Was Plato the only Greek gay?

Contents:

• WAS PLATO THE ONLY GREEK GAY?
• PLATO DO COLORADO: WERE THE ANCIENT GREEKS MORN GAYS?
• WAS PLATO GAY? AND SOCRAT? WHO UNRSTANDS PHILOSOPHY….?

WAS PLATO THE ONLY GREEK GAY?

In the current ntroversi over homosexualy and gay rights, much attentn has been voted to the example of ancient Greece. However, a vague imprsn also exists that, prr to s reprsn by Christiany, homosexualy enjoyed an untroubled, even honored, place classil tim, particularly Athens.

For the purpose of ntemporary polemics, Athenian achievements polics, art, and philosophy have been voked as powerful proof that public acceptance of homosexualy, far om ditg a cle our civilizatn, might actually promise humanistic renewal. The ancient Athenians celebrated homosexualy, and Athens, spe slavery and phallocracy, was one of the tly great human muni. For example, the fall of 1993, distguished historians of ancient Greece and ement moral philosophers appeared a su brought by var dividuals (cludg celebri like Marta Navratilova) agast the state of Colorado for s nstutnal amendment which overturned municipal gay-rights ordanc.

PLATO DO COLORADO: WERE THE ANCIENT GREEKS MORN GAYS?

At stake was the qutn of whether legal rtrictns on homosexual nduct rt on a ratnal basis or, rather, are the product of mere prejudice or Christian theology, particularly, as Nsbm’s affidav put , “of a philosophil and moral tradn associated wh one branch of Christiany: Roman Catholicism.

Neverthels, appears that when we ligate over homosexualy now, the nam of Socrat, Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, and Demosthen may bee — if not as mon our mouths as hoehold words — almost as mon as referenc to Ksey, He, and Masters and Johnson.

A subject as plex as homosexualy and Greek society, when studied closely will, of urse, reveal subtleti and differenc that are not ptured by rough historil characterizatn.

WAS PLATO GAY? AND SOCRAT? WHO UNRSTANDS PHILOSOPHY….?

On the one hand, the current assumptn that homosexual sire was mon and accepted wh certa social class ancient Athens is right — anyone who has ever read Plato’s Symposium knows that. On the other hand, the claim that homosexual liftyl as currently practiced were also mon and accepted is wrong — or at bt highly misleadg — and should be known to be such by any reful stunt of the ancient world. Social mor Athens did not ndone sual sex wh multiple partners; moreover, longterm, monogamo homosexual unns, where they were tolerated, did not exactly have equal stat wh heterosexual marriage and fai.

Dover, the most ement livg historian on this subject, and an open sympathizer wh current liberalizg tennci, wr his book, Greek Homosexualy: “On growg up, any Greek muny, the eromenos [the younger, passive object of the attentns of the erast, an olr male] graduated om pupil to iend, and the ntuance of an erotic relatnship was disapproved, as was such a relatnship between evals.