MARJORIE ROSENBERG
The Greeks Had No Word for It
With th e illVel/tioll oJ a social idelltity
d~filled
elltirely by sexllal priference,
th e (lIltllral meallillg
(if
hOlllosexllal behallior has beell lIel!'ly collstWeled ill the
tlvelltieth [el/ tllry.
For the Creek city-states
<!f
the rlassical period, jllst asJor IIWIlY tribal grol/ps,
hOlllosexllality IIlas co l/ceilled prillcipally as a pha5e (!f traillillg ill lIIasCil lillity al/d
IVa5 thll5 50cia lly pre5cribed. Warrior (lIltllres reqllired th e separatio ll oj yOl/l/g
III
ale5 Jrolll Jemales dllrillg a period ill Illhich ill5twctioll ill sexllal, lIIilitary, alld
athletic practice5 took place. Th e prodllct (!f this regillle Illas, .fill ally , a yOllllg II/all
deemed ready to becollle a hll5ba lld alld Ja th er, as Illell as a
d~fellder
oj his
com-
1Il1ll1ity . Primarily age-related, hOllloscxllality I!'as
ri,~idly
st/'llctllrcd alld serl/ed a
IIl1mb er oJ social purpose5 ill socictics I!'h crc JCII' jelllaics I!'crc sexllally al/ailable
olltside oj marriagc5 based 011 ecollolllic collsidcratiolls.
The collceptioll oJ a large proportioll
<!f
adult lIIalcs CO lllllliffed to a life oj ex–
clusive homosexllal relatiollships i5 a latc tl!'cllticth -cclltllry phelloillelloll , alld the
questioll oJ what (lIltllral alld 50cial pllrposcs sllch a COllllllitlllCllt lIIay scrve is olle
that req llires Jurthcr ill vc5tlga tioll.
III colltrast to our pre5cllt hOllloscxual (lIlturc, JO(llsed 011 pcrsollal desire al/d
5cxualliberatioll , Creek hOllloscxuality
-
UII CqUillOca lly lIIisogYllistic
-
1I0lletheless
addressed questiolls that WCllt Jar bcyolld 5cxual bc/wllior to attelllpt a collsideratiol/
oJ the essellce oj lIIas(lllillity , the lIeeds (!fsociety alld th c lIatllre
(if
a
,~ood
life.
The Jollowillg eS5a y, part
(if
a 10llger Ivork, rcprcscllts all
~[Jo rt
to view Creek
honlO5exuaiity ill its 50cial
COli
text
.
Ancient Greece, unhampered by the C hri stian se nse of sin and
Puritanica l joylessness, is thought to have experienced in the classical pe–
ri od a Golden Age of Homosexuality. Yet Socrates compared the sexual
pursuit of a youth by Kriti as with the desire of a pig to sc ratch himself
against a ston e, reflecting th e Greek view of the me rely ph ysical as less
than human . In the same vein, Ari sto phan es ridi cules women for their in–
ability to control their sexual desires, and the myth of Tiresias, who ex–
perienced part o f hi s life as a woman and part as a man , has him conclud–
ing that women enjoy intercourse nine times more than men - a testi–
mony, one may infe r, to th eir lowe r nature, which was seen as uncon–
trolled by the masc ulin e g ifts of reason and moral di sc rimination.
Promiscuous sexuality in Greek art and dranu is the provin ce of comedy
