Eros in Classical Greece Flashcards
Definition of Eros
Physical and spiritual, sexuality, passion, desire, affection
Male sexual morality in classical Greece
For a man, there were several kinds of social accepted sexuality:
- With his wife
- With hetairai, prostitutes and concubines, both before and after marriage – if it didn’t cause problems for the household
- Upper classes that adult males had relations with younger males before they became fully adult (pederasty = ‘the love of boys’)
Other sexual relations were not accepted:
- Male adulterer – who had relations with a respectable Athenian who was not his wife
- Sexual relations between adult men were viewed negatively
- Male prostitution was highly dishonorable
Modern theories on Greek ‘homosexuality’
- For some, pederasty derived from initiation rites in rituals
- In any case, pederasty played a very important role in the transition from childhood to adulthood, especially among the upper classes
The context of Greek Pederasty: the sexual identity of the young
**Because children grew into their gender = homosexuality cant be defined
Erastes and Eromenos
Erastes: the lover, adult male
Eromenos: the beloved, adolescent
Places of Homosexual Relationships
symposium and gymnasium
Function of the Erastes and Eromenos relationship
- Relationship of adult members with the younger ones was intended to introduce them to the relationship between members of the group and the polis itself
- Adult tried to build special relationship with the new member of the group
- His role was a mentor/guide who taught the young through praise and blame
- Relationship happened in a period of transition when sexual ID is uncertain
- After coming of age of the eromenos, their relationship was not supposed to be sexual anymore
- Homosexuality between two adults was severely blamed
Gods of the Gymnasium
- Hercules (physical)
- Hermes (intellectual)
- Eros (love)
- Agon (competition)
- Slaves cannot be an eromenos, cannot love of follow a boy – will be whipped
- At school, no one older than the boys can enter or they’ll be killed
- Inscriptions at the gymnasium of Thera tell who has had sex with who
Concubines - pallakai
-Lived in a permanent or a long term relationship with a man who they weren’t married to
Prostitutes - pornai
-Slaves or free, worked for money in brothels, homes, etc.
Courtesans - hetairai
-Female entertainers, sometimes educated and sophisticated women
- Not a citizen, usually foreigner
- Took part in banquets and symposia
The image of the hetaira
-Representation of sex
The Wife
- Relationship between husband and legitimate wife = production of heirs, this is the aspect privileged by literary sources and art
- Doesn’t mean that Eros was absent from relationship
