Homosexuality In Plato's Symposium
Homosexuality
It is a fact that ancient Greeks had a socially acknowledged institution of pederasty, where an older male was involved in an erotic relationship with a younger male, usually in his teens. The older male was tasked with educating the younger male in matters political, philosophical, social, and sexual. Although, the modern meaning of pederasty is associated with criminal and immoral behavior concerning a younger boy being exploited by an older man, the old world definition and practice was much more widely spread, encouraged and perhaps idealized by some. Plato’s Symposium contains a creation myth, credited to and proposed by Aristophanes, a playwright in ancient Athens, concerning the origin of humans like many other ancient Greek myths. Aristophanes, a comic and satirical playwright, was probably in the house of those who idealized …show more content…
He says that there were initially three genders- male, female and a combination of male and female; Zeus, the king of gods, afraid of the power held by such creatures decided to cripple them and split them in half to forever search for their separated half. Aristophanes feels that when we meet over other half we never want to be separated. Aristophanes goes on to defend on how homosexuals are more brave, more faithful, and more manly then the heterosexuals who are vain, adulterous and promiscuous. He also says that the only function of heterosexual intercourse was reproduction. Aristophanes basically gives rise to the saying of “my other half.” Interestingly, there was sacred band of Thebes, consisting of 150 elite soldiers, who were also gay couples that went undefeated for 30 years. This view of homosexuality, or even the freedom of choosing one’s mate, was much more widely accepted in the older, western world. It is fact that much of the modern and eastern part of our world sternly frowns on homosexuality; in truer words, perhaps with extreme severity that eclipses stern frowning, due to marriage of
It is a fact that ancient Greeks had a socially acknowledged institution of pederasty, where an older male was involved in an erotic relationship with a younger male, usually in his teens. The older male was tasked with educating the younger male in matters political, philosophical, social, and sexual. Although, the modern meaning of pederasty is associated with criminal and immoral behavior concerning a younger boy being exploited by an older man, the old world definition and practice was much more widely spread, encouraged and perhaps idealized by some. Plato’s Symposium contains a creation myth, credited to and proposed by Aristophanes, a playwright in ancient Athens, concerning the origin of humans like many other ancient Greek myths. Aristophanes, a comic and satirical playwright, was probably in the house of those who idealized …show more content…
He says that there were initially three genders- male, female and a combination of male and female; Zeus, the king of gods, afraid of the power held by such creatures decided to cripple them and split them in half to forever search for their separated half. Aristophanes feels that when we meet over other half we never want to be separated. Aristophanes goes on to defend on how homosexuals are more brave, more faithful, and more manly then the heterosexuals who are vain, adulterous and promiscuous. He also says that the only function of heterosexual intercourse was reproduction. Aristophanes basically gives rise to the saying of “my other half.” Interestingly, there was sacred band of Thebes, consisting of 150 elite soldiers, who were also gay couples that went undefeated for 30 years. This view of homosexuality, or even the freedom of choosing one’s mate, was much more widely accepted in the older, western world. It is fact that much of the modern and eastern part of our world sternly frowns on homosexuality; in truer words, perhaps with extreme severity that eclipses stern frowning, due to marriage of