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Homosexuality

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Analysis of what modern scholars know and Near East ancients view concerning homosexuality According to the Christian Reformed Church, homosexuality refers to a sexual condition in which persons of the same sex are sexually attracted towards one another. In the current society, different societies have had different perceptions and opinions concerning the act of homosexuality. Due to this there is the need to know what the modern scholars know about homosexuality and how those living in the ancient Near East have viewed the whole issue. Looking at the ancient Near East, the law codes and those living in these areas essentially ignored the homosexual act. Looking at some parts of the North East such as Turkey and Syria, there existed one law that stated clearly that if a man went ahead and decided to violate his son by practicing homosexuality that was a capital crime. According to these people living in this area, this was a crime not because they were of the same sex but because the partner was his son. Harry Hoffner, who is a person from this area later, added that their statement was not strongly against homosexuality and hence the statement they made appeared to have the meaning that the act of homosexuality was not illegal among the Hittites. Looking at the modern Assyrians scholars, it is evident that homosexuality is not condemned, and it is hence not perceived as a moral disorder. The whole act was only despised, and those involved looked down upon as according to the law codes of the Assyrians. Another kind of this also existed in the ancient times was the love for the beautiful boy. According to Michael Rice, the ancients claimed that the boy was a cause of attention and admiration among the elderly men. In the Mediterranean and among the Philistine culture, it is clearly evident that the love for the boys was ritualized, and hence it was not perceived negatively in this society. This kind of homosexuality was evident in the Epic of Gilgamesh in which there was a homosexual relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkindu in which the central partner who was Gilgamesh. For this case induced and manipulated the younger partner who acted as his companion. There also existence some archaeological evidence of homosexuality in the Berlin museum in which two kings were shown with the identity of a crown that were sited side by side and with these kings were names of two youths namely Akhenaten and Smenkhkare, who are youths who were understood to have been practising homosexuality with these kings. On the modern scholars from Mesopotamia, it is evident that homosexuality is not opposed neither is it fully supported. Since it is stated that most culture in the modern world seem to accept that males can have some sexual relations with one another though they went ahead to add on and state that this act of homosexuality was thought to make the adolescent men less than men after that. Beside the existence of some support for homosexuality, certain forms of homosexuality were negatively perceived by the whole society and hence they were banned. Such vices include slander, rape and incest. Concerning the book of the dead, in which there exists a conflict between Osirus and Horus, There exists a case of homosexuality between Seth and Horus in which the two participate in sexual intercourse. According to the Egyptians, it was perceived that semen was a poison when it was injected into the body through the wrong way, and hence it could lead to a curse. Also according to the Egyptians, this act was perceived as humiliating and shameful. It has been clearly depicted that there were high cases of homosexuality in the ancient near east. The society and the people living in this area had various views concerning the act though most notably most of them did not seem bothered by the whole thing and hence not all the people living in these areas were against the vice. The modern scholars had a know-how about the vice though just like the ancient Near East, they were less bothered by the whole issue, and hence they never had strong stands of being against the vice.

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