Homosexuality in Ancient Greece-A Big Lie?

You may have heard that homosexuality was more popular in ancient Greece than in any other place and time.

Some scholars even called ancient Athens a paradise for homosexuality, where homosexuality flourished without discrimination or prejudice.

However, in ancient Greece, the framework of sexual behavior was very different from that in the modern western world. In recent years, we have witnessed the undeniable progress of LGBT rights through several legal cases and political movements. < p Homosexuals have to keep silent and hide their sexual preferences, but this is no longer the case.

Sociologists think that this is just the result of decades of oppression.

Like other oppressed ethnic minorities, homosexuals have reason to express their hardships and achievements.

However, it is unnecessary to destroy and change history in the name of gay pride. A historical situation often comes from the name of gay pride. That is, ancient Greek society and several historical figures in ancient Greece were wrongly portrayed as comrades in popular culture.

The relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is an example.

In Iliad, Homer described their deep and loving friendship, but never explicitly portrayed them as lovers.

However, Many modern story interpreters are happy to take the relationship between characters as evidence of homosexual glory in ancient Greek literature and culture. Achilles took care of Patroclus who was injured by an arrow, which was confirmed in the inscription on the upper part of the vase.

About 5 BC, the color of the red character Kelly in the attic came from the vulva. Alexander the Great is another popular example.

Although the existing historical data clearly show that the Greek king had different female lovers every night, he was regarded as the most famous ancient homosexual simply because a screenwriter in Hollywood imagined him as a homosexual.

In fact, Alexander the Great was most likely to sleep with more women than Hugh Hefner! However, how can we have these wrong misunderstandings about ancient Greek society and homosexuality? In 1978, Kenneth Dover's work Homosexuality in Greece officially kicked off all this.

Since then, as mcdowell pointed out, homosexuality in ancient Greece "has been widely discussed, mainly from the perspective of sociology and anthropology", but few people mentioned the laws against homosexuality in Athens.

It is no exaggeration to speculate that, A decorated and experienced historian like Dover avoided this description of Athens' official position on homosexuality.

On the contrary, he was based on the research and conclusions of some works of art, such as vase paintings and the idealized description of homosexual relations briefly described by Plato in some of his works. The gibberish scene: erasing the chin and genitals of the * * * object (lover).

The black figure on the A side of the attic. About 54 BC.

(CC 3), there is no doubt that same-sex activities existed in ancient Greece, just as it always existed in every corner of the earth-in men, women and even animals.

But the most important thing is to understand that homosexuality has never been as popular in Greece as so many people mistakenly believe today.

The biggest misunderstanding is that there is a term called "homosexuality", which is related to people. "Homosexuality" is a modern invention.

In 1869, Hungarian doctor Karoly Maria Benkert (1824-1882) first used it.

As an article on Livius.

org pointed out: "In ancient Greece, there was no word to describe homosexual behavior: they were just *. Including men and women.

",in short, some Greek men don't treat sex differently-for them, any sexual behavior is just" sexual behavior ".

It's not gay or heterosexual.

They define it as more" giving "and" receiving ".

However, unless you are a woman, others will look down on you. Those who like to "accept" are stigmatized in Athenian society. They are Kenai people (allowing her people to infiltrate them).

This is a degrading word, which shows that ancient Athens, the so-called open-minded ancient Greek city-state, was not friendly to homosexuals at all.

Now, other parts of the ancient Greek city-state will be classified as a "manly" society. Sparta disapproves of men who engage in homosexual activities.

A common feature of a masculine society is that domination (or "giving") is noble, while obedience (accepting) is the opposite.

For a Corinthian or Spartan man who deliberately chooses a submissive sexual role, he is regarded as a traitor. When he can become an aristocrat, He accepted that he was disgraced for being sexual.

The Spartan Woman gave her son a shield (1826) was written by Jean-Jacques Fran? Ois Le barbier.

(in the field of public affairs), if anything, the ancient Greeks thought homosexuality was a shameful breach of contract.

That's why there was no homosexuality in the whole ancient Greek literature. There are many detailed descriptions of heterosexual behavior. Zeus was one of the most outstanding heterosexual alpha males in ancient times. < P > What we learned from Xenophon is that Socrates was not a teacher who used young students like modern pop culture. < P > On the contrary, this legendary philosopher did not allow him to have any physical contact with his young students. < P > According to his teachings, Any form of sexual behavior or "other physical contact between teachers and students is unacceptable".

Plato, Socrates' most famous student, is another famous ancient Greek writer, whose works are completely misunderstood and taken out of context.

In fact, Plato wrote that "the only type of true love is love between two people", and he dedicated two dialogues to this theme: symposium and Phaedrus.

However, The kind of love he refers to does not include homosexuality or any sexual behavior.

James Davidson, a professor of ancient history at Warwick University, questioned in an article published in The Guardian that how a person who "worships" the love between men like Plato can describe the sex between men as "completely immoral behavior" at the same time.

The answer is simple, and the seminar, The mural of the diver's tomb.

In 475 BC.

(in the field of public affairs), the love between two people described by Plato at the forum focused on the beauty of the soul above the body.

As Plato clearly pointed out in his works, the love (or friendship, if you like) between two men is higher than that of a man for a woman, because in most cases. The spiritual love for another man highlights the absolute beauty of the soul and is the epitome of selfless love, which can only be compared with the love between parents and children.

In other words, Plato worships what young people now call "Bromans", but he strictly opposes homosexuality as we define it today, even before Kenneth Dover's controversial work "Homosexuality in Greece". Only a few people tried to rewrite history.

Although Oscar Wilde was a great poet and playwright, he was such a person.

In the process of trying to defend the same feelings, Wilde created an alternative way of historical narration, in which homosexual love developed.

He chose ancient Greece as an ideal society to locate his homosexual utopia. This famous writer rewrote the history of Greece and provided a homosexual version of classical antiques, in which his own 19th-century * * * added a continuous tradition and extended to the foundation of European civilization.

Oscar Wilde's portrait of Napoleon Salon.

(Public * * * field) As reported in the past, Wilde's propaganda speeches and works were so intense and inspiring. So that they are usually "welcomed by warm and spontaneous applause from the court galleries", and he chose these galleries to spread his own homosexual fantasies about the past.

Although Wilde used bold and elegant language in his "gay movement", all contemporary historians believe that, Few, if any, of his speeches are true. Wilde's fantasies and imaginative stories have been circulating since his time.

Wilde's plots were repeatedly used in the 19th and 2th centuries, and he always quoted the same Greek figure to express a point of view that never existed.

Judging from the beliefs and theories of many people in the world about ancient Greece and homosexuality, people can say that, Wilde's attempt to rewrite the sexual past in ancient Greece was quite successful, although it was completely untrue. In order to understand how the ancient Greeks viewed sex, one must investigate history with a fair attitude.

Historians must control their personal beliefs and sexual preferences when conducting historical research.

More importantly, not only because they are inconsistent with our modern beliefs and practices, Just to underestimate or ignore the existing historical data that clearly shows a certain cultural belief, 4 years ago, he wrote a book, based on the theory of painting works of art in thousands of vases that he found over the years.

Imagine if our future generations would judge our culture and society from the album cover of a gangster rapper or a pornographic DVD in a thousand years.

Would that represent billions of people today? On the other hand, Dover and Wilde certainly ignored some existing sources of information, which made us clearly understand the feelings of most ancient Greeks about romance and sex.

The plot of Aristotle's famous drama Lucistrata is one of them.

In this drama, Athenian women chose to have old love with their husbands in order to force them to stop the war with Sparta.

If homosexuality is so common in Athens, Such a strategy will be ineffective, because they can turn to each other to satisfy their own desires.

But what happened is that these people quickly surrendered and stopped their war, because they couldn't stand this compulsory abstinence. Lucistrata, an etching print originally created by Frédéric Auguste Laguillermie, Published in Almanach des Glasses (Paris), Jouaust/Librarie des Biblioglasses-Flammarion success.

(in the public domain), according to Persian and Indian historians, most men of Alexander the Great wanted to go home. Because they miss their women.

Alexander married roxanne and tried to encourage them to go with local women, but most of them were not gay, and they had a strong preference for Greek women.

In ancient Greece, There are hundreds of similar examples that can be used to refute the misinformation about homosexuality.

Greece's attitude towards homosexual attraction is not as tolerant or free as many people think.

Investigating the historical origin of homosexual "romance" among ancient Greeks will help anyone to come to the conclusion that there is a huge difference between realistic facts and nostalgic utopia.

Most importantly, It is very dangerous and immoral not to distinguish the two.

Above: The Fall of Titan (1588-159) by Cornelis van Haarlem, Colne.