i dont believe greeks had sex with boys?

Question

today my teacher said ancient greeks had sex with boys are you kidding me? no one could do that thats insane

Answer 1

The term 'boy' is often misused. Many cultures accept the idea that people become sexually active in their teens. The Greeks accepted this notion and instead of teenagers fornicating with teenagers of the opposite sex and producing children which could complicate marriage plans, etc, to avoid the whole issue of teteenage pregnancy teen males were encouraged to enage in same sex behavior. Some Greeks suggested that the ideal partner would be an older by perhaps a decade or so more worldly man who might in tire process impart knowledge and learning along with sex. When Christians began rearing their heads and condemning any sex outside of procreative sex they began besmirching the Greeks and using the phrase 'boys' much as does the media circa 2007. Most modern people think 'boy' is ten or younger. Even the Greeks disapprove of exploiting children.


Peace....

PS and the notion of 'homosexuality' and 'gay; are modern inventions - - - the term homosexual was not coined until the 1870's! ! People use to have sex and not feel the need to wear a label ..... Many Men in Greek and other cultures have wives & families, and if they have a 'boy.younger male' on the side, so what? At least 'Dad' isn't hang out at the restroom on the Interstate.

Answer 2

Homosexuality was an integral part of Greek culture and very accepted. I don't know what your teacher meant by saying boys; I'm sure some were and some were older, maybe lots older, like old men and young women today, which some find equally appalling. If both partners are of the age of consent it is really not anyones business who has sex with whom, but your teacher was trying to help you understand a social practice in an historical context. Open your mind and don't be so homophobic.

If you want to understand this I recommend reading "The Last of the Wine" by Mary Renault, although it might be beyond you now, perhaps in a few years.

Answer 3

It was really the upper classes that did so. Sparta, especially. The young boys were mentored by older soldiers, and that mentoring included sexual relations. Spartans made great soldiers, by the way.

Plato wrote a book, "The Symposium" that explores different kinds of love. The male/female relationship was seen as lesser than the "male/male" relationship.

Again, the lower classes did not practice this, and certain comedies by Aristophanes make reference to this difference between the rich and the poor.

It was a different culture with different standards. Today, such behavior would never been condoned, but thousands of years ago, it was the way of the elite of Greece.

By the way, you will now start to get all those "Greek" jokes you hear in the future.

Answer 4

They did! Alexander the Great was homosexual also. Most of the Spartans were homosexual as well . Study your ancient history and you might get your eyebrows raised . Romans and Greeks particularly the Spartans would pair up a younger male with an older male as a partner . Sometimes they would put these lovers or partners together to fight next to each other in combat. To make them more fierce.If you need referance books email me and I will give you the information.

Answer 5

You are making the biggest possible mistake that anybody can make when studying history, namely to judge the actions of the past by the standards of the present.

When you have studied the Greek culture enough to understand just how they lived, and why, and how they thought, and why certain things seemed completely normal to them, you will have learned some real history.

If you dismiss Greek culture, or any other culture, as insane just because it is different from our present one, you will never understand anything about history.

Answer 6

that would desire to be the Oedipus complicated, named after the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, wherein the main widespread character unwittingly marries his very own mom and has toddlers together with her. certainly, it quite is a valid theory, i've got faith proposed via Sigmund Freud. in spite of the incontrovertible fact that, individually, i want the guy I even have intercourse with to be as a methods faraway from my mom as achievable. probably as a results of fact I despise my mom, yet it quite is yet another concern fullyyt. additionally, on an unrelated be conscious, i've got faith there is an opposing theory that one and all women folk have a matching unrequited sexual want for their fathers.

Answer 7

It's true.

There are lots of ancient vases with scenes painted on it, as well as ancient poetry that shows that men often had sexual relationships with younger men or boys.

At least they waited until the boy went through puberty. Having sex with a boy who had not yet hit puberty was taboo to them.

Answer 8

As somebody said, term "boys" is often misused. Those were young man who usually had their mentors in older man, and that mentoring included sometimes gay relationships. It was happening in higher classes only because only they had education. If you read Plato you will see a lot of examples for that "special" kind of relations which couldn't be developed with women (women didn't have that kind of education). You must understand that those mentors were something like idols to young man, because they had long discussions with them about philosophy, ethics, etc, and they gave them moral example. They couldn't have that with women, so man-with-man relations were something special in that time (sex was secondary, but included).

Answer 9

You are judging them by today's standards. Read up more on the topic and you will learn about the Greek concept of love and how it differs dramatically from yours.

Answer 10

Of course they did the Greeks and Romans believed in...
-Gay pedophilia
-Gay relationship
-Orgies
-Festival for the sake of orgies (Bacchanalian festival)
-Whore houses or as I call it 'Afternoon Delights'

And the Romans also believed in
-Beastiality

The Greeks also had a elite unit in their history called the Sacred Band of Thebes (or as I call it the Gay Brigade) made up of 300 gay Greeks.