Hum/100 Introduction to the Humanities
September 1, 2011

In ancient Greece and Rome many gods and goddesses were worshiped, a famous god that the Greek and Romans worshiped was the goddess Aphrodite. Aphrodite was the great Olympian, goddess of beauty, love and pleasure and procreation. Another famous god during the Greek and Roman times was Eros, the god of love. The Romans and the Greeks often used the word “Eros” as a way to express a sexual desire. The Romans and Greeks also expressed sexuality through their art, because they loved and admired the human body. Because of the Greek and Romans admiration of the human body is why their statues were usually without clothing.

During this Golden age of Greece and Rome sexual desire was not gender specific in any way. Sexuality was not based on who the Greek and Roman men or woman had sex with, but how. Some men and woman desired partners of their own sex, and some did not. In fact most men and women did not care if their lovers were male or female. The importance in finding a lover was to find a partner they could dominate, or to be the hierarchy of the relationship. The passive partner of the relationship was classified as lower status, what this meant was anyone who was penetrated. These lower classes of people were considered to be young boys, women and slaves. Although boys, women and slaves were considered a lower class of people, some men still seemed to be more interested in pursuing young boys, this was a common practice called pederasty.

It was made possible for men to meet lovers in different types of all male social settings, such as the military where an older man was supposed to help train a younger boy to become a better soldier. The soldier would that the younger boy under his wing, and they would establish a bond between them. Another common setting for men to meet boys was the gymnasium, where it was common for boys and trainers to practice in the nude. All of these actions were common in Greek culture, but it was the older man who was to be the pursuer, and the boy that was supposed to be shy and not readily willing to surrender to the man’s advances. This was an honorable way of pursuing pederasty and was thought of as educational and good for the younger boys. Compared to today’s state and federal laws where it is illegal for an adult to pursue sexual advances with a minor in any social setting regardless of gender. Another major difference is the view on homosexuals in the military, in recent times “The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” rule states that if you were a homosexual you could serve in the military as long as you did not openly express your sexual orientation. As of December 2010 Federal Law makers repealed the “The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law.

Literature, art, philosophy, and law were all major aspects of life in the ancient world; all of which portrayed outright expressions of homosexuality. Homosexuality was often displayed in different forms of art, one example being a vase with paintings that displays a group of males standing around in the nude. Art just like homosexuality was part of everyday life and it was accepted in society. Unlike today homosexuality is not as accepting as it was in ancient times; in fact most of men think it is not manly to be with another man, to even have desires to be with another man. In today’s society homosexuals are usually discriminated against because of their sexual preference. People of today don’t realize that in many ancient cultures homosexuality was widely accepted and considered a common practice. This common practice was not only accepted by the people of the lower class, but also by middle class as well as royalty. As a matter of fact laws are being passed to legalize same sex marriages and within the last few years a few states have passed laws to accept same sex marriages.

Stanford Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Stanford Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/homosexuality

Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/191796/Eros Aphrodite. (n.d.). Aphrodite. Retrieved from http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Aphrodite.html Fordham University. (n.d.). Fordham University. Retrieved from
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/index-anc.asp