Greek Homosexuality: Updated and with a new Postscript

314 Pages·1989·37.02 MB·english

by  K. J. Dover

GREEK HOMOSEXUALITY
BlANK PAGE
GREEK
HOMOSEXUALITY
Updated and with a new Postscript
K.J. Dover
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Copyright © 1978, 1989 by K.J. Dover
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dover, Kenneth James.
Greek homosexuality I K.J. Dover.-Updated and with a
new postcript.
p. em.
Bibliography: p.
Includes indexes.
1. Homosexuality-Greece-History. 2. Homosexuality
Law and legislation-Greece-History. 3. Homosexuality in
art-History. 4. Homosexuality in literature-History.
5. Greece-Civilization-To 146 B.C. I. Title.
HQ76.3.G8D68 1989
306.76'6'09495-dc20 89-34289
CIP
ISBN 0-674-36261-6
ISBN 0-674-36270-5 (pbk.)
Illustrations
Thanks are due to the many museums holding vases reproduced in
this book (see List of Vases, pp. 205-226), who have been most
helpful in providing prints. Special permission is acknowledged from
the following: National Museum, Copenhagen for B 16, R 1027; the
Director of Antiquities and the Cyprus Museum for B65; Musee du
Louvre, Paris, and Chuzeville, Paris., for B 166, B462, B4 70, B494,
C19,, R59, R348, R422, R454, R659; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
for B342, B598a and b. R223, R456, R577, R603, R651, R783;
Antikenmuseum, Staatliche Museum Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
Berlin (West) for BB24, R196a, R259, R303, R970, R1127; Musee
du Petit l>alais, Paris, and Etablissements Bulloz, Paris, for R414;
Mr Walter Bareiss and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
for R462; Tony Raubitschek for R547; the Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge for R684; the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
(David M. Robinson bequest) for R712a and b; Soprintendente aile
Antichita, Firenze for R867.
Contents
Preface
Vll
Abbreviations
lX
I PROBLEMS, SOURCES AND METHODS
1 Scale 1
2 The Visual Arts 4
3 Literature 9
4 Vocabulary 15
II THE PROSECUTION OF TIMARKHOS
A The Law
1 Male Prostitution 19
2 Penalties 23
3 Status 31
4 Hubris 34
B Manifestations of Eros
1 Defences against a Charge of Prostitution 39
2 Eros and Desire 42
3 Eros and Love 49
4 Following and Fighting 54
5 Homosexual Poetry 57
C Nature and Society
1 Natura/Impulse 60
2 Male and Female Physique 68
3 Masculine and Feminine Styles 73
Greek Homosexuality
VI
4 Pursuit and Flight 81
5 Courtship and Copulation 91
6 Dominant and Subordinate Roles 100
III SPECIAL ASPECTS AND DEVELOPMENTS
A Publicity 111
B Predilections and Fantasies 124
C Comic Exploitation 135
D Philosophical Exploitation 153
E Women and Homosexuality 171
IV CHANGES
A The Dorians 185
B Myth and History 196
Postscript, 1989 204
List of Vases 207
Bibliography 228
Index of Greek Texts and Documents 235
Index of Greek Words 240
General Index 243
Preface
This book has a modest and limited aim: to describe those phenomena
of homosexual behaviour and sentiment which are to be found in Greek
art and literature between the eighth and second centuries B.C., and so
to provide a basis for more detailed and specialised exploration (which
I leave to others) of the sexual aspects of Greek art, society and
morality.
In an article published seventy years ago Erich Bethe observed that
the intrusion of moral evaluation, 'the deadly enemy of science', had
vitiated the study of Greek homosexuality; and it has continued to do
so. A combination of love of Athens with hatred of homosexuality
underlies the judgments that homosexual relations were 'a Dorian sin,
0
cultivated by a tiny minority at Athens' .A.K. Thomson, ignoring the
evidence of the visual arts) or that they were 'regarded as disgraceful
both by law and ... by general opinion' (A.E. Taylor, ignoring the
implications of the text to which he refers in his footnote). A
combination of love of Greek culture in general with an inability or
unwillingness to recognise behavioural distinctions which were of great
importance within that culture generates statements to the effect that
'homosexuality' tout court or 'pederasty' was forbidden by law in most
Greek cities (Flaceliere, Marrou). I know of no topic in classical studies
on which a scholar's normal ability to perceive differences and draw
inferences is so easily impaired; and none on which a writer is so likely
to be thought to have said what he has not said or to be charged with
omitting to say something which he has said several times. From
personal knowledge I endorse Karlen's comment that 'Some (sc. public
and academic experts on sex) are secret homosexuals, their "research"
disguised apologetics. Other researchers and clinicians reveal in
private a vengeful hatred toward sexual deviants that they would never
display in print or in public.' Naturally, I cannot see my own blind
spots or explain adequately why my own attitude is what it is, but I will
describe it briefly, so that the reader may bear it in mind.
Established linguistic usage compels me to treat 'heterosexual' and
'homosexual' as antithetical, but if I followed my inclination I would
replace 'heterosexual' by 'sexual' and treat what is called 'homosex
uality' as a subdivision of the 'quasi-sexual' (or 'pseudo-sexual'; not
Greek Homosexuality
VIII
'parasexual'). Anyone who wishes to make an impression on me by
ascribing my inclination to prejudice must first persuade me that he has
made a serious attempt to distinguish between prejudice and judg
ment.
No argument which purports to show that homosexuality in general
is natural or unnatural, healthy or morbid, legal or illegal, in confor
mity with God's will or contrary to it, tells me whether any particular
homosexual act is morally right or morally wrong. I am fortunate in not
experiencing moral shock or disgust at any genital act whatsoever, pro
vided that it is welcome and agreeable to all the participants (whether
they number one, two or more than two). Any act may be-to me, or to
any other individual-aesthetically attractive or aesthetically repulsive.
Any act may be committed in furtherance of a morally good or morally
bad intention. Any act may have good or bad consequences. No act is
sanctified, and none is debased, simply by having a genital dimension.
Some readers, especially if they are familiar with previous treatment
of the subject, may be surprised by the distribution of emphasis in this
book; I have dealt comparatively briefly with some famous people and
places (Sappho, Socrates, Sparta) and more fully than is usual with
such topics as graffiti, legal terminology and the details of bodily stim
ulus and response. The reason is that the question which I have tried to
answer is not a question about the famous but about Greek society in
general. Readers may also be surprised that I do not say very much
explicitly about relations between men and women. I ask these readers
to remember first, that the book is about a single element in Greek
sexual life, and secondly, that my primary object is to describe what is
most easily and clearly observed, offering such explanations as are
prompted by everyday experience (in which what actually matters to
people is often quite different from what 'ought' to matter) and
attempting (not with uniform success) to restrain myself from
speculation at more theoretical levels.
Originally it was intended that Professor George Devereux and I
should write this book in collaboration. Pressure of other commit
ments made it impossible for Professor Devereux to contribute to the
book, but I have invariably profited from discussing with him many of
the problems which have arisen in writing it; I have not attempted to do
myself what his great experience and learning in anthropology and
psychoanalysis qualify him to do. Many classicists, at home and
abroad, have given me helpful comment, criticism, advice and
information; all errors are mine.
Corpus Christi College, Oxford K.J. Dover
Abbreviations
1. Ancient authors and works:
Ar(istophanes) Ach(arnians), Eccl(esiazusae), Lys(istrata),
Thesm( ophoriazusae)
Dem (o sthenes)
Eur(ipides)
H( era )d(o )t(os)
Ho_m(er) Il(iad), Od(yssey)
Lys(ias)
Pl(ato) Ch(a)rm(ides), Euth(y)d(emus), G(o)rg(ias), Lys(is), Ph(ae)dr(us),
Pr(o)t(agoras), Rep(ublic), .S(y)mp(osium)
Plu(tarch) Dial(ogueon Love), Lyc(urgus)
Thuc(ydides)
Xen(ophon) Anab(asis), Cyr(opaedia), Hell(enica), (Constitution of the)
Lac(edaemonians), M em( orabilia), S(y)mp( osium)
2. Corpora of texts, inscriptions and vases:
CA = Collectanea Alexandrina, ed. Powell,]. U. (Oxford 1925)
CAF = Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta, ed. Kock, Theodor
(Leipzig 1880-8)
CGF = Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. Austin, Colin,
i (Berlin 1973)
CVA = Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum
DK =Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, ed. Diels, H., sixth
edition, revised by Kranz, W. (Berlin 1951-2)
FGrHist = Fragmenta Graecorum Historicorum, ed. Jacoby, F. (Berlin,
1923-30, Lei den 1943-)
HE =The Greek Anthology, ed. Gow, A.S.F., and Page, Denys,
i: Hellenistic Epigrams (Cambridge, 1965)
lEG = lambi et Elegi Graeci, ed. West, M.L. (Oxford 1971-2)
=
IG lnscriptiones Graecae
PLF = Poetarum Lesbiorum Fragmenta, ed. Lobel, E., and Page,
Denys (Oxford, 1955)
PMG = Poetae Melici Graeci, ed. Page, Denys (Oxford 1962)
SEC = Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum