ' s politi cs and
met with success. By the end of the first peri od of the Pelopon
nes i an War, with the signing of the Ni ci an treat y, and when
Cleon di ed in Amphi poli s, Alcebi ades became chi ef of the De-
mocrati c Part y.
I t is obvious, since the very beginning, that he is t oo compe-
tent but also too ambiti ous. Thi s uniquely charming man could
very easil y make keen fri ends, if not foll owers, and sworn ene-
mi es.
Whil e trying to di stingui sh himsel f, he will make hi s fell ow-
citi zens forger Peri cles ' most precious politi cal advice, to avoid
undertaking di stant campaigns, and will convince them to en
gage i n the biggest campaign of thi s war, against Sicil y. He will
rake the lead of it, along with Ni cias and Lamachus, bearing the,
never gi ven before in the hi story of Athens, titl e of ' general - em-
peror ' (meaning a general with excepti onal authorit y).
But , once the campai gn began, hi s politi cal opponent s
seized the occasion to accuse him of what was a random event,
the cutt ing of the Hermae (pill ars surmounted by busts of the
god Hermes used in ancient Athens as signposts). Using a cheap
procedural and politi cal artifice, they left him part without be
ing judged in a proper tri al and taking with him as comrades - in-
arms all hi s supporters. Then, they call ed him back to appear in
court .
Alcebi ades was aware of the fact that they would undoubted-
ly kill him, if he went back, since all hi s politi cal fri ends would be
-------------------- 146---------------------
Homosexoual ity in anci ent Greece - The myth is coll apsing
away and that , according to the legal system of Athens, could
mean even sentence to death. So, he escaped and made the one
move that would tarni sh his life through the centuri es. He took
refuge in the great ri val city, Sparta, where he managed to re-
verse the course of the Peloponnesian war by using hi s i nfi nite
charm as well as hi s many abiliti es.
Until that point Atheni ans and their allies were actuall y pre-
vailing. But from that moment on, and thanks t o their rui n in Si -
cil y, the fortifi cati on of Dekeleia and the building of an entire
Spart an fl eet due to Persi an financing, all of which happened af -
ter Alcebi ades ' moves and counsel , Athens lost graduall y her
power until its definit e defeat in 404 B. C. In the meanwhil e,
however, Alcebiades managed to return t o hi s city, be re- elected
as general and, finall y, get sentenced once again . As the first
Atheni an alli ance fall s apart , along with the dream of the hege-
mony, he offers the perfect scape- goat t o hi s fell ow- citizens.
Alcebi ades will be executed by the satrap Pharnavazos in the
house where he li ved with the courtesan Timandra who even
gave him a child.
Hi s appeal t o women obtained him a great many conquests.
Among others he even seduced the wife of the Spartan king
Agis, Timaea, and had a son with her, Leotychides, who, lat er,
became king for a short peri od.
He was certainl y one of a kind . . .
But t o ret urn to our real interest , I beli eve that the accusa-
ti ons - they are presented as such- of Alcebi ades homosexual re-
lati onships during hi s adolescence are not true. You will as k, of
course, where I found my reasoning when so many ancient writ --
ers port ray him as a shameless lewd.
First of all , Thucydides, the most reli abl e author of thi s peri
od, never makes the sli ghtest allusi on of thi s kind on hi s behalf.
Being Alcebi ades ' contemporar y, it would be strange enough
for Thucydides not t o make a reference to thi s subj ect , whil e
-------------------- 147 ---------------------
many of the posterit y took it almost for granted. Did thi s image
of him emerge after hi s death, in the defeated Athens, where
everyone was putting the blame of the ruin on him?
I think I have the most eloquent proof of that. Thucydides
describes in hi s hi story (book 3, chapter 53) the many ruses hi s
enemi es used to ensure testimonies against him, in order to stop
him from acquiring absolute power, after he has been elected
' general - emperor '. Still , they could not have achi eved their goal
without the 'accidental ' event of the cutting of the Hermae. Thi s
enabled the opening of an enquiry for the all eged mock ing of the
Eleusis' Mysteries committed by Alcebiades and hi s friends.
But , the big question is the following: si nce Alcebiades was
living so di ssolute a life, si nce he was supposed to change con
stantl y male partners, since he was accused of so many things,
why wasn' t he sued according to the law for unchast ity, the very
same Aeschines would invoke to manage Timarchus ' convic -
tion?
This l aw, as Aeschines says, was in force since the age of
Solon, several years before the time in which Alcebiades li ved.
One could, of course, claim that Aeschines is lying and falsely at
triburing the law to Sol on onl y to gi ve further authority to hi s
accusation . But the verses 876 - 880 of the comedy Equites
( Kni ghts) of Aristophanes clearl y refer to thi s law, full y in force
in 424 B. C. , when thi s comedy was writt en.
So, since thi s law was valid when Alcebi ades was li ving hi s
debauched life, it should have been easier for hi s ri vals to have
him convicted. It was offering a much better accusation than the
extravagant and obviously artifici al one they finall y used. The
latter was, after all , found to be false a few years later and those
who had made it up were sentenced to death and executed (see
Plutarch, Vitae .. . , Alcibiades, XIX, XX, XXI)
In Symposium Pl ato tri es to sei ze the opportunity to exo
nerate Socrates from any accusati on of illi cit sexual intercourse
-------------------- 148---------------------
Homoscxoualiry in ancienr Greece - The myrh is collapsi ng
wi th hi s loved ones. Thi s accusati on was also presented i n the
Apologia, where Socrates says he was charged wi th the corrup-
ti on of the youths.
Pl at o, t hen, uses A l ceb i ades as the mos t handsome of
Socrates pupil s and feels he can easil y portray him expressing
lewd desires for Socrates wi thout fearing to shock hi s readers
who hate Alcebi ades anyway.
Pl ato, Symposium XXXIII , XXXI V:
' OQarc yaQ ou L:wxQar
17
c; i Qwuxwc; otaxt:n:w rwv
xaA.wv, xai dt:i nt:Qi r01!wvc; fori xu.i ixnsnA.nxwt ...
yaQ 013v, w av6Qt:c;, 0 TE A1Jxvoc; dnw(hjxt:t xai o[ na"i6t:c; n;w
iwav, [ Oof,s flOl XQfivw fl 1]0Ev notxiA.A.nv JrQOc; avrov, a AA.'
EAV(}EQWc; ELnELV a flOl M/mcl. Kai clnov XlV1jaac; athov L:w-
XQU.rt:c;, xaen!Ot:tc;;
01! 61]w, 1] o' or;.
Olaea Ol}v a flOl OEOoxrat;
Ti ,uaA.ww; E([J1J.
L:1'J Eftai 6oxt:"ic;, ()' i yw, Efwfj al;wc; ycyovsvat
flOvoc;, xai flOl q;aivt:t oxvt:"iv flVrJ a(}fjvat nQoc; flE. 'Eyw M
OVTWOl EXW" navv Ct1101]TOV 1JYOVflQl clvat aoi fl1J OIJ xai
wi!w xai t:l u aA.A.o ij njc; ovaiac; rfjc; i,ufjc; Mow
r; TWV q;[A.wv TWV EflWV. 'EflOl flEV yaQ ovMv EOTl JrQW(3VTE-
QOV roD we; 0 Tl (3EA.rwwv EflE yt:vsaeat TOlJTOV M olfl U. L flOl
OVAA1l7rTOQa ov6sva XVQUVTEQOV clvat aoi) iyw oi] wwvu.p
avOQi JrOAV ,udA.A.ov av, fliJ alaxvvo[fl1]V r01ic;
([JQOVLflOVc;, ij r01!c; TE noA.A.m!c; xu.i aq;Qovac;.
Kai ovwc; axm)aac; flaA.a ElQWVtxwc; xai aq;oOQa su.vwiJ
u xu.i t:lw(}orwc; A. cl;t:v w q;iA.t: 'AA.xt{3t66n, xtv6vvn!ctc; up
ovum! q;avA.oc; clvat, dnt:Q dA. n(}?J wyxavt ovw a. A.Eyt:tc;
JrEQi EflOiJ, xa[ uc; t ar' EV EflOl 61JVU.fl lc; Mijc; av 01J ysvow d,ud-
vwv. 'Aft?]xavov Wl xaA.A.oc; OQcjJ1]c; av tv EflOl xai njc; JrQ(!Q
aoi E1JflOQ([JLac; JraflJrOAV OW([JEQOV" cl o?j, xa(}OQWV mho XOl-
149 ----------
Adon is A. Georgiades
vwau. a()u.i d flOl E:rrlXEl(!Els xu.i aA.A.au.aeat XQAAOs avr i
XQAAOVs, 01JX oA.iyqJ flOV JrAWVcXTElV OWVOEl, &AA. ' &vri oo-
17s &A.1]et:wv xu.A.wv xrda()w i :rnxt:t(!Eis, xu.i up ovu / XQl iaw
xu.A.xd wv J 0Wftd{3w()w VOEls n ol1JOU.VWs M 01] ru. iJ ru.
EfWD, ~ W s w aoiJw v nt:QtEyi vero re xai xart:cp(!rJVJ7at:v xu.i
xu.uyiAu.aev n]s Efl 1Js WQU.s xai {i(J(! lOEV ... t:V ya(! rare, pa () e-
01Js, pa 8Eas, OLJOEV JrE(!lTTOTE(!OV xaru. ot: OQ(!()J7XWs avi -
OT17V ,una LWX(!(l WVs, Yj El per a JrU.T(!Os xu.()17ii oov Yj &ot:A-
cpoii JC(! t: a{Jvri(!OV.
" You see Socrates in love with beautiful boys whom heap-
proaches to admire( . .. ). , Then my fri ends, as the oil lamp had
fainted and the slaves were out of the house, I thought it was the
proper time to speak to him bluntl y about my intentions. So I
pushed him and asked him:
Socrates, are you asleep?
Of course not, he repli ed.
Do you know what I was thinking about?
Exactl y what? he said.
I beli eve that you have proved to be the most deser ving
lover of mine, but you seem to me hesitating to show thi s to me.
I for myself have the foll owing intenti ons: I find it sill y not to
make thi s favour to you as well as any other, even if it was my
fortune or my fri ends that you should ask me. There is nothing
more important to me than to become perfect ; yet, I could not
find myself a better help in thi s (than you). So, if I didn ' t gi ve
myself to such a man, I would feel more shame in front of the
wise men than I would have felt in front of the sill y crowd, had I
gi ven myself to him.
And he said t o me in hi s characteri sti call y ironi c st yle aft er
having heard what I had said:
Alcebi ades, my dear fri end, you do seem smart enough, if
what you say about me is true, and if there is reall y a force with
-------------------- 150--------------------
Homosexouality in anci ent Greece - The myth is col lapsi ng
in me rhar could make you a berrer person. Then, you could see
in me a beaut y that cannot be spoken in words, by far superi or
ro your, exteri or, beaut y. So, i f you want to communi cate with
me, because you discern thi s interi or beauty, and ro exchange
your beauty for mine, you do have in mind ro rake nor a small
advant age of me, since you are trying ro exchange ill usory
beauty forrhe real one, and in reali ty you are asking gold in ex -
change for cu pper ...
And whi le I was doing all these, he remained untouched and
looked down on and made a fun of and offended my beauty .. . I
swear ro all the gods and goddesses that I woke up by Socrates '
side as i f I had sl ept side by si de wit h my father or my elder
brother. "
Thi s extract i s from the l ast parr of Pl at o' s wor k, where the
author reall y achi eves most of hi s goals.
I t is obvi ous, once again, that the words EQaank (lover) and
EQWf1Evor; (l oved boy) have nothing ro do wi th sexual inter -
course, bur are related onl y t o intell ectual, interi or communica-
ti on. Thi s is made clear since Socrates is openl y presented as the
lover of many boys; yet, when provoked by an immorall y eager
of his loved ones to reveal hi s intent i ons by sleeping with him,
he turns down hi s proposals and tri es t o advi se him, ro direct
him t o expl ore hi s inner world.
Curi ousl y enough, in thi s ver y work where Pl ato i s widely
thought to approve homosexuality, probabl y by those who did
nor even bother ro read it , he does qui re the opposite by refuting
ar the same rime all t he fal se accusat i ons made against hi s
teacher.
Remember that , al though Socrates categori call y and even
scornfull y rejects Alcebi ades' advances, all through the text he
is referred t o as Al cebi ades' l over. Thi s is another proof that
these terms do nor descri be sexual intercourses. No matter how
-------------------- 15 1---------------------
A don is i\ . Gcorgi ade;
A mall holds the head of hi s friend vomi ting. 1:. ven thi s scene is thought to hide
laten t homosexual feelings' ' .
152----------
Homosexouality in ancient Greece The myth is collapsing
hard thi s seems robe for us ro understand it, the texts leave us
with no doubt.
To conclude, all references ro Alcebiades being supposedl y
homosexual come from writers who li ved after him and evi dent -
ly aimed ro mud- slinging him. If they were true, hi s prosecutors
would have had an easy job ro do. Since they had to forge false
accusat i ons, there simpl y was nothing bl ameworthy in hi s ani -
rude.
---------------------- 153---------------------
CHAPTER TEN
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
PHILIP 11
---- ALEXANDER Ill THE GREAT ----
B
y the time I first wrote rh is book, I had decided to have j ust
a few pages dedi cated t o Alexander the Great; for the si m-
pi e reason that there i s not one seri ous writer who l eaves the
sl ightest allusion for Alexander having such inclinati ons. There
ought , however, to be a relevant, though short, answer to the,
widely spread in our own countr y, opini on, that Alexander was
homosexual ; j ust to mend the harm di storti on had done to thi s
as to many other subjects. To be pl ain and clear, I have to say
that both pr. Dover and Mr. Siamakis (although one's level can-
not march the ot her 's) ar e cat egori cal when r ef erri ng ro
Alexander; the former insists on having not a single convi ncing
proof on the subject, the latter is even more asserti ve: Alexan-
der was by no means homosexual.
Under normal circumst ances a book about homosexuali ty
should not include a chapter on Alexander rhe Great. But an in -
cident , which t ook pl ace in our country a few years ago and
made me reall y furi ous, gave me the spark.
A former coach of the Ol ympi akos football club, Mr. Di aman-
t opoul os strongly di sagreed with some of hi s pl ayers and sai d in a
radi o inter view: " I come from Macedoni a and I will have their
heads j ust in the way Alexander the Great used to do it."
The foll owing day one of these pl ayers, Mr. Skartados, said
in another inter vi ew: "Mr Di amant opoul os should rather be
careful , because Alexander was not onl y a great general ; he was
also a great pansy".
Then, the press in its whole reacted by saying: " Mr.Skart a-
dos should be ashamed of insulting hi s coach in thi s way! " But
no one spared a word for Alexander the Great. Ever yone ac -
cepted resignedl y that he was a pansy !
-------------------- 157---------------------
Adoni s /\ . Gcorgiadcs
Trying t o protest we sent a letter to the sports newspaper " 0
Fil athlos", which had since the beginning covered the whole st o
ry, only to recei ve an answer with the following general idea:
" Do not make such a fu ss about it , ever ybody kn ows that
Al exander was nor ashamed of it ; aft er all , Plut arch confirms
too." I need nor say that those who wrote the letter didn ' t have
the courtesy to quote the exact lines of Plutarch in order to en-
abl e us to share their knowledge.
St i ll , thi s incident i s not uni que. If you vi sit the relevant ,
main ly for ei gn, sir es in the Web ( HYPERLINK " http://
www.gayher oeus.com" www.gayheroeus.com for exampl e)
you will find Alexander li sted in the t op ten of the most famous
homosexuals. It is understandabl e for those who have an inte-
rest to present things in a way that permits them to share a frac
ti on of Alexander 's glory.
But what about us? For how long are we going t o remain in-
acti ve?
Thi ngs got even worse since thi s book' s first editi on. Two
more maj or incidents of thi s kind arri ved. They will unfortu
nately nor be the last ones. A defini te answer must then be gi
ven. That is why I have decided t o gi ve a thorough analysis of the
questions relevant t o Alexander and hi s father Philip.
It was a congress held in Thessal onica at the beginning of Oc-
tober 2002 and organi sed by the Societ y of Studi es for the Ae
mos Peninsul a in the Societ y of Macedoni an studi es Congress
room that made me include Philip in thi s analysi s. Among the
vari ous announcement s concerning import ant i ssues t here
were three, made by three indi viduals who present ed them-
sel ves as professors and claimed having proof that Philip's mur-
der i n 336 B. C had to do with hi s homosexual relati onships!
The saddest thing about it is that , in contrast to other reall y
important ones, this announcement was the onl y one to be full y
--------------------- 158---------------------
Homoscxoualiry in anci enr Greece The myrh is collapsi ng
Derail from a gold medallion with Philip' s portrait on it.
159 ----------
Adoni s /\ . Georgiadcs
covered by the medi a which created the, false, impression of a
congress exclusi vely dedi cated to thi s questi on. Articl es such as
" Magic, homosexuality and murders in Philip' s court " occupi ed
several days before the Athens newspapers' pages (whil e, in the
same time, a most important congress about the "Uninterrupt
ed habitation of the Greek country since 9000 B. C" organi sed
by the Aegean Uni versity and held in Rhodes didn' t attract their
attenti on at all , despite the proof it suppli ed for the Greeks be -
ing indi genous in thi s geographi cal area).
The situati on made several citi zens ofThessaloni ca, ri ght -
full y t o my opinion, furious and caused their energeti c, but
not at all viol ent , as it was fal sel y sust ained, inter venti on.
During the third day ' s session, presided by pr. E.Mikroyan-
naki s, journali st K yri akos Velopoul os entered the room hold-
ing my book and asked one of the inter veni ents, Mr. Badi an,
( the t wo others being Mr. Augden and Mrs Mortensen) to
read aloud some ex tracts from anci ent writ ers relevant to thi s
subj ect.
What followed can onl y be qualified as pandemonium. Peo-
pl e outside the room strongly di sapproved of the congress' par -
ticipants and organi sers; the scenes reported by the TV. cam-
eras were, no doubt , unpl easant. But thi s inter vention al so
brought important detail s onto the li ght. Onl y one out of the
three i ntroducers, Mr Badi an, turned out t o be professor of the
Har vard Uni versity, whil e the other two were mere sci entifi c
contri butors. Then, Mr. Badian, the so call ed speci ali st of Greek
hi st ory, who used to parti cipate in congresses of the Former Yu -
goslavian Republi c of Macedoni a about ancient Macedoni a, re-
vealed in front of the cameras that he could not read the ancient
writers from the ori ginal Greek text and was, hence, using onl y
Engli sh translati ons. And, what was reall y crucial, he possessed
-------------------- 160---------------------
Homosc" oualiry in ancicnr Greece - The myrh is collapsing
Thi s scene. probabl y portraying wrestl ers, was also thought to be a homose
xual one.
161
none of the new evidence (new text s supposedl y found in pa-
pyri ) he had insinuated having.
Those who protes ted were severely criti sised by numerous
Greek professors and j ournali sts of maj or newspapers (mainl y
responsibl e for the ridiculous coverage of the story the previous
days). I strongly feel I must express my support to those who
had the courage t o defend by thi s protest their inheritance, as all
people who respect themsel ves do all over the world. Hi stori cal
personalities who are percei ved as national symbols cannot be
insulted in the name of any academi c freedom. Just imagine the
react ions raised by an inter veni ent who would go to Tel Avi v,
invited by I sraeli authoriti es, to speak about Abraham's . . . ho-
mosexuality. He simpl y wouldn ' t have survi ved.
There is no need for such specul ati ons, after all. In Septem
ber 2002, according to the internati onal and Hell eni c press, a
Scott ish professor was about to prove in an imminent congress,
in London, that queen Victori a was homosexual. Once the con -
gress ' organi sers were informed of hi s intenti ons, they simpl y
cancell ed hi s invitation. What was more seri ous, soon aft er that ,
and because of an insi gnifi cant pret ex t , he was fired by hi s
Uni versity.
Was there not any academi c freedom invol ved? Of course
there was, but it was not more import ant than the respect due to
nati onal hi story and symbol s, whi ch cannot be tarni shed just to
ensure one' s reputati on. Especiall y, since thi s kind of accusa
ti on, promoted to the range of a scandal by the medi a, is ver y
diffi cult to be sci entifi call y refut ed. There i s al ways enough
room in the medi a for a libel , but never for the answer to it.
So we are confronted to a new probl em, coming practi call y
out of nowhere: Philip' s reput ati on i s t arni shed. Wh y then
shoul d we be the onl y ones to all ow such provocati on against
our ancestors? No one of the professors who condemned the re-
acti ons to that announcement did expl ain thi s to us; nor did they
--------------------- 162---------------------
Homosexouali ry in ancien! Greece - The myrh is
condemn any of the medi a which gave the whol e issue such co -
verage. They are reall y worthy of their pay.
What I am saying is thi s: Mr. Badian of Har vard of the Uni -
red States should first find answers to why Ameri cans have corn -
mitred so many crimes thr ough the l as t centuri es (Indi an's
genocide, supporting di ctatorships all over the world) and then
turn to Philip. Then, we can argue about academi c freedom.
But it was the Greek organi sers who ought to be more care-
ful , since the congress, where Philip and Alexander were pre-
sented as homosexuals, wasn' t t aking pl ace in Australi a or in
the United Stat es, but in Thessal onica. Unfortunatel y, history
and politi cs cannot be di ssociated from each other, whether we
want it or not. Let us, at least , do not make things easier for
those who have interest in lowering hi stori cal personaliti es such
as Phi lip and Alexander.
Back to our subject, I can onl y qualify the accusati ons made
against Philip (to foll ow the chronological order) as nonsense. I
all ow such terms to myself, although they don' t correspond to
thi s book ' s st yl e, because, during the 2339 years that have
passed from hi s death to our era, no one ever dared t o describe
him like thi s.
Even the most weak in hi st ory student knows Philip 's soft
spot for women, whi ch, according to ancient writers drove him
to seven marri ages, countl ess affairs and a considerabl e number
of, legitimate and ill egitimate, children. Even Ptolemy of Lagos
i s thought t o be Alexander ' s brother, born from a different
mother.
I repeat that such a hint was never made either by an ancient
or by a modern writer who studi ed questi ons about Phili p. On
the contrary, we do know that , out of concern for Alexander ' s
continence (whi ch would be further expl ained), hi s father deci -
---------------------- 163 ----------------------
ded one ni ght along with hi s mother Olympias, to send a beauti -
ful concubine (Calli xeina) to Alexander 's room to infl ame him
sexuall y, so that they would not worry anymore.
Athenaeus from Naucrati s, Deipnosophi stae, X , 45:
'l t:(}WVI!fl(Jc; re EV rui:c; 'EnwwJ..ai:c; (Fr. I 0 Hill ) e s6cp(}a-
ar6v cprym Aiyt:tv ou :4Aiav6Qoc; 01i x d 6dxnw nQoc; r:a
dcpQo6iaw. 'OJ.. vflnui 6oc; yoiiv xai naoavaxJ..tvcl.a17c; w l ujJ
K aJ.J. t t:ivav n7v ecr:r:aJ..1]v haiQaV nEQtXaUsar:6.n711
ovaav, avvsu)owc; wi"Jw xai ro O <PtA.innov (t:1i J..a(1oiivw
yaQ ~ yt! vvtc; d ry), noU6.xtc; .fjrct w i r:;ij r:ov :4Uuv6Qov
ovyy EvioOw
" Jeron ymus in hi s letters reports Theophrastus ' saying that
Alexander wasn ' t inclined to sexual pl easure. Ol ympi as sent,
then, Calli xeina, the very beautiful courtesan from Thessaly, to
hi s bed. Philip was also informed of thi s, as they both feared
Alexander becoming effeminate, and they both asked him se -
veral times to sleep with her. "
This extract is most revealing, as to this book's subject. For it
shows Philip having homosexuality for something bad, since he
thought (like any father of any age) of hi s son having such incli -
nati on as an insult to hi s honour. He couldn 't have been some-
thing he feared and despised.
It is also revealing of the dominat ing views of the whol e era,
which some peopl e are trying to present as a paradi se for homo
sexuals. If that was the case why Philip and Ol ympi as were so
worri ed? Obviousl y, because it was a total disgrace to have a son
who was homosexual, that is, according to the word used in the
text , ( y1!vvtc;), effeminate, womani sh, weak; especi all y when
you li ve in a societ y of worriers, like the Macedonians, you are
their king and thi s ' womanish ' son is your hei r!
164----- ------
Homosexoual il y in ancient Greece - The myth is col lapsi ng
But what i s most r evealing in thi s ex tract i s the image it
draws of Alexander himself. The idea of a shameless lewd is not
compatibl e with the continence he showed. The ver y same he
showed in ever y aspect of li fe, as Plutarch report ed to us, the
one it made him, once he saw Roxanne, ask her immedi ately to
marri age, for he didn' t want to take her before and have her rhus
di shonoured.
What was then the source evoqued by the ' professors' to sus-
rain their concepti on of Phillip's sexual preferences? It was a
text of Di odorus Sicilus, already known to the scholars, whi ch
gi ves a cert ain piece of informati on about Philip's assassina-
ti on.
Di odorus Sicilus, Bibli otheca hi st ori ca, VI, 93- 94:
n auaaviac; 1JV ro ,UEV yi voc; MaxEOWV EX n]c; 'OQwriooc;
XU.AOV,UEV1?c;, rov M fJaatA. i wc; aw,uu.rocpliA.u.f, xu.i Ota r o xaA.-
A.oc; cpiA.oc; y eyovwc; rov C/JtA.innov. mhoc; 6QWV vno rofj (Jaat-
A.iwc; ayanwpcVOV ErEQOV n avaaviav 6pwVVf,lOV i u.vujj
OVElOWUXOi:c; JrQOc; m"irov axQ1]aaro A.oyOtc;, cp'ljaac; aVOQO-
yvvov Etvat x ai rot1c; rwv f3ovA.oj,dvwv EQWrac; iroi,uwc;
nQoaaixw8at. 6 M r ijv l x n]c; A.atooQiac; {5{JQtV m)x lvi yxac;
ro ,UEV na(!OV XUTWlWJr1]0EV, }\ rrciA.q; M UVl rwv cpiA.wv EJrl-
XOlVWOa,uEvOc; nEQl rwv ,uEA.A.ovr wv nQcirua8at ixm 'aiwc;
xul naQaoof,wc; i uvrov l x roil pedanwEv. j,tEr' 6A.iyac;
yaQ 1J,UEQac; roil cJ>tA.bmo u JrQOc; n AEVQiav rov rwv 'IA.A.l '[HWV
{3aatA.ia nQo roD (Ju.atA.iwc; r ac; anaaac;
rac; cpE[!OpEvac; hi mirov nA. rJ yac; avEOif,aro up lOiq; OWj,WU
xal j,l Er'ljA.A.af,Ev. owf3orJ 8ElarJc; M rijc; JrQaf,Ewc; 6 pf:v ':4 rra-
A.oc;, de; wv rwv i f, avA. ijc; xal noA.t1 ovvu.,ui vwv naQa up (-Jaat-
A.d, l xaAWEV lni bcmvov rov n u.vaaviav xu.l noA.ilv Ej,lcp0-
Q1JOC1c; ax(!arov JrU.QEOWXEV avrofJ r o OWj,ta wi:c; OQEWXO-
pOtc; Elc; i5(JQtV xai JrU.QOlViav ErU. l(! LX'Ijv. 6 M avav'ljtf! ac; EX
165 -------- --
xai r.fi wv {i{JQEL
wD llnaJ..ov Xa""CrJYOQrJaEv ini wii 6 M
naQwtlv81] f1EV eni r,ij JrCI.Qavopir;. oux M ri; v
naJ..ov olxELO""CrJW xai n]v ro naQOV a t!roii XQEi-
av OlJX e{JoVAEW J1WOJrOV1]QEtV. 1lV ya(} 6 ,UEV
uno wfi
eni M n]v
llaiav ev o
d.ywmv OLOJrEQ 6 JrQailvm
wii nu. vaaviov ri; v eni HjJ na()n YEYEVrJ,U E111J V OLXCI.lCI.V
ogyi;IJ d.nivnpcv avrljj xai xara ri;v
OWJlCI.WcpvJ..axiav nooijyEV mi rov 6 M
cpuJ..anwv n]v OQYJ]v ,ui; 11ovov naQa
wii J..a{JE"iv u,uwgiav, d.J.. J..a xai nC/.Q(l wii fl1l u-
w i rq> avvEnda{Jno ...
"There was a certain Pausani as, Macedonian, from the city
called Oresti s. He was one of the king's guards and a favourite
one because of his beaut y. But when he saw the king having
sympathy for another Pausanias, with the same name as he, he
insulted him rthe first Pausani as insulted the second Pausani as,
not Philip] by saying that he was a hermaphrodite who eagerl y
accepts everyone ' s love. The latter, though he could not suffer
this insult, remained silent for a while; then, he confided in one
of hi s fri ends, Attalus, what he had in mind, and committed sui
cide in a spectacular way. A few days after that, when Philip was
fi ghting Pl eurias, the king of Ill yria, thi s rsecond] Pausanias
stood in front of him and received on his own body every blow
destined to the king and, thus, died.
When thi s incident became widely known Attalus, being one
of the most influential persons in Philip's court, invited the first
Pausanias to dinner and after having served to him a consider
able quantity of wine, he consigned him unconscious to the mul e
---------------------- 166 ---------------------
Homosexoual ity in anci ent Greece - The myt h is col lapsing
dri vers in the ancient text )to drink and treat him
lewdl y i i(JQtv xai JraQotviav When Pausani as
[the first onel regained consci ousness and reali sed hi s having
been humili ated, he was deepl y gri eved and accused At t alus in
front of the king. Philip got reall y angry with the roughness of
thi s deed, but didn ' t want to puni sh Attalus by that time, because
he was a member of hi s famil y and a useful one by that time. At -
talus was a nephew of Philip's second wife, Cleopatra, and, be-
cause of hi s courage in battl e, he had been elected general of the
first armed force to be sent in Asi a. For these reasons, the king,
trying to soothe Pausani as ' ri ght ful indi gnati on, gave him great
presents and invested him with extra honours in hi s guard.
Pausani as' indi gnati on, though, remained unappeased and
he was yearning to avenge not onl y upon the abuser , but also
upon the one who didn ' t want t o puni sh him."
Pausani as, according to Di odorus, murdered Philip for that
reason. Thi s text does not mention Philip to be homosexual. He
had spotted one of hi s many guards for hi s beauty (Ari stot le was
saying that " beaut y i s the best letter of recommendati on" ac
carding t o Di ogenes Laertius) . Then, he spotted another guard,
and the first one, wanting t o insult the second, withou t any
proof, accused him of having lustful desires for Philip. He obvi -
ously wanted t o elimi nate thi s ri val in order not to loose the po-
siti ons he was dreaming about.
Do not overl ook the fact that thi s accusati on was so degra-
ding that the accused kill ed himself in such a way as to show to
ever yone how brave he was. He saved hi s king' s life in battl e,
taking all the bl ows destined for him to prove that he was not on-
ly a man, but a hero, and , by no means, womani sh, to remember
Athenaeus' text.
Thi s extract also confirms what we have already said about
the meaning of the verb EratQW and the relevant Atheni an law.
---------------------- 167 ---------------------
This ki nd of hubri s, as designed in the ancient text , has nothing
t o do wi th money, it is no prost itut i on, but j ust an unnat ural
intercourse between men. It is obvious that Pausani as didn ' t go
with the mul e dri vers for money; he didn ' t even go at hi s own
will. He was deepl y insulted by the lewdness of thi s act , whi ch
was so humili ating that royal presents and honours, destined to
appease him and convince him to go on with hi s life, meant
nothing to him. To repair the severe damage done to hi s honour,
he ends up murdering the king since he holds hi m for responsibl e
of the impuni ty of those who wronged him.
Had he trul y had a sexual relati onship with Phi lip, he would
not have felt so insulted. And, had the king had an atlair wi th ei -
ther of them, he would have puni shed those who harmed hi s
partner. But he onl y had sympathy for both of them. Maybe,
when he found out by Attalus the accusati ons the first Pausani as
made against the second, he was offended himsel f and thought
that the puni shment , thought cruel , was what the accuser reall y
deserved. Attalus was, after all , hi s actual favourite, neither for
hi s beaut y nor for any other reason, but because he was the clo
ser rel ati ve of his beloved Cleopatra.
H even had a quarrel wi th Alexander about Arr alus, in a
well - known epi sode, shortl y after hi s marri age ro Cleopatra. He
was so much in love with her at the rime that he didn ' r want to
di spl ease her by puni shing Arralus, whi ch shows us qui re the op-
posite of what the so call ed professors claimed. Philip was nor
the vi ctim of homosexual affai rs; on the contrar y, he was so
much in love with Cleopat ra that, by not puni shing Attalus as he
should, he exposed himself ro the rage of his future kill er.
The whole story clearl y shows the loathing in whi ch homo
sexual i t y was held at the time, since the merest allusi on of it lead
one or the protagoni sts t o sui cide and the second one, ashamed
of hi s humili ati on, to the murder of hi s king. Doesn ' r thi s prove
-------------------- 168 --------------------
Homoscxoual ity in ancient Greece - The myth is coll apsi ng
the treasure to be a hoax and justify the protest of the citi zens of
Thessaloni ca? For, thi s simpl e and sensibl e reasoning unfortu -
nately did not find its pl ace in the newspapers or the TV. What
remained unquestionabl e, then, was the ' new' and ' documen-
ted' theory about Philip being homosexual.
Let us now turn to the dominating fi gure of these days,
Alexander, the main subject of thi s chapter. I remind you, once
again, that despite the repeat edl y promot ed idea, no schol ar
writing about homosexuality in anci ent Greece has ever sus-
t ained that he had such inclination. Then, what i s all th is fuss
about ?
Unfortunat el y, Holl ywood decided to make films about
Alexander. Thi s wouldn ' t necessaril y be bad, if we hadn ' t al ready
seen the laughabl e presentati ons it did of our hi story. I wi ll onl y
remind you of the indescribable TV seri es about Heracl es.
Still , things are getting more serious when Alexander is in
vol ved. Many movies are said to be in the making, yet, the first
t o come out is going to fashi on the general tendency. And thi s
first film presents Alexander as a Macedoni an king, a barbari an
butcher who conquered Greece onl y t o be conquered by hi s
' boyfri end Hephaestion 's thi ghs' , as states the film's scri pt pre-
sented in a maj or Australi an magazine!
I will not respond to the first two parts of thi s cl aim. Several
renowned schol ars have done it in a much ex t ended way, it
should rake me another volume onl y to resume their conclu -
sions. To refute the third one though, I shall present all the evi -
dence we have to prevent the sacred image of Alexander from
being so vulgarl y insulted.
I will not have anyone accusing me of racism against homo-
sexual s, as it oft en happens with almost ever yone dar i ng to
169----------
speak of such issues. I feel myself obli ged, as an admirer and one
of hi s post erit y, to defend him, mostl y because he was hi mself
consi dering t hi s accusat ion base and utterl y insul t ing for hi m
and had answered it in t he most absolute way. I cannot leave
unanswered those whom Alexander would have severely pun -
ished, if he was ali ve.
To avoid the habi tual sensati onal feat ures I will onl y quote
those ext racts in whi ch Alexander hi msel f answers i f he was
lewd or not, womani sh or homosexual :
Pl utarch, Morali a, About Alexander 's good fortune or argu-
ment about virtue A, 12:
at, c.PtAo;tvov wii 1Jn6.Qxov
ou i v '/wvi<;. yiyovt:v m)x WQav
xu.i xai nvv(}u.voftivou ota -c:wv yQaNtarwv cl dva-
JrEfll/'.IJ, avriyQW/JEV, W xaxwr' av(}QWJrWV, rl,UOL
nwnou wwliw fva JLE

"When Phil oxenus, r ul er of the coast wrote t o Alexander
that there was a boy for whose beaut y there was no match and
asked him if he wanted to have it sent to him, Alexander wrote
back to him and asked him in a severe tone: 'you, the foul est of
all men, tell me when you have ever seen me invol ved i n such
dirt y business, to try t o natt er me with the promise of such
pleasures?".
Plutarch, Vi tae parall elae, Alexander , 22:
'Ent:i M 6 -c:wv ni [ yQa-
1/JEv d vw naQ' m) up 8t:6bwQ6v uvu. Tu.Qavrivov t xovw nu.i-
ch!o -c: ryv O'ljJLV xai cl
nQiYJrw, ivt:yxwv i(3du.
170----------
Homoscxouali ry in anci cm Greece - The myrh is coll apsing
llhlll il l\ " ' ltl c.
, ,uulv l " tlu u.t ... . u.:lh .t \ th , '' ''
1 \l'! j J, \ . I o P ith 111)'<11.11 \ \\1 ,11111 1!
''' \ .. 1<1 tlh.' 11
p .111 .,, ' "ll lt lll ll ' t lw ptupl t
oo,tl , lh , IJpp' , ,, llltl l uu!h ot l \r \111111
tnpm.tl t lil oof /tll\ j, \ ul lltlllltt' \ lht
1 , , ,. / !h t t,uold, '' \ i l ou" \\ Ill, h lu
,,,,J,J 11 , n ''' -11 , ,, n 11n tu, '
ll lllt I,!! li P 11 !
I hi \ \ h :""\1\ ,111 \ \.1\1 " ( lllkll"\ l Ill
\ l. 11 t oltl!llt pi 11 l11: tl \ till plulllph 11 11
\ ll' !)li l' ol l l\ 1 11 \ lj l l\'\ l lo tll \\hth'\ \1
h.1pp ndt .. . llllll li;ll !.i luk.i' \ 11.ltl uu
t ill! \ \ fill l A i ' l ljlll,'\l lolll . dol\.' fhl '
\ 1, -, ,m, l,, '" '" 111 duoh llu ( 111111t
11 /, -,,) \\ , .1 ,, llt t jl ll, l a , tlw ( u uh' u!
le."! I ' ' ' \j)1. .1ll Ill ol\\lltl.l'h u (
I\ ll t'-lfh ll\ J td11111111 lll , ( ur 1111\,
.111d 111,111\ "'hi\ 111\ 11 lll ll lln l
1111 hd.l\ , , lllllt. h .. , ..
Jn p <llll.l\ \Jt' \ ,OII.Jt I ''
, h.11upu11t ,.f llw \\ , ' ' tlu 11 .
.111 lllll)nlf . lllf pHIII Ill Il l 111\ " ' '
, ll l!lt. tp. tlt.til l llllfll lilltll , ilt ' i l l . til , t l I
ording to tradition, the only thing to conquer the young
ng Alexander was his boyfriend Hephaestion's thighs.
\,mokl ' "'' ) .lt,IIIIJ)I Il tto , llldJ,,h
L nt:ht 1n tlw J ulmn.mn '*''w
ol f,. ll.lthlt .. ll , tlu
tllll i-! , ,, tt1 14Ul"f \ll \,lllllll '' "
o\1111 nd 11 ' llun\ tltu.,:h'
\lt nmluk. tl1c..' \ntc.. lll.lll t,thh
dt'tn I \ ,I p.H.tlld tLIUL
tJ,,,, ,,,,. '""tl'm ' "''' 'g, '"'' r, ,,,,,
I ''tllll 1. ultmt.'" ht. h.t) h.11 \
,,n tn tr \\t l lld l nd,i\ ' ' ohut lh
tppilo ,lhlt I \Jt\,JIIt it- r \ l lllll" l i lt
k\tl tt f l<lillt' llljl<ll,ll\ ll')tHJ.t iH l.' 1\
unl tt hn ,hJ, Hnt j,,, \ h. \,ll lllll tht
( thl..l t.' nnuld nor be tlw \\ c.., h rn
.nhuu th.il ,,l. h 1\t' In tud.1'
l h I ' ' ' '' lh .tlllllnlll lnltlltl 111
tl. t"it.l l .n .ll,h"olnl.! \ ,tl I lilt
H' l 'lh, ill!lln I hi\\ ,,.,, 11 "

171

ll"lll. l lll\ ,,f 1111\ Il l the.. 11 1.1 11 \ , ,, ,.
r.,undtd I ,,f tht " . 1u
tu honw h
lt ' ll li lll \; llt H llll ' 1 11tl\\ ,\\, 1t"ll
llw '' 11;.;1" lul. \I\' '"
Er;;wrwv, ri nwnou; (jJt)..dcvoc; alaxgov av ujJ avvt:yvwxwc;
wwiir' ovciOYJ ngoEvwv xcit)YJ W l . Tov M WtA6Evov w i r ov
i v inwwAfj noAAa Aotoogrwac; i x iAwaEv mi w i:c; cpogriotc;
T:OV e EOOW(!OV clc; T:OV o}..Ef)gov dnoariUnv. 'Eni nAIJE M
xai yvwvt f vwvtxwc;} ygcnpu.vu ngoc; m)r6v, ou Kgw{31i -
Aov f vwviaxovf Evooxtpoii vr' iv Kogivecp (JovAcru.t n(!UJfl E-
voc; ayu. yEtV :Tr(!oc; atJT:OV.
" Phil oxenus, the coast rul er , once wrote to him of a certain
Theodorus from the city of Taras who had t wo beautiful boys
for sale and asked him whether he wanted to buy them. Then,
Alexander cr ying out furi ousl y as ked hi s f ri ends whether he,
Phil oxenus, had ever heard of him having done anything base
and dared to propose such shameful acts to him. And he wrote to
him a letter, where he was cursing him and odering him to send
Theodorus and hi s merchandi se ro hell .
He responded in the same terms t o young Agnon who of -
fered to buy a boy much tal ked about in Corinth, Crovylus, and
sent him to Alexander ."
There are, of course, those who say that Phil oxenus wouldn' t
have taken such an initi ati ve, i f he hadn ' t known something
about Alexander ' s inclinati ons. Bur he just thought he could go
on sending all kinds of presents he used to send t o the court of
the Great (Persian) king, in order t o ensure the favour of the new
king.
This text speaks for itself and should be enough to prove that
Alexander strongl y di sapproved of thi s habit. But , it i s oft en
necessary t o assert the obvi ous. So, in the perspecti ve of the
coming films, some peopl e proclaim that, according to ancient
writers, Alexander was in fact homosexual. What a li e, when
ever y ancient writ er clearl y st ates the opposite: unlikel y hi s fa-
---------------------- 172---------------------
Homosexouali ty in ancient Greece - The myrh is collapsing
ther, who was al ways gi ving in to hi s passions, Alexander was re-
markabl y temperate i n everything.
To understand the essence of thi s uni que personali ty, let us
go back to Plutarch.
Plutarch, Vi tae parall elae, Alexander, 2 1:
... o' OQWV 0 xaA.A.t:t
xaij1t:yi 8t: t EAEyE nafl;,wv claiv
OflflQ!WV ai n M rryv lOiav
n ]v t xt:ivwv ro EYXQart:ia; xai xaA.-
WOJT:EQ dyaA.j16rwv naQEJT:EflnEV.
"When Alexander was looking at the female capt i ves who
stood al one for thei r beaut y and general appearance, he used
t o say, humoring, that they were a torture to hi s eyes. But he
responded t o t hei r beauty with the spl endour of hi s cont i -
nence and he was sending them away, as if they were l ifeless
stat ues."
Plutar ch, Mor ali a, About Alexander 's good fortune or
argument about virtue, 9:
Oti xofiv nowrn flEV 1] cptA. 6ao-
cpov rov avoQa ovviornmv, 01JX avuj) rQvcp1]v xai noA.vri -
A. t:wv dA.A.a ndmv Ofl6vowv xai ElQ1]V17v xai xot-
vwviav nU.QU.OXEVQOat OWV01]8EVW.
" First of all , the aim of this campaign proves the man to be a
phil osopher, for he did not have in hi s mind to acquire wealth
and enjoy opul ence and pl easure, but t o unite all peopl e in
peace and communi cat ion."
Plutarch, Morali a, About Alexander 's good fortune or argu-
ment about virtue, 11 : ... lOElV yovv EOUV EV ':4A. t:4;avOQq.> ro
173---------------------
Adoni s A. Georgi ades
flEV JIOAEfWCOV cptA.avegwnov, TO M ngaov TO M
XClQWTlXOV OLXOVOfUXOV, TO M 8VflLXOV E1J6u:UA.uxwv, TO o'
EQWTlXOV awcpgov, rO o' QVELftEVOV 01JX agy6v, TO 6' i ninovov
OlJX dnaQClfl lJ()1'}WV.
" One can see in Alexander milit ary virtue united with phi -
l anthropy, mildness with virility, offering with temperance, pla-
cated rage, chaste love, comfort abl e but not lazy li fe, endurance
but not without recomfort .. . "
Pl utarch, Morali a, About Alexander 's good fortune or argu-
ment about virtue, 11 :
.. . xapoi M1 J\A. c6vogov ng6cmv l n Ewtv i mcpw-
VElV dei EV w vup yag navr' EVEOU.
gaa8Ek 'Ovaeoov EV ULXflUAWTlOL xo-
QEVO IJ017r; oiJx v{JQWEV aA.A.' EY1'Jfl E'
" I can but recogni ze that, in all situati ons, Alexander acted
like a ' phil osopher ', because thi s term includes ever ything.
When he fell in l ove with Roxane, the daughter of Oxyathrus,
whil e she was dancing among t he other capti ves, he didn ' t
di shonour her, but marri ed her, just like a phil osopher. "
Pl ut ar ch, Mor ali a, About Al exander ' s good fortun e or
argument about virtue, B, 2:
... yq6vum M xar ' Cl1Jr0V T(!u yq.yooi fi E V o[ JIEQi ecr-
WAO 11 xai 6 }\ wv avwywvd;ofi EVWV
fxog?jyovv ftEV o[ K1!ngwt fJaatAEl r; l xotvov 6' o[ OOXLflWW-
w t r wv ar gun7ywv. i nEi 6' vix17aEv :.4 {3ovA.6-
fl 1'JV ii v Ecp1'J ,uaA.A.ov anoA.wU vat rij r; r;
8 ETWAOV Em6ElV 1JTT1'Jfl EVOV. aJ..J.. ' our ' EVEWXE
oi )rc n ]v XQlOlV Efl Efl '!j} ClW, navrwv OElV JIEQlElVW,
w v 6txaiov 6' 1] rraa8at.
-------------------- 174 ---------------------
Homosexoual iry in ancien! Greece - The myth is collapsing
" There were t wo gr eat t r agic poets by the t ime Alexander
was king, Thessalus and Athenodorus, who, when competing
with each other , had the kings of Cyprus as patrons and were
judged by the greatest generals. And when once Athenodorus
won the competiti on, Alexander said: ' I had rather lost a part of
my kingdom than to have seen Thessalus beaten'. But he made
no r eques t t o the j udges nor did he accuse them of their
judgement because he used t o say that ever yone shoul d obey
him and he should obey justi ce."
Plut ar ch, Mor ali a, About A lexander ' s good fortune or
argument about virtue B, 6:
. .. EY1JflE M 'Pwav17v eavufj n ]v M Lla-
odov L TarEtQaV Tll {JaatAEi{J. Xal nQayfi aOl (al!VEfPEQE
yaQ 1] uvv ycvwv TWV o' QAAWV n Qaiowv E.xoan?-
0 waoDw aaJcpQOOl JV,1] , oaov avOQi9 fl QOWv axovaav
fiEV yaQ mi x lov, o' doe wiAA.ov rj 01i x doe naQijAfJ.
xai namv wv {mQ17cp6.-
vw; ExQ1]W. m:oi M Ll aQdov
ov M E. natvofwav -eo
fjxovaev d.nofJavoiiaav o' oilrw f. xdaf1] -
0 xai E. oaXQVOV, war' anwwv a1i wii TO
awcpQov E.v up cptA.aveowncp yviaem xai A.a{Jiv
EYXA1Jfla XQ1JOTOT1JW. Ll yaQ nooc;
n]v f.ovaiav mi w D xai f}A. txiav Etc; yaQ 1}v xai mi r oc; n
rwv vofit{;;6vrwv ota Tvx1Jv xQauiv :4AiavoQov E.nei M
rd.A. 1] () i::c; yvw fJaaaviaac; navwx6fJv, "m) navrwc;" d n11
"aQa cpm!A.wc; EXl -ea fl Qawv, ovOi n e; EQi navr anam xa-
xm)c; f}fidc; mi o' avaVOQOVc; {;no WlOlJWV XQClL17(){:vwc;. f. yw
o' dnvxiav fl EV i5XOflal xai XQawc; nOAEfiOV naQa fJEWV, fv'
notwv :4AiavoQov {mQ{J6.A.wfiat xai ftE uc; fxl cptA.on-
,uia xai {;; 1]A.oc; 1JficQWrEQOV w )w1) cpavryvm l o' OlXETW -ea
ipa, ZED narQ<jj n Qawv xai (-JaaiA.cwt ewi, El; rov
175 ----------
:,,,.
-. ;;.1
~ ' ..
. I ~ -.
;, .t
. . :l,- ... -: i
.. _,
. I\_
Alexan der the Great, detai l from the famous mosaic in Pompey, preseming
the l ssos barrle.
176---------------------
Homosexoualit y in ancient Greece - The myth is collapsing
K lJ(!OV ()QOVOV 1j I U.iavi>QO(;" xa ()iactc ". wiJr' clanoi-
1lV :.4A.cavi>QOV Ou] () EWV ;,taQTV(!WV.
" Hi s real marri age was with Roxane, as he fell in love with
her. He marri ed Stateira, the daughter of Darius, out of state 's
interest (for it was important to encourage such marri ages be -
tween the two peopl e). And he showed himself so chaste i n front
of the other Persian women, as he was brave in front of Persian
men. Because he saw no woman against her will, and he passed
over those he saw in more wisdom than those he didn' t see. And
although he was good to everyone, he treated the beautiful onl y
with arrogance. He didn ' t bother to hear a single word about the
beauty of Darius' wife. But, when she di ed, he honoured her as a
queen and cri ed with such compassion, that hi s sadness compro-
mi sed hi s humanit y and generated rumours against hi s chastit y.
Darius also shared this opinion for Alexander' s age and power,
thinking, along wi th others that Alexander was ruling onl y be-
cause of hi s good luck. But, after having made a thorough en-
quiry and having found the truth, he said: ' Ours is not such a bad
luck after all , no one should say that we are totally coward to
have been beaten by such a man. I pray the gods to grant us good
luck and the vict or y to thi s war, so that I can surpass AI ex an-
der ' s deeds and, out of ent husiasm and self - esteem, I wan t to
prove myself more ci vili sed than him. But , if this could noL be in
thi s way, Zeus, god of my fathers and of all Persians, and you,
the other gods of my kingdom, please, let no one but Alexander
sit in the throne of Cyrus.' Th at is how Darius recogni zed
Alexander 's superiority in front of gods."
I could go on with simil ar extracts about Alexander 's per
sonalit y, but it would be pointl ess. He was unique in everything,
whi ch expl ains how he managed to do everything he did. It is a
pit y, though, to see thi s man, so temperate in every aspect of hi s
--------------------- 177---------------------
life, calumniated by some men ignorant of hi story 2326 years
after hi s death and hi s descendants watching thi s calumny with-
out reacting.
Where do these peopl e who speak about Al exander 's homo-
sexualit y find their argument s? In an ex tract cited by both
Athenaeus and Plutarch, whi ch I will immedi ately present be
fore commenting it.
Athenaeus from Naucrati s, Deipnosophi stae, XTII , 80, I :
xai o Ll t-
yoDv iv up nt:ei iv 'f }..icp (FHG 11 24 1)
Baywov roD EVVOlJXOV at!rov cp1] oiv ft rrao()w iv
()'ljJEt ()nirgov o}..ov xawcptAE'iv w/rov dvax}..aoavra, x ai
TWV ()wr wv EnlfPWV1]0avr wv ,ut: r a 'XQOWV OlJ'X
naAtV icpiAl]OEV.
" King A l exander loved excess i ve l y y oung children.
Dikaearchus, in hi s work about the sacrifi ce in lli on, says that he
submi tted himself t o Yagoas the eunuch; in fact, in the theatre,
when all the spectat ors were urging Alexander with vi vid ex cl a-
mati ons to ki ss him, he didn ' t di sobey the crowd, turned to him
and kissed him."
Pl utarch, Vitae parall elae, Alexander , 67:
/1 iy EWl o' WlrOV ,UE()1JOVW (}WQELV XOQWV,
r ov M EQWflEVOV Bu.ywav XOQE1JOVW Vl'Xij aat x ai 'X.E'X. O-
OrlrJfi EVOV Ota roiJ {}t:areov naeA() ovra x a()ioat nae'
whdv. M x eou'iv xai {3oav
cptkijaat lJ.xet JrEQtAa{'Jwv x arccpiA1]0EV.
"They say that Alexander , once drunken, was watching a
danci ng competiti on, in whi ch won hi s loved one, Yagoas. The
-------------------- 178---------------------
Homosexoualit y in ancient Greece - The myth is collapsi ng
dancer went across the theatre and sat by Alexander ' s side.
When Macedoni ans witnessed what has happened, they didn ' t
st op appl auding, accl aiming and ask ing the king t o ki ss t he
dancer, until he finall y embraced him and did so."
Thi s ' revealing' extract, whi ch is supposed to confirm Alexan-
der ' s homosexuali ty, shows nothi ng but a king answering, i n an
immense gathering, t o the crowd whi ch urges him t o reward
Yagoas for hi s vict ory by gi ving him a ki ss. Thi s does not mean
that they retreated in a pri vate pl ace afterwards. It was common
those days for a sovereign to mani fest hi s favour to someone by
kissing him in publi c, as a reward, not as a proof of love.
What confirms thi s theor y, apart from the fact that, i n the
echo of the two Pausani as story (we are in 327, onl y a few years
after 336 B.C, when it happened), if Alexander wanted to give a
love kiss to an eunuch, he should have done it in pri vate, i s the
foll owing inci dent bet ween Alexander and Calli sthenes about
the beginning of their mutual animosity.
Alexander had all owed t he barbari ans t o kneel in f ront of
him, since they were used to do so. He never imposed i t to the
Greeks, although some claim falsely that he did. But there were a
few fl atterers, as there al ways is, who did kneel. Once then, by
the end of a banquet , everybody, Greeks along with barbarians,
were passing in front of the ki ng and kneeling; and, in order to
show hi s sympathy, he was pouring them some wine and kissing
them on the cheek.
Calli sthenes didn ' t knee. He had every ri ght t o do so, he was
Greek, a pupil of Ari st otl e and thi s barbari an attitude didn ' t suit
him. But Alexander was told about it by one of hi s guards who
wanted t o show hi s ' loyalty' to the king and insinuate that Cal -
li sthenes wasn' t worthy of the king's favour. He was momentar -
il y lured by the fl attery and decided not to ki ss Calli sthenes.
-------------------- 179 ---------------------
The latter left unharmed, whi ch proves that kneeling was not
imposed by Alexander, and didn ' t bother at all for thi s lack of
favour. No other interpretati on of the kiss to Yagoas seems con-
vinci ng to me, especi all y after the li ght the last epi sode brought
to thi s anecdote.
Arri anus, Anabasis, book 0 , 12, 6:
. . . xai ra EJ"ClUAfi ujj K aA.A.w8iVl
tyivt:w. dA.A.a L1 17f l1l "f(!WV yrJ.(! rov EVCi. r wv
tra{QWV, J"C(!OOf;El w i ujj 6 K a.Uw8i v1] c; cpl A1juwv, cp6.vw
OU m} 7C(!OUXVV1jaac; J"C(!OUEWlV. xai rOV :4A.iavO(!OV m} na-
(!Ci.UXt: lV cplA/jUCi.l iavr6v, r ov ot: K aA.A.weivYJV, cplA1lfWU, cp6.-
vw, EACi. "fWV fxWV ant:lf tl .
" Here is what happened with Calli sthenes' kneeling. One of
hi s guards, Demetrius, son of Pythanax, told Alexander not t o
ki ss hi m, because Calli sthenes hadn ' t knelt before him. Alexan
der di d so and Calli sthenes said: ' I am j ust leaving once without
a ki ss ' ."
What is reall y strange in the descripti on of the Yagoas inci -
dent, though, is the, sli ght at first sight, but reall y signifi cant to
those who study the text s, difference in hi s characteri sati on by
the t wo authors. Athenaeus des igns him as a eunuch, whil e
Plutarch as a loved one.
According t o what I already said in the previous chapters
these two attributes are incompatibl e in the same person. Since
the relati onship with a loved one was of an educati onal nature,
why should Alexander choose a eunuch as a loved one? But even
i f he wanted to do so, why should he choose a eunuch of Darius
and pr esent him in publi c, at th e th eatre, without being
ashamed? Thi s is inconsequent of someone who marri ed Rox -
180---------------------
Homosexouali ry in ancienr Greece The myth is collapsi ng
ane as soon as he saw and desired her, to avoid what he thought
as di shonour both for him elf and the young woman. Why. then,
did he blame Phil oxenus of hi s proposal s, why did he ask, of -
fended, hi s fri ends whether they had ever seen him do something
base? Something is obvi ousl y mi ssing here.
Eunuchs, coming from the Greek E1JV1l meaning ' bed' , were
used t o ser ve concrete purposes in the Asian palaces, main ly to
guard the r oyal wi ves, which expl ains why they weren' t usuall y
seen in publi c, nor were they famili ar to the peopl e, since access
to the royal house was restri cted to a minorit y. It is understan-
dab le that they di dn ' t parri ci pare to fest i viti es or any other pub -
li e mani fes tati ons. That is why the idea of a eunuch rak ing parr ,
as Alexander 's loved one, in a dance compet i t ion is totall y our
of bounds.
So we had better turn to Plut arch whose descripti on of the
episode is more detail ed and compl ete; he expl ains where was
Alexander, why the cr owd was ask ing him t o ki ss Vogeas etc.
Athenaeus, on the other hand, says that Alexander loved exces
si ve l y youn g children ( ... cp tAr3nau; ( ) ~ v i xpavar xai
:4Aiuvogos- 6 (-JrJ.OLAcl JS" ... ), aft er he had read in the book of
Di kaearchus the descri pti on of the same incident , without gi -
-------------------- 181 ---------------------
ving more det ail s, probabl y because he didn ' t have any other
source.
Thi s proves why, in hi st or y everyone has the reputati on he
deser ves. Despite hi s charming work , full of informati on about
recipes, anecdotes about renowned personal iti es and everyday
habits, Athenaeus from Naucrati s cannot and must not be re-
garded as a hi stori an. Plutarch, on the contrar y, i s widel y ac -
cepted as one of the three reli abl e sources, along wi th Arri anus
and Diodorus. And he refers to Yagoas as the loved one and not
the eunuch. Those who quote thi s incident , in the t wo versions,
didn 't remark , and that includes Athenaeus as well , that it makes
no sense, unl ess there were t wo indi viduals named Vagoas.
One of them was actuall y a eunuch. The second was obvious-
l y a member of the court of Alexander, whi ch had both Greeks
and barbari ans, and he was free and sound in limb. But , mere
speculati on in such cases is useless, so I searched the sources to
find that there r eall y was a eunuch named Vagoas. Plut ar ch
speaks of him in t wo different extracts.
Pl utarch, Vitae parall elae, Alexander , 39:
n U.Qf.UViwvt pev mh rov Bay(VOV EOWX. EV olx.ov, rov
JrEQi ra J:oi!au. EV cJj Aiyt:rat E;.,wr w;.,tov XLAiwv wA.avrwv EV-
QdJ?7vat.
"He gave to Parmeni on the house of Vagoas, near the city of
Sousa, where garments of a thousand raA.avw value are said to
have been found."
Pl ut ar ch, Morali a, About Al exander 's good f ortune or
argument about virtue, 5:
'OaQart x.ai LJ aQdcp B aywac; 6 t:1!vovxoc; d.Qa;.,tt:voc; ni-
8rJxc riJV n cQOWV {-JamA.du.v.
-------------------- 182---------------------
H
o
m
o
s
e
x
o
u
a
l
i
r
y

i
n

a
n
c
i
e
n
r

G
r
e
e
c
e

-
T
h
e

m
y
t
h

i
s

c
o
l
l
a
p
s
i
n
g

'

.
.

'
.

I
'

o

-
.

'

.
.

1

:

I

1
8
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
" Vagoas the eunuch put on the heads ot Oarses and Darius
the royal crown."
Ar ri anus al so menti ons him (Anabas i s, book B, 5) as a
member ot a conspiracy which ended in murder and usurpati on
ot the throne. Yet , it is Di odorus (in the sixth and seventh books
ot hi s hi st ory) who narrat es in many det ail s how thi s eunuch
arri ved to the Persian court and how he was finall y poisoned by
Dari us, aft er having helped him wi th hi s machinati ons to take
the throne.
Vagoas was indeed ver y famous tor hav ing t aken part in
every machinat ion in the Persi an court. He was an ex Egypti an
chili arch, who also betrayed hi s country and helped the Persians
t o re conquer Egypt. He was then t aken back t o Persi a, was
made eunuch and se r ved kings Art axer xes and Ochus. He
poi soned the l att er t o help Darius to the thr one hoping to
control him and rul e through him. But he didn ' t make it thi s time
as we have already said.
This was the eunuch. He di ed l ong before the beginning ot
Alexander 's campaign.
Yet, in the numerous ent ourage ot the king, there was also
another Yagoas, young enough t o be Al exander ' s l oved one,
whi ch ex pl ains why Athenaeus says the king loved yo ung
children, but , who, tor the same reason, cannot be a eunuch.
A thenaeus was no biogr apher, did not exactl y kn ow what
persons or dates he is referring to and, thus, gets contused and
leads others t o contusion. After all , in the fourteen volumes ot
hi s work , he does not refer to Alexander more than ten times.
Plutarch, on the other hand, knows exactl y what he is talking
about , for he wrot e Al exander 's bi ogr aph y, and insi st s on
menti oning the lover, not the eunuch, whose house Parmeni on
recei ved as a gift.
-------------------- 184---------------------
Homosexoual ity in ancient Greece - The myth is collapsi ng
Besides, there is another extract from Athenaeus work, not
tar enough fro m th e prev i ous one, wher e A l exander i s
presented as a continent man.
Athenaeus from Naucrati s, Deipnosophi stae, XIII , 80,:
Kaovar wc; o' EV 'laWQLXOtc; 'YnopvfJJ.WOL (FHG I V 35 7)
X aowvt, cp1Jai, uj) X aA.xu)Ei naic; xaA.oc; 1}v xai clxcv n1 nooc;
avrov. we; naoa KQartQ(jJ avr ov inflvwcv
ycvopivov nowv, 6 Xaowv EXEAEIJ(JE rov naioa xara-
cptkijaat rOV xai oc; fl 1JOaJ.UiJc;, cfnEV, "01! yaQ
oiirwc; EflE nlcpoavc"i we; a A.vnfJact" WOJrcQ ya(! 1lV E(!Wrtxoc;
6 fiamA.nic; ovroc;, ovr wc; xai nooc; ro xa8fixov iyxoar1jc;.
" K ar ystios, in hi s work ' Hi stori cal memoranda' says that
Charon fr om Chal ki s had a beautiful young man as hi s loved
one. Once, in the middl e of a wi ne- drinking, when Alexander
prai sed him t o Cr aterus, Charon asked hi s l oved one to ki ss
Alexander. But Alexander didn 't allow thi s ki ss and explained
t o Charon that , i f thi s were to happen, Alexander wouldn 'l be as
pl eased as Charon di spl eased. For , thi s king was easil y inspiring
love, yet absolutely continent at the same time."
So, what does Athenaeus reall y think of Alexander? For, in the
Vagoas incident, he port rays him as someone loving excessi vely
children, whil e in the Charon incident , as someone conti nent.
Well , in the first case, Athenaeus must be in some kind of contu-
sion, since, in that parti cul ar chapter of hi s book, he characteri ses
almost everyone in the same way, speaking of Celts, Persians or
Egypti ans. So, hi s poi nt shouldn' t be taken int o account.
Let us now examine the questi on of Alexander 's rel at i on-
shi p to hi s best fri end, Hepheasti on, which, in contrast to the, in -
signifi cant to the publi c Vagoas incident, would, almost certain -
ly, be presented as a homosexual one in the coming film.
----------------------185 ---------------------
Adonis A. Georgiudcs
Alexander wearing a helmet in the shape of a lion head.
186 ----------
Homoscxoualit y in anci ent Greece The myth is collapsing
To clear thi s point, a short hi storical revi ew is inevitable. I t
has to expl ain what t he exact r ol e of t he r oyal partner was
({3amJ..xiJC; i n Macedoni a of that time.
Successi on to the throne was rarely regul ar in the Macedo-
ni an court. Had the king not been kill ed in one of the numerous
battl es he had t o gi ve, he would, most probabl y, be murdered by
some member of the Macedoni an ari stocracy, who could, after -
wards, claim the throne.
To deal with thi s phenomenon, it had become an inst i tuti on
t o raise the royal hei r along wi th the sons of the most ill ustri ous
famili es of the court. Thi s ser ved a doubl e purpose: t o exercise
some sort of cont rol over these famili es, the most probable to
count er cl aim the t hrone, since their sons we re di sgu i sed
host ages; and to create bonds of real fri endship among these
children, whi ch shared the same t eachers and the same gym-
nasts, were pl aying together with the future king and were, grad-
uall y, brought up to become hi s personal guards or generals.
Alexander has as royal partners, among others, Phil otas, son
of the general Parmeni on, Ptolemy, son of Lagos, Crat erus, and
Eumenes. But Hephaesti on was, since hi s earl y childhood, hi s
closest and dearest fri end.
Thei rfri endship was legendar y. Afterthe battl e in I ssos, Oar -
ius' mot her i s said to have knelt , by mi st ake, in f r ont of
Hephaesti on, being tall er than the king. Alexander not on ly did
not bother at all , but also sai d to her: " There is nothing to worry
about , he ( Hephaesti on) is Alexander as well ( Kai yaQ x ci vov
clvw
These feelings were known to everybody. And when Alexan-
der was, once, asked to inter vene in a quarrel bet ween the, oth-
er wise, fri ends Hephaesti on and Craterus, he said that Hephaes -
ti on i s a fri end of Alexander and Craterus a fri end of the king
187---------------------
(rov fi.EV ' H cpawr[wva cptJ..aA.il;av6ov dvat, rov 6
KQUU(!OV cptJ..of3aOLAia); he meant that the latter was ab
sol utely necessary to him as hi s best general, but the former was
hi s best friend. And, when things between these two seemed to
have reached a point of no ret urn, he solemnl y swore to Am-
mon that, if they quarreled again, he would kill them both.
There is not a single reference to them havi ng more than a
pure friendship which had nothing to do with eroti c jealousy.
Photius, for instance, writes about marital arrangements made
by Alexander :
Photius, Bib I iotheca, Codex 91 Bek ker 68b
'EmrEAEl M xai YClflOV(; avwi! re xai uvv haiQWV A.a-
!lJ"CQ(Jl J(;, w !ro(; fi.EV n]v nQw(Jvran7v u.vv L1aQEiov na[Owv
uyo,UEVO(; xai n]v VEwrarqv M rwv "Qxov Ov yariQWV. 'Pw-
l;a1117 yit.Q .,7o17 nQoJ7y,ui v17 h uyxuvE. TiJv fl EVwt L1Qlmi uv,
Ovyari ea xai w ! riJv o t ~ v L1(.t(!dov, ' Hcpawdwvt 6i6wOL,
K(!ClTEQ{jj M 'Afi.ClaL(!l11J711, n wA. E!LalqJ M xai E{lfi. EVEL ra(;
'A(!w[3at;ov nat:Oa(; 'AQwxa,wv xai 'AQuiw17v ...
"He arranged excellent marri ages for himself and hi s friends;
he t ook Darius' elder daughter and Ochus' eldest one. He had
previously marri ed Roxane. He gave Hephaes tion another
daughter of Darius, Drypetis, gave Amastrine to Craterus, and
Art akama and Artone, the daughters of Artavazos to Ptolemy
and Eumenes respecti vely ... "
And Diodorus adds:
DiodorusSicilus, Bibliotheca hi storica, 17, 107,6:
Cl iJrO(; M naQdOwv El(; LoDaa riJv ,utv nQw[3vri(!av
rwv L1 aQdov fJvyariQwv LrarELQClV l!y17!tEv, n]v M vEwri-
Qav ' Hcpawdwvt avv<fJxwE L1Qvnijuv .. .
--------------------188---------------------
Homosexoualiry in ancienr Greece The myrh is collapsing
" When he arri ved at Sousa, he marri ed Darius' elder daugh-
ter, St ateira, whil e he gave the eldest one, Drypeti s, t o Hephaes -
t ion .. . "
It would be rather curious for Alexander to have a sexual in -
vol vement with him and try t o find him a suitabl e bride. it would
be also curi ous, during the Hephaesti on- Craterus quarrel , not
to hear a single word about thi s all eged relati onship, when the
two protagoni sts were brought up t ogether, in the royal court of
Philip, where a simpl e allusion to a 'womani sh' attitude could
lead t o sui cides and murders. Why would Craterus have spared
Hephaesti on? Why would Phil ot as, Parneni on ' s son, not have
spoken about it, before hi s executi on for treason, onl y t o hurt
Alexander? Instead, ever yone speaks onl y and repeat edl y of
fri endshi p. Finall y Hephaesti on seems t o be for Alexander the
brother he never had.
Who spreads then these shameful things? Probabl y those
who, suffering from their own compl exes, cannot st and thee-
xistence of pure feelings. Or, those who want to serve cert ain in -
terests . . .
Yet , these two men, being fri ends since their earl y youth,
shared among other things the same love for Homer and used t o
call each other ' Achill es" and ' Patroclus' . Alexander never di s
tingui shed himsel f f rom hi s fri end, thus illustrat ing in the best
way the ancient Greek saying " a fri end i s another self" (cpO .. oc;
aA.A.oc; i yw t au).
And when Hephaesti on died, Alexander overreacted. He de
moli shed the basti ons of the cities all over hi s empire to show that
they were gri eving too for hi s fri end's death. He organi sed great
games to honour hi s memory and burned hi s body in the highest
-------------------- 189---------------------
Alexander and Roxane. whom he marri ed our ot love, but also to confirm hi s
polic) or reconcili ati on between Greeks and Persians.
190 ---------------------
Homosexoualiry in ancient Greece - The myth is collapsing
pyre ever seen. All these are narrated by Arrianus, in the seventh
book of hi s Anabasis, by Plutarch in hi s biography of Alexander
and by Diodorus in the seventieth book of hi s hi story.
But is thi s reall y overreaction, when it comes from the ma-
ster of the whole, known at that time, world, son of Ammon -
Zeus, who built an entire city to the memory of hi s favourite
horse, Bucephalus? What couldn' t he do to honour the m mory
of Hephaestion?
Let us not forget that , due perhaps to hi s mother ' s influence
but also to hi s exceptional destiny, Alexander had a strong ten -
dency to the metaphysical. Hephaestion 's death was to him an
omen of hi s own deathand made him say: " Now that Patroclus is
dead, for how long will Achilles li ve?" Hi s mourni ng for
Hephaestion ' s death was like a salutation to the world he sensed
he would be soon leaving himself. It i s sadl y ironic that the
dancers and athl etes desti ned to participate to the celebrations
in memory of hi s friend finally took part in Alexander 's obse -
quies.
Yet, among the thousands of volumes written si nce Al exan-
der' s death until today, what was chosen to tarnish thi s beautiful
friendship and support the obscene theori es of vulgar minds?
The words ofTatianus!
Tatianus was a Chri sti an writer of apologies (texts d fend -
ing the new reli gion), of obscure origins but surel y born in the
Middl e East , pupil of another writer of the same kind of texts,
Ioustinus. He li ved during the second century of our era and
wrote in hi s work To the Greeks or Apology (34,3):
a Z ~ b r6evw at: v, xai 6 n6evoc; mh:17v {mOfJ.V'YJfW n]c;
noevciac; enoir;at: v. L1 u1 ri ~ v 'H qJawdwvoc; m)x aloEiuOt:
noevciav; ...
" Lais was a prostitute and thi s is how everybody remembers
her. Why aren' t you then ashamed of Hephaes tion 's prostitu -
-------------------- 191 ---------------------
ti on?"
Lucianus, however, responded as he should in hi s wor k cited
in the chapter dedi cated to Sappho.
To understand the real moti ves ofTati anus I will remind you
th at he bel onged in a gr oup of writ er s cal l ed ' defender s'
(anoJ.. oy17rw) who, after having adopted the Chri sti an rei igion,
wrot speeches or essays t o defend it. They usuall y do it by pre
enti ng ancient Greece as a world of corrupti on, homosexuality
and debauch. Tati anus' main argumenr in hi s wor k, whi ch we
possess inregral in the Patrologia Graeca (Migne 6, 804 889), is
that the whole and Greek literature is not worthy since it merely
copi ed the Old Testament. ! !! To prove the authorit y of what he
claims, he evokes hi s teacher, I oustinus, born of Roman (!) par
enrs in the city of Sychem in Israel.
I s there any need to further rest of the qualit y of hi s writings
A Macedoni an adj utant and a horseman fi ght the Persians in thi s bas reli ef of
the so all ed sarcophagus of Si don.
-------------------- 192---------------------
Hornosexoualiry in ancient Greece The rnyrh is coll apsing
Dar ius ' mother takes Hephaestion for Al exander and kneels before him.
Once she reali zes her mi stak es and feels embarrassed, she is comfort ed by
Alexander who says, laughi ng. that Hephaesti on is Al exander too.
or, what is more import ant , hi s credibilit y? A recentl y conver -
ted Chri sti an, possibl y of Jewish ori gins, a defender and, i n any
case, an admirer of the Old Testament creates or reproduces a li
bel against Hephaesri on, without bothering ro menti on hi s
sources. How identi cal to the contemporary ' Tatiani ' .. .
I beli eve thi s chapt er, in its present enri ched form, closes
once and for all the ques t ion of the moment , Philip ' s and
Alexander ' s presumed homosexualit y; should it raise again, I
hope its few but eloquent ancient texts' extracts should be use
ful to those who will , naturall y, according ro their sense or dut y
towards their ancestors, rush into their defense.
In any case, those who profane the memor y of such a sacred
fri endship as the one bet ween Hephaesri on and A lexander
should st op thi s sacril ege. Let them present the texts whi ch can
prove their theory. Bur if they can ' r, they j ust have to keep eter
-------------------- 193 ---------------------
1:\DEX OF ALEX..\:\DER 'SIll WIVES
Varsine: According to Plut arch she was Memnon ' s of
Rhodes wife. After hi s death she had an affair with
Alexander, but never marri ed him or had children with
him. Diodorus doesn' t mention her origins, but says he
marri ed her and had a son with her, Heracl es, murdered
later by Polysperchon with Cassandrus' agreement.
ccording to Arri anus, she was Darius' elder daughter,
named Stateira by the other authors, and didn ' t have chil -
dren with Alexander.
Par ysati s : Mentioned onl y by Arri anus, she was the
daughter of Ochus, the former king, and Alexander mar -
ri ed her to strengthen hi s positi on to the throne, but had
no children with her.
Stateira: Daughter of Darius, menti oned by Plutarch
and Diodorus, having the same name with hi s mother
(who di ed just before the battl e in Gaugamela).Aiexan-
der marri ed her. Arri anus menti ons her as Varsini.
Roxane: Daught er of Oxyathros, king of Sogdi ani ,
unanimousl y recogni zed as Alexander 's greatest love.
H loved her the moment he saw her and immedi atel y
asked her to marri age in order to avoid di shonouring her.
She gave him the onl y legal heir he had, Alexander IV.
Unfortunatel y, the boy was born after hi s father ' s death
and was invol ved in the Successors' confli ct. He was
transported along with hi s mother to Macedoni a, where
they were both murdered by a certain Glauki as following
-------------------- 194---------------------
Homosc:-.oual it y in ancient Greece The myth is collapsing
Ant ipat rus' orders. After this double murder, kept secret,
Ca sandrus was pronounced king of Macedoni a. Th so
called tomb of the Prince' in Vergina is thought to be
long to Roxane and her son.
Apart from the one to Roxane, all of lexander 's mar
riages can be explained by political moti ves. Plutarch
says he had onl y loved Varsini before.
Alexander the Ill and Fillipe the 11
195 --------- --
I
1:\DEX OF PHI LIP'S 11 WIVES
Audata: Philip marri ed her when they were both 20 years
old. She came from Ill yri a and gave him a daughter, K yn -
na.
Phila: She was sister of Lerdas and Machatas.
Ni ki sipoli s : She came from Ferres and gave hi m a daugh-
ter, Thessaloni ca.
Philinna: She came from Lar isa. Together with Phi li p
they had a son, Arridaeus, call ed l ater Philip Ill Arri -
daeus and successor of Alexander for a short peri od of
time. Thi s succession was of no meaning, since Arridaeus
was ment all y ret arded and coul dn' t rul e. He was mur -
dered by order of Ol ympias, Alexander 's mother.
Otympias: Daughter of the ki ng of Molossi in Epi r. She
met Phili p in the Caviri an Mys teri es in the I sl and of
Samothraki. They had two chi ldren, Alexander Ill and
Cleopatra.
Meda: Daught er of Coth yl as , king of the Odryssi in
Thrace.
Cleopatra: Daughter of Hi ppostratos. She was Philip's
great l ove and the main reason for hi s quarrel s wi th
Ol ympias and Alexander. She gave birth to a daughter,
Europe.
I t must be noted that Philip, always attracted t o women,
had also many concubines and possibl y some other, ill e-
gi ti mate, children.
196 ---------------------
------- CONCLUSION------
A
t thi s point of a reall y thorough research conclusions must
be drawn.
I first want to apologise for the, dangerousl y, extensi ve quo-
tations of the ancient texts. But I made it clear from the begi n--
ning that any theory which can' t be confirmed by the sources is
of no value to me. It is for the same need of credibility that I de-
cided to precede every quotation by the ancient Greek original.
This seemed to me the safest guarantee to whatever concl usions
I would reach.
I repeat that it was not part of thi s book's aims to prove ho-
mosexuality unknown by ancient Greeks. It was known and, as
it happens with all soci al phenomena, had various degrees of
manifestat ion through the ages.
Nor was thi s book written to declare some kind of war to ho-
mosexual s, since, from my point of view, everyone has the ri ght
to make hi s own sexual choices, if he does no harm to others. I
onl y wish they didn ' t try to impose them as an exampl e t o be
imitated, as I get the feeling that certain medi a do, thus creati ng
confusion as to what is normal or not.
Thi s book meant, and to my sense, did prove that ancient
Greece was a society far more severe than ours to thi s question.
So, any effort to ' justify' thi s habit by suggesting that Greeks ap-
proved of it seems senseless to me.
I am sure that thi s essay doesn' t include all the relevant evi -
dence, yet I consider those included as more than enough.
Homosexuality existed in ancient Greece but was not social
ly approved. This reality, despite the impressions some people
try to create, is undeni abl e and no author doubts it.
Those who tend to present homosexuality as approved by
anci ent Greeks specify that they are t alking about sex with
-------------------- 197 ---------------------
young boys, pederast y, and onl y under cert ain conditi ons,
rather severe, if not intolerabl e by modern standards.
Let us hear them from pr. Dover himsel f (page I 03):
" I f an honourabl e eromenos floved onel does not seek or ex -
peer sensual pl easure from contact with an erastes fl overl, be-
grudges any contact until the erastes has proved himsel f worthy
of concessi on, never permits penetrati on of any orifi ce in hi s
body, and never assimil ates himsel f to a woman by pl aying a
subordinat e rol e in appositi on of cont act , and i f at the same
time the erastes would like him to break rul es (iii ) and (i v), ob
ser ve a cert ain elasti city to rul e (ii ), and even perhaps bend rul e
(i) a li tt le on occasion, in what circumstances does a male in fact
submi t to anal penetration by another male, and how does soci -
et y regard hi s submi ss i on? There seems littl e doubt that in
Greek eyes the man who breaks the rul es of legitimate eros de-
t aches himself from the ranks of male citi zenry and classifi es
himself with women and foreigners."
Were we to accept thi s irrati onal theor y about a cert ain form
of pederast y seen as " legitimate eros", the foll owing amazing,
but ' absolutely normal ' things should happen:
I . The lover should al ways be the elder and the loved one the et
dest. There could never be a shameless vi olati on t o thi s rul e.
2. The same person could not be acti ve and passi ve with the
same loved one. But he could be, during the same peri od of
ti me and with no further compli cati on, l over to someone
younger than himself and l oved one t o someone older than
hi msel f.
3. Lovers aimed to indi cat e the way t o virtue t o their l oved
ones. That is why parents of a young boy with many would-
be lovers should be proud of their son. The fee for thi s educa
198-- --------
Homosexoual it y in ancient Greece - The myt h is col lapsi ng
ti on t o virtue was for the l oved one to offer hi s body to hi s
l over ' s sati sfact ion (always in the name of virtue), but never
through anus. Thi s would expose them both to condemn a-
ti on and even puni shment; still , there was no probl em with
the femorum diducti o.
4. Once the l oved one could have a beard thi s r el at i onship
should end, in order to avoid unpl easant comments.
5. Soon aft er thi s separati on the former loved one could natu-
rall y meet hi s ex- lover and watch him, without protesting, to
pursuit another loved one.
All these I have just described t o you i s considered a much
better and more reasonabl e explanati on than the simpl e i nter -
pretati on I have proposed for the t wo key words, lover [erastes
for Dover] being the ment or, the teacher, the initi ator, and loved
one [eromenos]being the pupil he was guiding, free from any
sexual intercourse of any t ype, in a exclusi vely intell ectual in -
vol vement.
One should as k whether t here were no devi ati ons. There
were of course, as in every human law, but they were treated as
such, that is, as something worthy of condemnati on and puni sh-
ment.
And what about references of the poets, like Theogni s? Fa-
mous modern painter Yanni s Tsarouchi s used t o paint young
men, mostl y in uniforms. Should that mean t o the future histori -
an that in the 20th century Greece all men wearing uniforms were
homosexuals? What would then become of the freedom of art is-
ti c expression?
It is not the poetry whi ch makes laws or imposes social be-
havi our; not to menti on, ri sking another repetiti on, that when
sel ect i on was made as t o whi ch t ext s were worth y of being
saved, there was a specific poli cy t o present the former age as a
corrupt ed one. Poems condemning homosexualit y coul d then
199 --------------------
Pan chases Artemis
200 --------------------
Homosexouality in ancient Greece - The myth is coll apsing
have been thrown to fire. Still, the surviving texts are more than
enough to prove our theory correct. And should one conduct a
more thorough research others could be found among these to
prove the real meaning of the key words.
Xenophon, Symposium VIII, 41:
'A ya6oov yag cp{;an xai rijc; agerijc; cptAOrlflWc; Ecptcfl E-
vwv ad norc rfj no Act wv OlJVEQaOtfJS 6wuJ...w.
" I always share and have shared love of the town wi th those
who are good men and are moved by the sacred ambiti on of
vi rtue. "
Let me conclude by expressing my thanks to those who have
dealt with this subject before and inspired me in the writing of
this book, the Greek revi ew L1avJ...6 c; , being the first to have
examined the question in a different light and Mr Goudel is and
Mr. Vrisimdzi s for gi ving in their enli ght ening books most
valuable to the understanding of this issue informat ion.
--------------------201---------------------
A
d
o
n
i
>

/
\
.

G
c
o
r
g
i
a
d
c
'

2
0
2

BIBLIOGRAPHY
All ancient texts and lexica cited are publi shed in Georgi ades
editions' " library of the Greeks", all books of John Boardman
about Greek vases in Kardamitsas editi ons, Athens
H. G. Liddell and R. Scott , Greek- English Lexicon, Claren-
don Pres, Oxford 1996, and I. Sideri s editions for the Greek edi -
ti on
K. J. Dover, Greek homosexuality, Vintage Books, a di vi -
sion ofRandom House, New York , 1978
C. Reinsberg, Marri age, hetaerae and pederast y in ancient
Greece, Papadimas editi ons, 1993
R. Fl aceli ere, Love in ancient Greece, Papadimas edi tions,
1980
Goudeli s, Eroti c fri endship of ancient Greeks, Diphros edi -
ti ons
N. Vri simdzi s, Love, sex and marri age in ancient Greece,
Athens 1995
A. Dziropoul ou- Efsthathi ou, Hell eni c educati on, an ancient
Greek course, levels A and C, teacher 's and student 's books,
Georgiades editions
Y . Batti stini , Sappho, Papadimas editi ons
V.Lazanas, Anci ent Greek epi gram poet s of t he Aegean,
Athens 1995
Ancient Greek vases, Ekdotiki Athinon
H.I. Marrou, Hi story of educati on in Antiquity
-------------------- 203---------------------
o C. Siamakis, The per vert ed, vol. 2, Pol yedron Editions,
Thessalonica 1991
o Encyclopedi a- Lexicon, Helius
o Greek Encyclopedia, Pyrsos
o J. Stamatakos, Ancient Greek Lexicon, Phoeni x editions
o G. Vernardakis, Ancient Greek Lexicon.
o I ssues nr. 47 (November 1985), 49(January 1986), 11 4(Juin
199 1), 116 7(August -September 1991 ), 157(January 1995)
of the review Davlos
o I ssues 6,7,8 of the review Greek education
o Historical memories, transcriptions of several TV emi ssions
produced by C. Pl evris, lawyer and writer
-------------------- 204---------------------

It is not in the purpose of this research to take a position in favour of,
or against homosexuality, but to find out ancient Greeks' own views on
the issue.
I believe that the idea that Greeks were, so to speak, much more toler-
ant as far as homosexuality is concerned and that it was not only ac-
cepted by but almost imperative to every educated Greek is deliberate-
ly diffused.
There is no doubt in the context of the New Age we live in, where every-
thing is being trivialized, this diffusion is neither innocent nor acci-
dental, but maintained by those who use the authority of our classical
civilization to corroborate their own views. To sustain my fundamen-
tal point of view, that homosexuality was never accepted by Greeks, I
followed the only reliable method I could think of, the only one signifi-
cant to the objective searcher regardless of what Dover, Siamakis or
anybody else says, extensive reference to ancient texts.
In any case, all the relevant extracts from the ancient Greek texts are
quoted both in the original and in the English translation.
But how was homosexuality treated then? It was treated in a particu-
larly negative way, as you will find out through this book.
ISBN: 960-316-235-3

Homosexuality in Ancien Greece - The Myth Is-Collapsing

Transféré par

Informations du document

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Homosexuality in Ancien Greece - The Myth Is-Collapsing

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

I... ADONIS ATH.

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi