The Myth Of The Ancient Greek 'Gay Utopia' - CURVE

Contents:

• 20 GAY GREEK GODS
• THE ELE GAY ARMY OF ANCIENT GREECETHE SACRED BAND OF THEB FEATED EVEN THE SPARTANSPETER PRKAR·FOLLOWPUBLISHED LSONS OM HISTORY·4 M READ·OCT 11, 2020--3SHAREGREEK WARRRS — ARTISTIC IMAGE (IMAGE:ARTSTATN/@ALIAKSANDR TRYZON)THE SACRED BAND WAS AN ELE ARY UN OM THEB PRISG 150 GAY UPL. AT THE BATTLE OF LCTRA 371 BC, THE 300 GAY WARRRS LED THE THEBAN ARMY AGAST THE SPARTAN ARMY. THE THEBANS WON AND SHATTERED THE SPARTAN NTROL OF GREECE.THE GREEK VIEW ON GAY WARRRSA MALE UPLE ENGAGG TERCRAL SEX. DEPICTED ON ANCIENT GREEK POTTERY (IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)THE THEBANS BELIEVED GAY WARRRS FOUGHT BETTER ORR TO IMPRS AND PROTECT THEIR LOVERS. IF A LOVER FELL DURG A BATTLE, HIS PARTNER WOULD FIGHT EVEN HARR TO AVENGE HIS ATH.THREE THOAND YEARS AGO ANCIENT GREECE, BEG GAY OR LBIAN WAS NOT A CRIME. IN FACT, CERTA SUATNS, THE GREEKS EVEN ENURAGED HOMOSEXUAL RELATNSHIPS.YOUNG BOYS EXCHANGED ROMANTIC FAVORS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE PROVID BY THEIR OLR TUTORS. FATHERS WOULD PRAY TO THE GODS FOR THEIR SONS TO BE ATTRACTIVE BEE MEANT A BETTER MENTOR. SUCH RELATNSHIPS LASTED UNTIL THE YOUNG BOYS REACHED ADULTHOOD.SOLDIERS WOULD FORM ROMANTIC RELATNSHIPS WH ONE ANOTHER TO BOOST THEIR MORALE.THE GREEK SOCIETY DIFFERENTIATED BETWEEN ACTIVE AND PASSIVE ROL BOTH GENRS TOOK DURG SEX. AN ACTIVE ROLE, BEG A PERATOR, MEANT MASCULY, ADULTHOOD, AND PRTIGE. A PASSIVE ROLE, BEG PERATED, REPRENTED FEMY, YOUTH, AND SHAME.FOR A RECEIVG PARTNER, ANAL SEX WAS MEANG. INSTEAD, THEY ENGAGED TERCRAL SEX.THE MEMBERS OF THE SACRED BAND OF THEB WERE ROMANTIC PARTNERS. THEY LLED AN OLR PARTNER THE ERAST (‘LOVER’) AND A YOUNGER ONE THE EROMENOS (‘BELOVED’). EACH PAIR EXCHANGED SACRED VOWS AT THE TEMPLE OF IOLS, THE LOVER OF HERACL.FACTS ABOUT THE SACRED BAND OF THEB
• THE MYTH OF THE ANCIENT GREEK ‘GAY UTOPIA’
• GAY DICTNARY GREEK
• GAY GREECE: QUEER CULTURE, LOL LIFE, AND WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW! ??
• TURKEY: PORTUGUE TOURIST SAYS HE WAS JAILED FOR LOOKG GAY
• WERE THE SPARTANS GAY? HOMOSEXUALY SPARTA, ANCIENT GREECE
• GREECE'S 1ST OPENLY GAY MISTER URG LGBTQ YOUTHS NOT TO PUT THEIR DREAMS ON HOLD
• THE MYTH OF THE ANCIENT GREEK ‘GAY UTOPIA’

20 GAY GREEK GODS

A gay cupbearer on Mount Olymp? While tolerance is often prented as a sign of civilizatn's advancement, a readg of Greek mythology reveals greater acceptance of homosexualy ancient Athens than n be boasted wh today's world religns.

The LGBT Greek gods and migods prove gay culture is no morn ventn. While Homer never explicly stat a gay relatnship between Achill and sikick Patrocl, many scholars read a romantic nnectn between the two, as only Patrocl ever drew out a passnate si to the famoly arrogant warrr.

Rearcher Johanna Hypatia-Cybelaia wr that lbian and gay vote worshipped her as Artemis Orthia, and that lbian port Pamphilia referred to the godss hymn as Artemis Pergaea. Above: Athena, center, a mural by John Sger SargentAphrodeWhile the godss of love is not intified promently as lbian herself, the Greek poet Sappho (as sapphic) of Lbos (y, as lbian) told many homoerotic tal and named Aphrode as the greatt patron and ally of lbians and homosexuals wh the Greek pantheon of gods. Above: Enrique Simo, El Juic Paris (1904)ErosWhile the bt-known myths of Eros pict the son of Aphrode as a fertily god -- the versn that proved spiratnal to the popularized Roman god Cupid -- later Greek myths portrayed Eros as one of several wged erot, and the one regard as a protector of homosexual culture, acrdg to rearch the scholarly book Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic the Ancient World.

THE ELE GAY ARMY OF ANCIENT GREECETHE SACRED BAND OF THEB FEATED EVEN THE SPARTANSPETER PRKAR·FOLLOWPUBLISHED LSONS OM HISTORY·4 M READ·OCT 11, 2020--3SHAREGREEK WARRRS — ARTISTIC IMAGE (IMAGE:ARTSTATN/@ALIAKSANDR TRYZON)THE SACRED BAND WAS AN ELE ARY UN OM THEB PRISG 150 GAY UPL. AT THE BATTLE OF LCTRA 371 BC, THE 300 GAY WARRRS LED THE THEBAN ARMY AGAST THE SPARTAN ARMY. THE THEBANS WON AND SHATTERED THE SPARTAN NTROL OF GREECE.THE GREEK VIEW ON GAY WARRRSA MALE UPLE ENGAGG TERCRAL SEX. DEPICTED ON ANCIENT GREEK POTTERY (IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)THE THEBANS BELIEVED GAY WARRRS FOUGHT BETTER ORR TO IMPRS AND PROTECT THEIR LOVERS. IF A LOVER FELL DURG A BATTLE, HIS PARTNER WOULD FIGHT EVEN HARR TO AVENGE HIS ATH.THREE THOAND YEARS AGO ANCIENT GREECE, BEG GAY OR LBIAN WAS NOT A CRIME. IN FACT, CERTA SUATNS, THE GREEKS EVEN ENURAGED HOMOSEXUAL RELATNSHIPS.YOUNG BOYS EXCHANGED ROMANTIC FAVORS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE PROVID BY THEIR OLR TUTORS. FATHERS WOULD PRAY TO THE GODS FOR THEIR SONS TO BE ATTRACTIVE BEE MEANT A BETTER MENTOR. SUCH RELATNSHIPS LASTED UNTIL THE YOUNG BOYS REACHED ADULTHOOD.SOLDIERS WOULD FORM ROMANTIC RELATNSHIPS WH ONE ANOTHER TO BOOST THEIR MORALE.THE GREEK SOCIETY DIFFERENTIATED BETWEEN ACTIVE AND PASSIVE ROL BOTH GENRS TOOK DURG SEX. AN ACTIVE ROLE, BEG A PERATOR, MEANT MASCULY, ADULTHOOD, AND PRTIGE. A PASSIVE ROLE, BEG PERATED, REPRENTED FEMY, YOUTH, AND SHAME.FOR A RECEIVG PARTNER, ANAL SEX WAS MEANG. INSTEAD, THEY ENGAGED TERCRAL SEX.THE MEMBERS OF THE SACRED BAND OF THEB WERE ROMANTIC PARTNERS. THEY LLED AN OLR PARTNER THE ERAST (‘LOVER’) AND A YOUNGER ONE THE EROMENOS (‘BELOVED’). EACH PAIR EXCHANGED SACRED VOWS AT THE TEMPLE OF IOLS, THE LOVER OF HERACL.FACTS ABOUT THE SACRED BAND OF THEB

The Sacred Band of Theb feated even the SpartansGreek warrrs — artistic image (Image:Artstatn/@Aliaksandr Tryzon)The Sacred Band was an ele ary un om Theb prisg 150 gay upl. At the Battle of Lctra 371 BC, the 300 gay warrrs led the Theban army agast the Spartan army.

THE MYTH OF THE ANCIENT GREEK ‘GAY UTOPIA’

The Thebans won and shattered the Spartan ntrol of Greek view on gay warrrsA male uple engagg tercral sex. Depicted on Ancient Greek pottery (Image: Wikimedia Commons)The Thebans believed gay warrrs fought better orr to imprs and protect their lovers. If a lover fell durg a battle, his partner would fight even harr to avenge his thoand years ago Ancient Greece, beg gay or lbian was not a crime.

In fact, certa suatns, the Greeks even enuraged homosexual boys exchanged romantic favors for the knowledge provid by their olr tutors. It wasn't homosexualy then, was jt sexualy. That's why, if morn texts there is even a ht of a same-sex storyle, you n probably bet some Christian scholar has dulled down and that the origal is more wonrfully gay than the versn we have now.

Left: Mid-century gay artist Gee Quatance certaly knew that sometim a Hydra is more than a Hydra. Depictns of Antas wh his legs the air were also found many gay men's hom the last century as a sort of visual to visors that they belonged to "the club.

GAY DICTNARY GREEK

This is perhaps the most lc of all the versns of this myth that we uld is no overtly homosexual si to the story of the battle between Antas and Hercul, yet the nsistent voluptuons of the var versns is hard to ny wh morn ey. This is another example of a sculpture found gay men's hom the middle of the last century -- sometim as a lamp ' son, Dmes, Kg of the Biston, Thrace, offers newers to his hors for dner. The were not solely sexual relatnships - they were ep and voted iendships full of love and passn, but probably ls sertive than what the morn-day gay man would Hermann Wilhelm Bissen, Hylas, 1846Plutarch, the Greek historian (and eventual Roman cizen), wrote that Hercul' list of male lovers was beyond numberg.

Its mercial succs led to a 1959 sequel, Hercul Hendrick Goltzi, Farne Hercul, 1592A perfect partg shot of Goltzi's etchg of the ancient Roman statue known as the Farne Hercul, which had been disvered the Baths of Caralla Rome 1546 and stalled a urtyard of the Farne fay's palace on the banks of the is not one thg about this etchg that is not supergay, om the credible renrg of the mcl to the morn-day queens peerg up om the right to the astoundgly phallic (uncut as well) pediment that Hercul rts on. The persistent dream of a “gay utopia” is one of the nstants gay and lbian historil imaggs over the last 200 years. One place particular attracted the longgs of gays and lbians.

This was the world of ancient Greece, a supposed gay paradise which same-sex love flourished whout discrimatn. It was a powerful, ptivatg dream, one which scholars of ancient Greece have started to pull apart, revealg a culture which homosexualy was much more regulated and ntrolled than prevly thought.

GAY GREECE: QUEER CULTURE, LOL LIFE, AND WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW! ??

Wil’s rponse has bee a classic of homosexual apologia:.

TURKEY: PORTUGUE TOURIST SAYS HE WAS JAILED FOR LOOKG GAY

In this spired fense of same-sex love, Wil created a genealogy of historil moments which homosexual love had blossomed. From the days of the Old Ttament through to the flourishg of culture Greece and the Renaissance, Wil sought to bear wns to a gay past of ee romantic exprsn.

Any ted homosexual the 19th century uld have given you a speech along much the same l, cg the same nonil figur and possibly a few more. Wil was tappg to a shared gay fantasy about the past, a fantasy which one culture stood out above all others, the world of Classil Greece.

It is hard to overstate the affectn wh which 19th-century homosexuals like Wil viewed the Greek world. Here was the utopia that they dreamed about – a place which homosexualy was not only accepted, but celebrated. In the warmth and light of the Mederranean, numero 19th- and early 20th-century gays and lbians sought to fleetgly repture visns of this lost paradise and recreate amongst s s.

WERE THE SPARTANS GAY? HOMOSEXUALY SPARTA, ANCIENT GREECE

This legacy ntued well to the 20th century, so much so that the homosexualy of the Greeks probably unts as one of Wtern culture’s worst kept secrets. Every time that the legal rights of gays and lbians have been discsed, somebody will evoke the Greeks.

Ined, the associatn between Greece and homosexualy is so strong that even anti-same-sex marriage advot are not above g to support their arguments.

In the US Supreme Court se that legalised same-sex marriage, one of the dissentg judg, Jtice Samuel Alo noted that while the Greeks and Romans approved of homosexual relatns, they never created an stutn of same-sex marriage.

GREECE'S 1ST OPENLY GAY MISTER URG LGBTQ YOUTHS NOT TO PUT THEIR DREAMS ON HOLD

Dried fish and fightg cks were the ancient homosexual equivalent of flowers and cholat. Myths relatg to homosexual love also rarely end well.

Ined, he was so succsful proselytisg for homosexualy that he upset the lol female followers of Dnys, the god of we and drama.

THE MYTH OF THE ANCIENT GREEK ‘GAY UTOPIA’

Passn, jealoy and ath are repeated motifs Greek homosexual myths. Osr Wil popularised the green rnatn as a symbol of homosexualy visibily.

Neverthels, all the efforts unrtaken by the Greeks to regulate the relatnships do challenge to nsir why societi are so ightened by love, not only gay, but straight sire also. A gay utopia may be possible, but is a project for the future, not a lost relic of the past. Theb veloped another approach, enuragg adult male/male homosexualy the ary, as was believed to epen the bonds between soldiers and make them fight more effectively, pecially if a lover fell durg battle.