Pederastic relationships in classical antiquity

"for other times and places"In classical antiquity there were many known pederastic relationships between adult men and adolescent boys. In some of these cases both members became well-known historical figures, while in others, only one of the two may have, or only the relationship itself.

Though all such relationships were by definition homoerotic in nature, the individuals involved did not identify themselves as homosexuals, but rather as ordinary men having ordinary desires. The nature of the relationships have ranged from overtly sexual to what is now referred to as platonic, in accordance with ancient ethical and philosophical standards. [Hubbard, Thomas K. "Introduction" to "Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents". Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. pg. 9.]

In the following list the pairs are listed in chronological order, and the name of the older partner precedes that of the younger. Though many more men are known to have engaged in such relationships, only those instances in which the name of the younger partner is known are included. In keeping with ancient traditions which promoted chaste pederastic relationships "(See Philosophy of Greek pederasty)" included below are also relationships in which there is evidence of an erotic component even in the absence of actual sexual relations.

Ancient Greece

Archaic period in Greece

*Peisistratus and Charmus
**Later in life, Charmus would name his own son after Peisistratus' second son, Hipparchus, and give his daughter, Myrrhina, in marriage to Hippias, his old erastes' son. [Plutarch, The Lives, "Solon"]

*Charmus and Hippias
**After having been the eromenos of the father, Charmus, by now a polemarch, became the erastes of the son, who later also became his son-in-law. In Charmus' honor, a statue of Eros was erected, either by Pisistratus or Hippias, before the entrance of the Akademia, where the runners in the sacred torch race lit their torches. The inscription claimed that Charmus had been the first to dedicate to love, :::"Eros of many devices, Charmus built you this altar:::"Among the shady boundaries of the gymnasium. [Plutarch,"Solon" 1.7; Pausanias, 1.30.1; Athen., xiii. 609D]

*Prokleides and Hipparchus
**Prokleides, an important citizen, as behooves the erastes of a ruler's son, also is known for setting up the Hermes Trikephalos, a three-headed road-marker statue, on the Hestia Road. [Rommel Mendès-Leite et al. "Gay Studies from the French Cultures" p.157]

*Aristogeiton and Harmodius
**Heroic couple, later lionized by the Athenian democrats, whose 514 BCE plot to assassinate Hippias was credited with the overthrow of tyranny in Athens. [Richard Hunter, Ed. "Plato's Symposium (Oxford Approaches to Classical Literature)" p.52]

Classical Greece

*Parmenides of Elea and Empedocles
**The younger philosopher was first student and later the eromenos of Parmenides, according to Porphyry in his Philosophical History. ["Suda," epsilon.1002]

*Hiero I of Syracuse and Daelochus
**Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse surrounded himself with pederastic intellectuals and had a number of lovers. Around 470 BCE, on being challenged by Simonides on the ethics of being a pederast while a tyrant, he replied: "My passion for Daelochus arises from the fact that human nature perhaps compels us to want from the beautiful, but I have a very strong desire to attain the object of my passion [only] with his love and consent." [Xenophon, "Hiero," I.31-38]

*Phidias and Agoracritus
**The youth, both beloved and student of the sculptor, is also known for his sculpture of Nemesis at Rhamnus. [Pausanias, IX.34.1 "In the temple are bronze images of Itonian Athena and Zeus; the artist was Agoracritus, pupil and loved one of Pheidias." "(...technê de Agorakritou, mathêtou te kai erômenou Pheidiou.)"]

*Phidias and Pantarkes
**Pantarkes, was an Elian youth and winner of the boys' wrestling match at the 86th Olympics in 436 BCE. He modeled for one of the figures sculpted in the throne of the Olympian Zeus, and Phidias, to honor him, carved "Kalos Pantarkes" into the god's little finger. [Plutarch, "Erotikos;"] [Pausanias, V.11.3. "The figure of one binding his own head with a ribbon is said to resemble in appearance Pantarces, a stripling of Elis said to have been the love of Pheidias. Pantarces too won the wrestling-bout for boys at the eighty-sixth Festival." "(ton de hauton tainiai tên kephalên anadoumenon eoikenai to eidos Pantarkei legousi, meirakion de Êleion ton Pantarkê paidika einai tou Pheidiou: aneileto de kai en paisin ho Pantarkês palês nikên Olumpiadi hektêi pros tais ogdoêkonta.)"] [Clement of Alexandria, "Protrepticus," 53, 4; "The Athenian Phidias inscribed on the finger of the Olympian Jove, Pantarkes is beautiful. It was not Zeus that was beautiful in his eyes, but the man he loved."]

*Anytus and Alcibiades
**Anytus was one of the lovers whom Alcibides grew to despise. Anytus defended the young Alcibiades to his guests on the occasion of a symposium during which the boy entered the room only to make off with half the cups on the table. Rather than agreeing with the guests who accused Alcibides of insolence and contempt, Anytus claimed the boy did him a kindness, since he could just as easily have walked off with all the cups. [Plutarch, "Amatorius" 17 ("Moralia").]

*Callicles and Demus
**According to Plato's dialog, Callicles love for the beautiful son of Pyrilampes, of whom graffiti declaring "Demus is beautiful" "(Demon kalon)" were scribbled through the city in the 420s, [Aristophanes, "Wasps," 95-100] paralleled Callicles' love for the Athenian "demos," or populace. [Plato, "Gorgias" (483b - 484c)]

*Lysander and Agesilaus II
**Lysander had been the "eispnelas" of Agesilaus in the late 430s and was instrumental in the latter's rise to kingship, only to be spurned by him once he rose to power in 399 BCE. [Paul Cartledge, "Spartan Reflections," p.104]

*Callias III and Autolycus
**The relationship between the two, in 421 BCE, is touched upon in Xenophon's "Symposium", where Callias entertains both the boy and the father. [Xenophon, "Symposium"]

*Themistocles and Stesilaus of Ceos
**Around 420 BCE Themistocles competed for the boy's love with Aristides. As Plutarch recounts, "... they were rivals for the affection of the beautiful Stesilaus of Ceos, and were passionate beyond all moderation." [Plutarch, "The Lives," "Themistocles"]

*Archidamus and Cleonymus
**Archidamus, son of Agesilaus II, is described by Xenophon to have been in love with the handsome son of Sphodrias. The boy asked his "eispnelas" to intervene with the king in favor of his father in a life and death legal matter, promising that Archidamus would never be ashamed to have befriended him. That proved to be so, as he was the first Spartan to die at the battle of Leuctra. [Xenophon, "Hellenica" 5.4]

*Artaxerxes II of Persia and Tiridates
**The Persian king, distraught at the death of his beloved eunuch, found consolation in placing the dead youth's cloak over the shoulders of Aspasia, his Greek hetaira. [Aelian, Var. Hist. 12.1]

*Archelaus I of Macedon and Craterus (or Crateuas)
**The king of Macedon was assassinated in 399 BCE by this eromenos, upon reneging on a promise to give the boy his daughter in marriage. [Aelian, "Varia Historia, 8.9]

*Lysias and Theodotus
**Though already in his early fifties, Lysias took on an eromenos from Platea. The youth, however, had already signed a companionship contract with a certain Simon, who, claiming prior rights to the boy, proceeded to stalk him, resorting to several kidnapping attempts. As a result of that, and the street brawls which ensued, the case was heard before the Areopagus. [Lysias, "Against Simon," 1-26,44, 47-48] [John Addington Symonds, "A problem in Greek Ethics," XII, p.64]

*Epaminondas and Micythus
**In order to influence the Theban general, Artaxerxes II of Persia sent Diomedon of Cyzicus with a large sum of money to bribe Epaminondas. Diomedon gave five talents to Micythus, who proceeded to advance the man's views to his lover. Epaminondas, however, refused to be bribed and instructed his eromenos to return the money immediately to Diomedon, or else he would turn him over to the magistrates. [Cornelius Nepos, "Lives of Eminent Commanders," XV "Epaminondas" 4]

*Pelopidas and Philip II of Macedon
**Starting in 367, at the age of fifteen, Philip spent three years as a hostage in Thebes. There he lived at the house of Pammenes. The relationship with Pelopidas was attested in antiquity [Dio Chrysostom, 49.5] but contested by some modern commentators who deem the connection too schematic to have existed. [Stephen O. Murray, "Homosexualities" p.42] .

*Demosthenes and Cnosion
**After the orator took in his young beloved, his wife is said to have bedded the boy in a fit of jealousy, [Athenaeus of Naucratis, "The Deipnosophists" Book XIII "Concerning Women"(Page III)] though Aeschines claims that it was Demosthenes who put his own wife in bed with the youth so as to get children by him. [Aeschines, "On the Embassy," 2.149]

*Demosthenes and Aristarchus
**Much of what is known about this relationship comes from the speeches of Demosthenes' enemy, Aeschines. He accuses Demosthenes of having been such a bad erastes to Aristarchus so as not even to deserve the name. Among his alleged crimes are his complicity in Aristarchus' murder of Nicodemus of Aphidna, whose eyes and tongue were gouged out. This murder took place while the youth was under Demosthenes' tutelage. [Aeschines, "On the Embassy," 148-150] Another misdeed of Demosthenes, the one allegedly disqualifying him from calling himself an erastes, is his pillaging of Aristarchus' estate. He is alleged to have pretended being in love with the youth so as to get his hands on the boy's inheritance, which he is said to have squandered and from which he is said to have taken three talents upon Aristarchus' fleeing into exile so as to avoid a trial. [Dover, J.K., op.cit. pp.46-47]

*Darius III of Persia and Bagoas
**Bagoas was the favorite of Darius, who was said to have been "intimate" with him. [Curtius, Historiae Alexandri Magni, vi. 5; x. 1]

*Polemon (scholarch) and Crates of Athens
**The friendship between the older philosopher, head of Plato's Academy, and his student who succeeded him at the helm, was legendary. The two were buried in the same tomb, and Hesychius says of them that,:::"Krates and Polemon loved each other so well that they not only were occupied in life with the same work, but they almost drew breath simultaneously; and in death they shared the same grave. On account of which, Archesilaus, who visited them in company with Theophrastus, spoke of them as gods, or survivors from the Golden Age." [Iolaus, An Anthology: II. The Place of Friendship in Greek Life and Thought]

*Medius of Larissa and Iollas
**The Macedonian youth was the youngest son of Antipater and a page "(pais basilikos)" and wineboy of Alexander the Great during the later stages of his Asian campaign. The last house Alexander visited before taking to bed with his final illness was that of his friend Medius, and Iolaus is rumored to have been the one to administer the poisoned cup which, according to some, killed Alexander in 323. Queen Olympias was among those who was of the opinion that he was one of the murderers of her son, and had his grave overturned shortly after his death in 317. [Waldemar Heckel (Ed.) "Who's who in the Age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire" p.143]

Hellenistic Greece

*"'Crantor and Arcesilaus
**"Arcesilaus being beautiful and still in the bloom of youth gained the love of Crantor the Academic, and attached himself to him; and being not without natural ability, he let it run its swift and easy course." [Eusebius of Caesarea: "Praeparatio Evangelica" VI] In time, Arcesilaus ascended to the leadership of the Academy. The relationship with Crantor was long-lasting. They lived together and took their meals in common with another pair of co-habiting lovers and philosophers, Polemon and Crates. [Louis Crompton, "Homosexuality & Civilization" p.59]

*Dionysius the Renegade and Panculus
**According to Diogenes Laertius, Panculus was Dionysus' "eromenos". [Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Book VI]

*Antigonus II Gonatas and Aristocles
**"Aristocles the harp-singer was the beloved of King Antigonus, concerning whom Antigonus of Carystus, in his Life of Zeno, writes as follows: 'King Antigonus used to have revels at the house of Zeno. On one occasion, coming away from a drinking-party at daybreak, he rushed to the house of Aristocles the harp-singer, whom the king loved greatly.'" [Athenaeus of Naucratis, "The Deipnosophists," Book XIII Concerning Women (Page III)]

*Archeboulus the Theran and Euphorion of Chalcis
**Euphorion, after studying philosophy with Lakydes and Prytanis, became the student and beloved of the poet Archeboulus. ["Suda," epsilon.3801]

*Cleomenes III and Panteus
**According to Plutarch, Panteus was "the most beautiful and valorous youth of Sparta." Later he joined his inspirer in death - when Cleomenes took his own life upon being exiled to Egypt, Panteus, seeing that he could still knit his brows, "...kissed him and raised him. Holding the body next to him, he plunged his sword into his own breast." [John Addington Symonds, op.cit. X p.14]

*Ptolemy VI Philometor and Galestes
**The king loved the boy not only for his good looks but also for his wisdom. Ca. 170-140 BCE [Aelian, "Varia Historia," I.30]

Ancient Rome

Roman Republic

*Gaius Lucilius and Gentius (and Macedo)
**In his poetry, Lucilius blames a praetor for having stolen Gentius from him, and predicts the boy will return. The satirist was blamed in later antiquity for having "prostituted" his lovers by using their actual names in his poem, instead of veiling them, as other authors were wont to do, by the use of pseudonyms. [Amy Richlin, "The Garden of Priapus: Sexuality and Aggression in Roman Humor" p. 165] [Lucilius, 273, 274] [Apuleius, "Defense" 10]

*Antiochus XI Epiphanes and Aristus
**"And it was very seldom that he transacted the affairs of his kingdom when he was sober, but much more frequently when he was drunk; on which account there were two men about him who managed all the real business of the state as they pleased, namely Aristus and Themison, Cyprians by birth, and brothers; and they were both on terms of the greatest intimacy with Antiochus." [Athenaeus, "Deipnosophistes" X.438 (Yonge 51)] [M.-H.-E. Meier, "Histoire de l'Amour Grec dans l'Antiquite" p.63]

*Gaius Scribonius Curio (the younger) and Marc Antony
**Cicero accuses Marc Antony of having surrendered his "pudicitia" (sexual integrity) to Gaius as soon as he had donned his adult toga (customary at the age of fourteen in Roman times). [Craig A. Williams, "Pudicitia"and "Pueri:" Roman Concepts of Male Sexual Experience" in "Queer Representations," Ed. Martin Duberman, p.28]

*Marc Antony and Dellius
**Dellius was the paidika of Antony and later attempted to procure for him the services of Aristobulus, the sixteen year old brother in law of Herod, brother of his wife Mariamne, which Herod refused, as he knew what purpose the boy would be put to. [Josephus, "Ant." 15:25-30 ]

Roman Empire

*Nero and Sporus
**According to Suetonius, "He castrated the boy Sporus and actually tried to make a woman of him; and he married him with all the usual ceremonies, including a dowry and a bridal veil, took him to his home attended by a great throng, and treated him as his wife. [...] This Sporus, decked out with the finery of the empresses and riding in a litter, he took with him to the courts and marts of Greece, and later at Rome through the Street of the Images, fondly kissing him from time to time." [Suetonius, "The Lives of Twelve Caesars", Life of Nero [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Nero*.html#28 28] ]

*Vitellius and Asiaticus
**First slave and catamite of Vitellus, the boy ran away, was found, imprisoned, reinstated in his former position, sold as gladiator, recovered again, freed and finally knighted by his lover on his first day as emperor in 69 CE, to whom he became a trusted adviser for the short duration of his reign. [Suetonius, "The Twelve Caesars" IX.12]

*Aulus Pudens and Encolpus
**The poet Martial (around 90 CE) celebrated the love of his centurion friend for his young slave, in several epigrams describing their mutual love and the cruelty of the boy who decides to cut his hair to the consternation of his master. [Craig Williams, "Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity," p.33] [Martial, "Epigrams," I.31; V.48]

*Domitian and Earinos
**A number of poets hurried to flatter the emperor by praising his beloved, a slave eunuch who was compared to Ganymede. Domitian decreed that thenceforth castration would be forbidden. [Craig Williams, "Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity," p.33] [Statius, Silvae, IV 3. Translation is from Publius Papinius Statius, Silvae IV, edited with an English translation and commentary by K.M. Coleman, New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Latin: "... fortem vetat interire sexum et censor prohibet mares adultos pulchrae supplicium timere formae."] [Dio Cassius, LXVII 2.3.] [Martial, "Epigrams," IX.16, 17, 36]

*Trajan and Arbandes
**Trajan's love of youths influenced even his governing, leading him, around 115 CE, to favour the king of Edessa in Mesopotamia out of appreciation for his handsome son: "On this occasion, however, Abgarus, induced partly by the persuasions of his son Arbandes, who was handsome and in the pride of youth and therefore in favor with Trajan, and partly by his fear of the latter's presence, he met him on the road, made his apologies and obtained pardon, for he had a powerful intercessor in the boy." [Dio Cassius, Epitome of Book LXVIII; 21.2–3]

*Emperor Hadrian and Antinous
**The Roman emperor met this 13 or 14 years old boy from Bithynia in 124 CE. Antinous was deified by Hadrian, when he died six years later. Many statues, busts, coins and reliefs display Hadrian's deep affections for him: http://antinoos.info/antinous.htm

*Herodes Atticus and Polydeukion
**Herodes emulated Hadrian in establishing a heroic cult for the boy upon his early death ca. 174 CE. [Giovanni Dall'Orto,"Saggi di storia gay > Biografie di personaggi gay > Erode àttico" "Erode Attico ebbe amori omosessuali che non si preoccupò di rendere pubblici. Quello che fece più parlare di sé fu l'ultimo, perché quando ad Atene l'adolescente "discepolo" Pollùce (Polydeukes / Polydeukion / Polideuce)" [http://www.giovannidallorto.com/biografie/erodeattico/erodeattico.html] ]

*Hierocles and Elagabalus
**The teenaged emperor called the charioteer Hierocles his "husband" and wanted to appoint the blond man from Caria as his successor. [Dio Cassius, Epitome of Book LXXX; 15.1-4] That was one of the reasons why the young monarch was later killed as his grandmother Julia Maesa started to favour her other grandson Alexander Severus.

*Ptolemy and Eutropius
**Eutropius, an Armenian or Assyrian slave castrated at birth, was derided for having had many masters, beginning with Ptolemy, a groom or soldier in the imperial stables of Byzantium. Promised his freedom by his master, he was instead given as a gift (being still too young to be bought) to the general Arintheus, whom he served as pander. [Claudian, "Against Eutropius" Loeb edition p.143-145] [Edward Gibbon "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:" p.325N7; Published 1899 P. F. Collier & Son, 1899]

ee also

*Greek love
*Homosexuality
*Pederasty
*Pederasty in ancient Greece
*Sodomy

ources

;General
*Louis Crompton. "Homosexuality and Civilization," Cambridge, Mass. and London, 2003. ISBN 0-674-01197-X
*Michel Larivière. "Homosexuels et bisexuels célèbres," Delétraz Editions, 1997. ISBN 2-911110-19-6

;Ancient Greece
*Kenneth J. Dover. "Greek Homosexuality," New York; Vintage Books, 1978. ISBN 0-394-74224-9
*Thomas K. Hubbard. "Homosexuality in Greece and Rome," U. of California Press, 2003. [http://www.utexas.edu/courses/cc348hubbard/] ISBN 0-520-23430-8
*Harald Patzer. "Die Griechische Knabenliebe [Greek Pederasty] ," Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1982. In: Sitzungsberichte der Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Vol. 19 No. 1.
*Carola Reinsberg. "Ehe, Hetärentum und Knabenliebe im antiken Griechenland", C.H.Beck Verlag, München 1993. ISBN 3-406-37374-7
*Eva Cantarella, Cormac O Cuilleanain. "Bisexuality in the Ancient World ", Yale University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-300-04844-0
*W. A. Percy III." Pederasty and Pedagogy in Archaic Greece," University of Illinois Press, 1996. ISBN 0-252-02209-2

References

External links

* [http://www.androphile.org/ World history of homosexual and pederastic relationships]