Homophobia: A History - Softcover

In ancient Greece the ideal of same-sex desire was encompassed within the philosophical concept ofpaiderastia, a term derived from the combination of pais (boy or child) and the verberan (to love), the source of eros (desire). This ideal imagined a relationship between an older and ayounger male, the former an adult citizen, experienced in life, conversant with proper conduct and civic duty, wise in the ways of warfare, exemplary in his management of his household and of his wealth, dutiful to his parents, virtuous, brave, honorable, and devoted to truth. The younger male, commonly described as a youth whose beard had not yet begun to grow, was expected to be modest in demeanor, athletic and brave, eager to improve himself, and willing to learn what his mentor and lover could teach about the general conduct of life and love.Paiderastia implied a relationship that combined the roles of teacher and student with those of lover and beloved, and it carried the expectation of sex between the two.

The Greek language provided specific terms for each role. The beloved or desired boy is sometimes calledpais or the related paidika. Often he is eromenos, "one who is loved or desired";aitas, "the listener, receiver"; or kleinos, "the famous" or "the admired." The mentor is callederastes, "the lover"; or eispnelos, "the inspirer"; or philetor, "the befriender" of thekleinos. The erastes was presumed not only to woo and seduce the eromenos but also to instruct him in the arts of the hunt and of war, in the right conduct of life, and in proper behavior as a citizen. It was assumed that theerastes would also eventually take a wife--which did not necessarily mean that he would abandon homosexual practice--and that theeromenos in his turn would become an erastes to other youths. According to Greek legend, this pederastic or transgenerational homosexual relationship was invented either by Zeus, when he kidnapped the young Ganymede, or by Laius, father of Oedipus, when he kidnapped the youth Chrysippus.3

Paiderastia, which should not be confused with pedophilia, did not involve the sexual use of children, a practice that antiquity viewed with as much horror as we do today. When men pursued younger males, those they pursued were theoretically ready for the chase--that is, they had reached puberty. Such relationships were governed by centuries of tradition handed down from father to son, ratified in an extensive philosophical, heroic, and erotic literature, and, it is claimed, ordained in law by Solon the lawgiver himself, who decreed that before marrying, a citizen had the obligation to take as a lover and pupil a younger male and train him in the arts of war and citizenship.4 Many ancient sources suggest that the erotic relationship between a man and a boy was both a social ideal and a common practice; this judgment, confirmed by modern classical historians, is based on a substantial body of visual evidence (Greek vase paintings, of older and younger males invarious relationships, including sexual intimacy), and on ancient literature (the poems of Book Twelve of the Greek Anthology, for example, are almost exclusively dedicated to the love of boys).5 Of course, our knowledge ofpaiderastia comes primarily from the literature and visual art produced by the literate, the aristocratic, and the wealthy. Because what we know about many Greek homosexual customs comes from such sources, it can be argued thatpaiderastia was an idealized convention, even a toy, of a handful of Greek upper-class males.6 What men who were not literate or who were not aristocrats, who could not write about their desire or did not have the means to picture it, may have done is a matter for speculation. This having been said, however, in recent years classical historians have produced extensive evidence to show that the homosexual behavior that the Greeks calledpaiderastia was a common and even conspicuous feature of Greek daily life among all classes by the sixth century B.C.E.7 Speaking about classical Athens, David Halperin observes that...