Classical Studies 3400E Chapter Notes -Pederasty In Ancient Greece, Sophrosyne, Bsc Young Boys
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18 Nov 2011
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1. What are the recurring themes in the literature of homoerotic desire?
(jealousy, break-ups, youthful beauty, infidelity, horses/sailing, the pleasure and
pain of love),
2. How are lesbians portrayed? Is there any attention given to the mechanics of
lesbian lovemaking? (NB: lesbians as sexually rapacious. No attention given
over to mechanics, not even by Sappho. And the penetrative model is at work
here). Sappho lived in the city of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos from about
630 BCE onwards. It is not known when she died. Biographical sources mention
parents, three brothers, a husband, and a daughter.
3. Are there recognized roles for lesbian lovers to play, as there are for male
lovers? No.
4. How is the eromenos (the pursued boy) portrayed? (often as young and
beautiful, unfaithful, headstrong, some are unwilling to yield, How is the erastes
(the older male pursuer) portrayed? (as sexually eager, almost powerless,
jealous) ; answered in upcoming lecture
5. How is male-to-male lovemaking/erotic contact portrayed? What are the
ideals? (Symp: one young boy, one elder; no lewdness; intellectual love;
seduction not likely; democratic in nature; the eromenos feels no desire; very
young boys should not be pursued; eromenos should be noble and virtuous; elder
man does the pursuing; ‘two classes of lover’). Ongoing question: is it base to
yield to your lover (see p. 46 where Plato is extremely vague on this question.
Depends on the way the boy yields, to whom, and why)
6. How does Plato characterize homoerotic desire (in the Phaedrus and the
Symposium passages: (as exalted and pure). Heteroerotic (as earthly and vulgar)
7. What role does Eros play in homoerotic behavior? Aphrodite? Interestingly,
the Greek word for intercourse (aphrodisia) is applied to heterosexual and
homosexual intercourse.
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