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James Smalls

Homosexuality in Art

Contents

Introduction

Homosexuality in Western Antiquity (from Ancient Greece to the Roman Empire)

Comrades in Arms and the Body Beautiful

The Hellenistic Period: The Age of Dionysos

Greek Influence Abroad

The Disenchantments of Sappho

Rome from Republic to Empire

Pompeii

Homosexuality in the Middle Ages

The Unspeakable Vice

Fire and Brimstone

Sacred Pairings in the Byzantine World

The Romanesque Period (1000–1200)

Intolerance and Repression (1200–1400)

David and Jonathan

Moralizing Manuscripts

Descent into the Inferno

The Late Middle Ages

Female Homosexuality in the Middle Ages

Homosexuality in the Italian Renaissance

Renaissance Neoplatonism

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)

Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571)

The Northern Renaissance

The Later Italian Renaissance

The Baroque Period

Female Homosexuality in the Renaissance

Homosexuality in the Art of The Non-Western World (Asia and Islam)

India

China

Japan

Islam

1700–1900: Towards A Homosexual Identity

Libertines and libertinism

Neoclassicism and Romanticism

Realism

Symbolism and the Leap of Imagination

From Aestheticism to Sexology

Homosexuality in the Art of Modernism and Postmodernism (1900–2000)

I. From Modernism to Stonewall (1900–1969)

Sappho on the Left Bank

II. From Stonewall to Postmodernism (post-1969)

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

List of illustrations

1. Greek painting representing a couple,

480 BC. Museum of Paestum, Italy

Introduction

Art and homosexuality may seem like a strange combination, but both phenomena have been part of human history from the beginning of time, or at least from the beginning of recorded civilization. Bringing together two large concepts—art and homosexuality is, nevertheless, difficult and challenging. Both categories raise a host of conceptual problems and pose a series of unresolved nagging questions.

The primary question, “What is art and what purpose does it serve?”, has preoccupied humankind for centuries and has yet to find a definitive answer. There exists as many views and definitions about what art is (and is not) and its significance as there are individuals in the world. In the context of Homosexuality in Art, I am using the term “art” in a broad sense as human creation and communication within a visual field. Although the majority of the images here were produced in traditional media such as painting, sculpture, graphics, and photography, art would also include images and forms of production associated with, for example, popular culture, advertising, film, performance, conceptualism, computer-generated imagery, etc. Ultimately, it is up to the reader of this book to decide what to accept or reject as art.

Unlike “art,” the other term in this book’s title, “homosexuality,” can be defined more specifically. Homosexuality and its emotional aspects have existed in all cultures and in all time periods long before the invention of the term. It is and always has been one aspect of the very complex domain of human sexuality. The way homosexual love and sensibilities are visually expressed is often a reflection of the status of homosexuals themselves within their particular cultures. These images are an indication of either the degree of tolerance in those societies, or the sign of an increasingly restrictive prejudice fostered by traditions and religion.

Before 1869, the words “homosexuality” and “heterosexuality” did not exist. The former was coined and first put into use by the German–Hungarian writer and translator Karl Maria Kertbeny (1824–1882). He also invented the latter term in 1880. Kertbeny’s purpose for using the word “homosexuality” was in response to an article of the Prussian penal code that criminalized sexual relations between men. Kertbeny wanted the article omitted, but was unsuccessful. The code became part of Prussian law in 1871 and was upheld and then strengthened by the Nazis in 1935, and retained by West Germany until 1969 (Haggerty, 451). Kertbeny had his own specific views on human sexuality. Although there may have never existed a coherent theory of homosexuality for him, he did divide homosexuals into specific categories: those who are “active,” “passive,” and “Platonists” or those who love the company of their own sex without wanting to have sex with them. The designation “homosexuality,” then, started out as a term of sympathy and political activism to change a repressive law. However, over the years the word evolved into a concept that came to describe an individual’s sexual preference. The word and its evolving concept took some time to enter into European languages and thought patterns.

In the 1880s, Kertbeny’s catchy new term attracted the attention of Richard von Krafft-Ebing, a noted sexologist who used the word in his vastly popular 1886–87 Psychopathia Sexualis, a massive encyclopedia of sexual deviance. It was through this and subsequent work by noted sexologists of the late nineteenth century that the term “homosexuality” acquired its medical and clinical connotations. Sexology refers to the study of human sexual behavior before the codifications of modern psychology and psychoanalysis generated by the thoughts and writings of Sigmund Freud. (see Gregory W Bredbeck, “Sexology,” in Haggerty, 794) It was not until the 1950s that “homosexuality” entered popular English and American usage, largely as a result of the Kinsey reports of 1948. Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956) was an American sex researcher whose scientific data on human sexuality challenged the prevailing notion that homosexuality was a mental illness.

As a concept, “homosexuality” encompasses a variety of conflicting ideas about gender and same-sex sexual attraction. Its broad range of possible meanings is what makes it such an irresistible, powerful, and ambiguous term nowadays. In its modern sense, “homosexuality is at once a psychological condition, an erotic desire, and a sexual practice.” (David Halperin, “Homosexuality,” in Haggerty, 452) All three senses can and are expressed in artistic or aestheticized form. Homosexuality or, to employ a term of more recent invention, the “homoerotic,” can be understood as an actual or potential element in everyone’s experience, whatever the sexual orientation of the individual. The homosexual and the homoerotic frequently overlap but are not necessarily the same. Many of the images in this book might be classified as homoerotic rather than homosexual. “Homosexual” and “homoerotic” differ only in the root meanings of the terms “sexual” and “erotic.” Whereas “sexual” encompasses the physical act of sex, “erotic” is a concept that incorporates a range of ideas and feelings around same-sex wants, needs, and desires. It does not always culminate in the sexual act. The homoerotic, unlike the homosexual, legitimates erotic desire between members of the same sex by placing that sentiment in a context which rationalizes it—such as classicism, military battle, athletic activities, etc). Thus, in many situations the homoerotic is veiled and perceived as nontransgressive behavior. Whereas all homosexuals experience homoerotic desire, not all who experience and, indeed, appreciate homoerotic desire are necessarily homosexuals. The homoerotic can sometimes be a frightening prospect for some heterosexuals to such a degree that it sometimes incites virulent homophobic responses. The “homoerotic” is also linked to the more recent idea of the “homosocial.” Male homosociality refers to all-male groups or environments and is a means by which men construct their identities and consolidate their privilege and social power as males usually through and at the expense of women (see Eve Sedgwick, Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire, New York, Columbia University Press, 1985). Indeed, female homosociality also exists, but the dynamics of it in relation to patriarchal culture are quite different.

Although male and female homosexuality are often treated separately, both are considered in this book. Throughout, the term “homosexuality” refers to male homosexuality unless “female” is specified. This is so because most societies are male-dominated and male-oriented, giving primacy to the sexual activities and development of men over women. In relationship to art about and by homosexual men, the “scarcity of art about or by lesbians reflects male domination of the cultural record” (Saslow, 7). All of the art and literary evidence we have was the work of males and bear mostly on male activities.

The definition of homosexuality is further complicated by the differences between modern and pre-modern notions of the concept. There is considerable disagreement in contemporary literature on homosexuality over use of the word “homosexual” for same-sex relationships in non-Western, pre-modern and ancient periods. The word “homosexuality” is relatively young. Like the word “sexuality” itself, it describes a culturally determined and culturally constructed concept born of recent Western society. Thus, applying the concept “homosexuality” to history is bound to force modern and Western concepts of self and other onto the ancient and pre-modern world. In most pre-modern and ancient cultures, there is no word to denote a state of being homosexual or to describe a homosexual act. Any attempt to fit male representations in ancient art or texts with the status or practices of modern-day homosexuals would be anachronistic. Also, the modern notion of “homosexuality” is loaded with a negative moral stigma that clouds any positive or pleasurable appreciation of male-male or female-female sexual culture in pre-modern societies. However, even though the ancients may not have had in mind the modern concept of “homosexual” and “homosexuality,” this does not negate the fact that homosexuality and indeed homophobia did exist.

2. Albrecht Dürer. Selfportrait, 1493.

Parchment on wood, 56.5 x 44.5 cm. Louvre, Paris

3. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
Ecstasy of Saint Francis, 1595-1600.

Oil on canvas, 92.5 x 128 cm

Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut

4. Thomas Eakins. The Wrestlers, 1899.

Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art

In the modern West, homosexuality is often thought about in binary notions of sex and gender. The very notion of homosexuality in the West implies that same-sex feeling and expression, in all the many different sexual and erotic forms they take, constitute a single thing, an integrated phenomenon called homosexuality, that is distinct and separate from heterosexuality. However, in the ancient, pre-modern, and non-Western societies presented in this book, the sameness or difference of the sexes of the persons who engaged in a sexual act was less important than the extent to which sexual acts either violated or conformed to the rules of religion or to the norms of conduct or tradition deemed appropriate to an individual’s gender, age, and social status. For this reason, discourses of pederasty (from the Greek meaning “love of boys”) and sodomy (anal sex) as these related to class, age, and social status were more significant than the fact that the two partners were of the same sex. Concerns over the morality of homosexuality or sexual inversion are typical of modern rather than pre-modern approaches. What we call homosexual behavior was not frowned upon, for example, in ancient Greece. However, there were strict social rules that governed such behavior. In ancient Athens, a homosexual relationship between a teenage boy and a mature man was generally regarded as a positive phase of a young man’s educational and social development. Indeed, such relationships were celebrated in the various dialogues of Plato, in vase and wall paintings, and in lyric poetry. At a certain point in his development, however, the adolescent was expected to marry and father children. What was frowned upon in such intergenerational sexual relationships was passivity and eager compliance in anal copulation. It should be stressed, however, that for the ancient Greeks, there was no underlying moral, religious, or social basis for censuring the erotic relationship between males that conformed to the expected hierarchical arrangement involving an adult male and an adolescent boy.

Homosexuality in the art of the non-Western world operated along the same lines as in ancient Western cultures. However, it was due to territorial expansion and campaigns of conquest beginning in the sixteenth century, that Westerners forged contacts with previously unknown peoples and cultures in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Arab world. The moral values of the West were soon imposed upon those who were conquered. Cultures that had celebrated homosexuality in their past art, rituals, and native traditions, were soon forced not only to abandon them, but to perceive them as evil and morally reprehensible (see Saslow, 109–111).

The complex historical and social development of homosexuality in the Western world indicates that it is more than simply a conscious sexual and erotic same-sex preference. It has evolved into a new system of sexuality which functions as a means of defining the individual’s sexual orientation and a sexual identity. Homosexuality came to be associated with how individuals identify themselves. As such, it has “introduced a novel element into social organization, into human difference, into the social production of desire, and ultimately into the social construction of the self.” (David Halperin, “Homosexuality,” in Haggerty, 454–55)

One significant aspect of the history of homosexuality is that of language and labeling. It was the change from the use of the word “homosexual” to “gay” that best exemplified the importance of the political dimensions of individuality and identity as important components in how homosexuals viewed themselves.

5. Gustav Klimt. Friends (detail), 1916/17.

Oil on canvas, burned in 1945 in

the castle of Immendorf

In the 1960s and 1970s, “gay” replaced “homosexual” as the word of choice because many gay activists felt that “homosexual” was too clinical and associated with medical pathology. By the time of the Stonewall riots in 1969, “gay” was the dominant term of expressing sexual identity for a group of younger, more overtly political homosexual activists. In contrast to “homosexual,” “gay” was thought to express the growing political consciousness of the gay liberation movement. “Gay,” like “homosexual” can refer to both men and women. However, some women have taken issue with their implied exclusion from the category “gay” and have preferred the designation “lesbian.” This haggling over names and labels is a very significant part of the history of homosexuality. The “lesbian” over “gay” debate reveals that the relation between homosexual identity and gender identity has always been vexed. In this book, I refrain from using the word “gay” until after 1969 and the rise in political awareness over these terms.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the use of the word “gay” increased. Almost every political and social organization that had anything to do with the gay liberation movement used the word “gay,” or a variation thereof, in their organization’s title. In recent years, some members of the gay community have rejected the designation “gay” in favor of “queer”—a term of inclusivity that refers to all nonheterosexual persons and categories. [for a history of change in name designation from “homosexual” to “queer,” see Haggerty, pp.362–63; for summary of the word “queer,” see Daniel F Pigg, “Queer,” in Haggerty, pp.723–24]. The word “queer” had existed and had been used as a term of ostracism and pathology against homosexual men since the 1910s. It was during the 1990s that “queer” was appropriated by some gay men who wanted to set themselves apart from a gay culture that they believed had sold out to the status quo and had become accomodationists.

Now that I have familiarized the reader with certain definitions, terms, and concepts associated with homosexuality, some other important and difficult questions relevant specifically to homosexuality in art still remain. For instance, on what basis do we decide that a work of art is about homosexuality? For example, is an image of two male nudes or two female nudes standing in close proximity to one another about homosexuality? Is it necessary that works of art exhibit overt or explicit homosexual themes to be about homosexuality? Is it the subject matter or is it the sexual orientation or identity of the artist that is crucial to an understanding of his or her art? What is the role of the viewer in determining if a work of art has a homosexual theme? What is the significance and the underlying ‘message’ of homosexuality in art across cultures and across centuries? Does homosexuality confer upon artists a different vision of the world, perhaps with its own sensibilities? Although these questions are important, it is unwise to seek a single definitive response to them, for homosexuality as both label and idea is much too diverse, complex and varied to be reduced to one answer. Homosexuality “crosses all borders and is included in a range of visual and physical objects that symbolize and communicate feelings and values.” (Saslow, 2). Homosexuality is a diverse concept that refers to a range of feelings and emotions. Its meaning will vary for different people at different times and in different cultures. What is clear is that homosexuality can not and should not be minimized or limited to sexual behavior alone.

Although there are many images in this book of men and women engaged in explicit same-sex acts, it is not intended simply as a picture-book of sexual activities. Indeed, the complexity of homosexuality as a term and concept reveals that it is more than purely the physical sex act. Homosexuality in Art ventures beyond images of sex. It is simultaneously centered around the multitude of emotional and pychological feelings, needs, and desires between members of the same sex. As art historian James Saslow has noted, “homosexuality” is as ambiguous and flexible as the term “love.” (Saslow, 7) The images in this book expose some of the ways that these acts, feelings, needs, and desires are manifested visually.

Because of the breadth of cultures and art represented here as well as the cultural and social complexities associated with homosexuality as label and concept, Homosexuality in Art is only able to give a broad overview of homosexuality in visual culture and an impressionistic sweep of images across centuries and regions. It is not intended as a comprehensive written or visual text on the topic. However, even cursory treatment of the subject should interest anyone and everyone who cares to delve into the complicated and inextricably linked worlds of human sexuality and human creativity.

6. George Platt Lynes. Nicholas Magallanas and Francisco
Moncion in poses from Orpheus, 1948. Photography. Ballet Society

1. Painting of Euaion. Erastes and a Young Musician,
c.460 BC. Red figure dish. Louvre, Paris

Chapter 1. Homosexuality in Western Antiquity
(from Ancient Greece to the Roman Empire)

The earliest Greeks were a loose band of rural tribes who eventually settled into small enclaves known as city-states. The practice of overt homosexuality was already widespread in the Greek city-states by the early part of the sixth century BC and became an integral part of the Greek archaic and classical traditions. Male homosexuality, or rather pederasty, was linked with military training and the initiation of young boys into citizenship. Most of our information about Greek homosexuality is based on the art, literature, and mythology from the city-state of Athens. Exactly why the Athenians of the fourth century BC accepted homosexuality and conformed so readily to a homoerotic ethos is a question difficult to answer. Although each city-state imposed distinct laws and practiced different mores, Sparta, Thebes, Crete, Corinth and others, all bear visual and literary evidence of homosexual interests and practices. The earliest evidence of homoerotic relations in ancient Greece comes from a fragment written by the historian Ephorus of Kyme (c.405–330 BC) telling the story of an ancient ritual that took place on Dorian Crete in the seventh century BC in which older men initiated younger men into manly pursuits like hunting, feasting, and presumably, sexual relationships as well. (Lambert in Haggerty, 80)

The extent to which homosexuality in the ancient world was a significant aspect of Greek culture can be found in their myths, rites and rituals, legends, art and literature, and in the customs of society as a whole. The major artistic and literary sources on Greek homosexuality are found in late archaic and early classical poetry, the comedic plays of Aristophanes and others such as Euripedes, Aeschylus, and Sophocles; the dialogues of Plato, and paintings on Greek vases. (Dover, 9) It was in the writings of Plato (c.429–347 BC) above all where the topic of homosexual love was debated most vigorously. In his dialogues, Plato focused on male homosexuality, seeing it as a higher spiritual goal than heterosexual physical contact and procreation. The three famous dialogues of Plato—the Lysis, Phaedrus, and Symposium narrate imaginary and sometimes ironic conversations about male sexual and erotic relations. (Jordan in Haggerty, 695) Many of the passages in these dialogues describe male love as paiderasteia (pederasty)—that is, the erotic, active love of an adult man for a beautiful, passive adolescent [the word paiderastia is derived from pais (boy) and eran (to love)]. In the Lysis and Symposium, Socrates (a protagonist in the dialogues) is characterized as the active pursuer of adolescent male beauty. For Socrates, (homo) eros was the search for noble aims in thought and in action. Exactly how the practice of pederasty developed in ancient Greece is disputed, but the surviving mythology from antiquity suggests that Minos, the king of Crete, introduced it to avoid overpopulation of his island.

Athenian society viewed paiderasteia as a principal means of education and socialization of young free-born boys into manhood and citizenship. As an institution, it served as a complement, not a rival, to heterosexual marriage. Although the term “pederast” is today pejorative and refers primarily to sexual predators, in ancient Greece the term carried no such negative connotation and was employed in the context of the erastes-eromenos relationship. In this relationship, an older man (the erastes or lover [“inspirer” in Sparta]), usually bearded and of high social rank, was expected to actively seek out, then win over a youth (an eromenos, or the beloved [the “hearer” in Sparta]) and instill in him an understanding and respect for the masculine virtues of courage and honor. Such attributes would, of course, not only become useful to Greek social stability, but would also help guarantee acts of bravery and loyalty when asked to defend the city-state on the battlefield.

It is in Plato’s Symposium where homosexual love is expressed and praised at length between an older, bearded lover (erastes) and a younger, hairless beloved youth (eromenos: aged from puberty to seventeen years old). The Symposium is part of what is called “banquet literature,” or a collection of informal discussions on various topics, including the philosophical and moral merits of love and the delights of young men and boys. There are many vase paintings illustrating what went on at these banquets or symposia in which young boys often served as cupbearers for invited guests.

Plato’s Symposium describes the strict rules of courtship and love governing the erastes and eromenos relationship. There were many taboos. For example, under no circumstances was a boy allowed to take the role as aggressor, pursuer, or penetrator. Also discouraged was the courtship or sexual activity between two boys or men of the same age or social rank. Intergenerational and correct class courtship was the expectation.

The majority of our primary visual information on the customs and habits of homosexual courtship and sexual practices in ancient Greece comes to us from vase paintings. Greek vases, used for carrying water, storing wine and olive oil, and serving food and drink, were produced in large quantities by local craftsmen and exported all over the Mediterranean region. Many were sold to middle- and upper- class clientele and often carried hand-painted scenes of gods, myths, heroic deeds, or images of everyday life. Many vases, dating from the sixth and fifth centuries BC, show older males conversing with younger males, offering them gifts, touching their genitals, or embracing them. Also commonly depicted were vignettes of males engaged in athleticism, courtship and graphic sexual acts. Quite often, an erastes would have a vase made specifically for his eromenos to be presented to him along with other courting gifts such as a hare, a cockerel, or a stag. These offerings were standard and associated with the hunt, further underscoring the function of pederastic courtship as a rite of passage. Sometimes, short inscriptions were applied or the word “kalos” (is beautiful) would appear preceded by the name of a favorite boy or adolescent youth.

2. Brygos Painter. Man and Youth Initiating
Intercrural Intercourse, c.500–480 BC.

Oxford, Ashmolean Museum

3. Man and Ephebe, end of 6th Century BC.

Attic vase. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

4. Pan Pursuing a Young Shepherd, c.470 BC.

Ceramic. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

5. Men Courting a Youth, c.6th century BC.

Staatlichen Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich

At around age eighteen, an eromenos became an erastes and was expected to marry, father children, and take an active role in the pursuit of younger men. However, the imposing of such strict social rules often invited transgressions. These were sometimes depicted on vase paintings and could be linked with Plato’s frequent admonitions and warnings against sexual overindulgence by Athenian males. Although of concern to the ancients, these transgressions were minor compared with the gravest taboos of all—oral and anal sex. These activities were regarded as beneath the dignity of the Athenian male citizen and were reserved for women, male and female prostitutes, foreigners (called barbarians by the Greeks), and slaves. Along with female passivity, anal penetration and oral sex were associated with bestial activity commonly represented on vases showing satyrs or other mythological creatures. Satyrs (mythological beings who are half-man, half-goat) are symbols of the conflict between civilized man and his uncontrollable animal passions and desires. Their virility was insatiable and they are typically shown inebriated, with enormous genitals, copulating, or masturbating.

Despite the social and moral prohibition against oral and anal sex between same-sex partners, these activities did indeed occur in private. So, although scenes of anal sex between men and boys are relatively rare in Greek art, they are not entirely non-existent. On the other hand, scenes of men and women performing anal sex are quite common. Most Athenian vase paintings of homosexual courtship show erastai [plural of erastes] fondling the genitals of eromenoi [plural of eromenos] or the accepted standing position, face-to-face intercrural intercourse (mutual masturbation in which the erect penis is thrust between the partner’s thighs).

Anal sex was lampooned by many playwrights who used it as a gauge by which to judge a person’s morality. The ambivalent social and sexual roles played out between erastai and eromenoi in courtship is implied in some of the comedies of Aristophanes, where the anally penetrated man becomes a target of ridicule and abuse. There are corresponding images on vases in which the anus becomes the site for launching insults or jokes. To be passive and penetrated was a mark of shame and immoral behavior. Although young boys and men practiced homosexuality as a form of initiation into the privileged status of citizenship, the prevailing concept of an active and dominant masculinity had to be maintained. Giving in too quickly to advances was viewed as a sign of weakness and made one ineligible as an upstanding citizen and warrior. It is partly for this reason why many vase paintings show youths rebuking or resisting the advances of their older suitors.

6. Apollodoros. Two Hetaerae, c.500 BC.

Attic red-figure cup. Archaeological Museum, Tarquinia

Comrades in Arms and the Body Beautiful

Ancient Greek culture was male-centered. Men and boys held privileged status over women and girls. The correct education of boys was of primary concern, for the future of the city-state was at stake. The aim of the Greek educational system—called the paideia—was to attain male perfection by attending to the cultivation of the male body, mind, and soul. Pederasty and its purpose of promoting the erotic love between men and youths was seen as an effective way of fostering this ideal. The education of youths took place in the gymnasium. The gymnasium was not a single building, but rather a complex of structures situated in the center of every Greek city-state. Here, men, boys and ephebes (adolescents aged 18 to 25) spent many hours per day engaged in physical and intellectual exercises. Also present were philosophers, poets, and artists of various ages, all gathered in an all-male environment to discuss, debate, and contemplate the moral and philosophical virtues of the male form and character. The gymnasium lit- erally became “an epicenter of erotic energy.” Bronze statues of athletes, gods, heroes, and warriors (Hermes, Apollo, Herakles, Eros) were set up in various locations throughout the gymnasiumcomplex. Daily exposure to these artistic displays of male bodi- ly perfection was intended to instill in young viewers the desire to attain such perfection.

Two types of subjects abounded in Greek male stat- ues (known today from later Roman marble copies of Greek bronze ori- ginals) within the gymnasium—war- riors and athletes. The Doryphorous (Spear Carrier) by the Greek sculptor Polykleitos is a prime example of the Greek worship of the male nude body. The Doryphorus represents an ephebe who, although beardless, is on the transitional border from eromenos into erastes. At the gymnasium, he trains for superior strength, agility, bravery, and skill. (Saslow: 31) With this statue, male beauty is elevated to nearly divine status. Because the Greeks saw the male nude form as the outward sign of perfection, they customarily exerciseda nd fought battles in the nude. Nudity itself carried with it a metaphysical significance. Physical perfection on the exterior was matched with spiritual and moral perfection within.

7. Euaichme Painter. Man Offering
a Gift to a Youth, c.530–430 BC.

Athenian red-figure vase. Oxford,

Ashmolean Museum

8. Satyrs’ Orgy with Balancing Act,
c.500–470 BC. Wine-Cooler (psykter)

9. The Kissing Competition, c.510 BC.

Attic red-figure dish. Staatliche Museen

Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

10a. Men and Youths Engaged in Oral and Anal Sex,
6th century BC. Attic red-figure. Louvre, Paris

10b. Men and Youths Engaged in Oral and Anal Sex,
6th century BC. Attic red-figure. Louvre, Paris

11. Satyrs masturbating. Antique Greek vase.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

One of the practical advantages of the Greek system of pederasty was its military usefulness. The Greeks of several city-states often went into battle in erastes-eromenos pairs. The bravery of pederastic couples, such as that of the 150 pairs of lovers called the Sacred Band of Thebes, was renowned throughout ancient Greece and was an important factor in boosting morale for Greek victory over their enemies. Couples often fought in the nude, for the ability to see metaphysical worth in nudity was what the Greeks believed separated them from uncivilized foreigners or barbarians. Some of these warrior couples became known as tyrannicides (killers of tyrants). The best known of such couples is Harmodius and Aristogiton.

In interpreting the images on vase paintings, some knowledge of Greek mythology is indispensable. Greek mythology was, as was Greek society in general, extremely anthropocentric or man-centered. It was through myths that the ancient Greeks linked themselves with the cycles and seasons of nature and rationalized the world of emotion and sensation. Greek myths usually focus on the powerful, heroic, and grandiose aspects of the gods. But they also address the sexual appetites of the gods and their union with heroes and mortals. Greek gods were personifications of nature and often engaged in various sexual adventures—homosexual, heterosexual, intergenerational, and bestial. Myths of ill-fated love between gods, heroes, and handsome youths abound on vase paintings, statuary, and wall frescoes. The myths that most commonly address the theme of Greek pederasty and homosexuality include Zeus and Ganymede, Apollo and Hyacinth, Apollo and Zephyr, Achilles and Patroclus.

The story of Zeus and Ganymede is perhaps the most frequently-depicted scene of homosexual desire on vases, floor mosaics, and statuary. The myth exemplifies one of several divine courtships extolled by the Greeks as explanation for the origins of the cosmos and the workings of nature. With this myth, the gap in age and status between the god and his young minion reflects the inequalities in the hierarchical and rigidly structured relationship between erastes and eromenos in classical Athenian society.

In the eighth century BC epic verse of Homer called the Iliad, we find the most celebrated of all male-male unions in the comradeship of Achilles and Patroclus during the Trojan War. In the story, Homer glorifies the friendship between the two but does not mention that they were lovers. The classical Greeks themselves interpreted Homer as referencing their own social practice of pederasty and claimed Achilles and Patroclus as a pederastic pair. Achilles, a young warrior described as the most handsome and noblest of the Greeks, fell into profound grief when his companion Patroclus was slain by Hector, son of the Trojan king Priam. Achilles and Patroclus first appear in art toward the end of the sixth century BC on Athenian black-figure vase paintings. (Saslow: 16) Several red-figure vases from the late sixth century BC to the fourth century BC show the loving bond between the two warriors.

12. Warren Cup, Augustan period,
1st century AD. Silver. British Museum, London

The Hellenistic Period: The Age of Dionysos

Given the Greek structure of initiation into citizenship and the world of warriors, it should come as no surprise that many Greek military commanders were notorious for their sexual and erotic desires for other men. The most famous was Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) who made no secret of his intense love for a young commander named Hephaestion. It was Alexander the Great who ushered in the Hellensitic period. Both before and during Alexander’s reign, Greek influence spread far and wide through trade and foreign conquest. As Greek culture came more and more into contact with other peoples, its own ways of thinking and doing things began to show signs of foreign influence. A change in social conditions, coupled with the influence of eastern philosophies and religious practices, resulted in changed attitudes towards sexuality. In this period, pederasty was still practiced, but its importance as a social institution for grooming boys to become citizens, had waned. Instead, a growing hedonism and tendency toward materialism and excess developed. Physical pleasure was enjoyed for its own sake and bisexuality reigned. Hellenistic sensibilities toward sex were to later influence Roman culture which was, during this same period, expanding militarily and advancing into Greek territory. By the beginning of the Hellenistic period, the production of Greek vases and vase paintings had already declined significantly. The Hellenistic Greeks turned their attention to the creation of statues of marble and bronze in which the physicality and pleasurable experiences of the body were of primary focus. During the classical period, the Greeks had been renowned for the celebration of male physical beauty, an aesthetic which held a fundamental position in educational thinking of the period.

Unlike classical Greek statuary in which the quiet contemplation of male physical beauty was paramount, most sculpture from the Hellenistic period is turbulent and trivial, often requiring that the viewer psychologically and physically participate in the activities presented. One such statue is the Sleeping Hermaphrodite. The image of the hermaphrodite became very popular in Hellenistic times and was the outgrowth of the period’s tolerance and experimentation with sexual variations that deviated from the standard. Hermaphroditus was a minor deity, an offspring of the gods Aphrodite and Hermes, who exhibited characteristics of both sexes. In the Hellenistic period, the hermaphrodite was worshipped as an embodiment of bisexuality and as a god of marriage. (Saslow: 41)

The Sleeping Hermaphrodite is only vaguely part of what is called Dionysian art (see R R R Smith), which refers to art produced during the Hellenistic period that has as its subject a variety of mythological creatures such as satyrs, fauns, female bacchants, centaurs, nymphs, and Pan. Besides the fact that these personages are all followers of Dionysos (Bacchus to the Romans), god of agriculture and wine, what most of them have in common is that they are wild, frolick outdoors in wooded areas, and have a lustful nature. Like Dionysos, they are associated with drunken abandon and orgiastic release. Their sexuality was oftentimes excessive and sometimes ambiguous. These Dionysian characteristics carry over into the Roman period and are particularly visible in the art discovered at Pompeii (Saslow: 38).

13. Warren Cup, Augustan period,
1st century AD. Silver. British Museum, London

14. Euphronios. Ephebes at the Bath, c.500–505 BC.

Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

15. Painter of Berlin. Men and Boys, c.540 BC.

Attic black-figure vase. British Museum, London

16. Scene of coupling with a horse, 6th century BC.

Greek vase. British Museum

17. Etruscan amphora in a Greek style

Greek Influence Abroad

The Greeks were avid traders, explorers, and conquerors. For centuries before and after the classical period (fifth century BC), the Greeks imported their ideas and experiences to other countries and cultures. When they arrived in what is now Italy, they encountered the native Etruscans who had occupied the central and northern areas of that land between the ninth and third centuries BC. Our knowledge of the art and origins of the Etruscans is very limited, but what is certain is that they practiced very different customs from the Greeks and held specific views about death. Prior to contact with the Etruscans, the concept of life after death was alien to Greek thinking and practice. The Tomb of the Diver at Paestum in southern Italy and Tomb of the Bulls in Tarquinia near Rome are just two examples of decorated tombs that show the extent to which the Etruscans utilized a large amount of sexually charged symbols and figures in their funerary art.

The strong mutual influence of the Greeks and Etruscans was to have a significant impact on the art and experience of the Romans who eventually conquered and absorbed aspects of both cultures. However, despite the influence, many Greek and later Roman writers, including Plato, referred to the Etruscans as immoral because of their seemingly wanton and unusual sexual practices. Roman sources accused the Etruscans of sharing women in common, engaging in homosexuality without philosophical justification, participating in orgies, and showing a lack of shame regarding sexual intercourse and the naked body. Indeed, homosexually suggestive scenes are found in many Etruscan tomb frescoes, sculptures, pottery, ash urns, sarcophagi, and on small decorative objects. It is believed that scenes of homosexual and heterosexual intercourse in Etruscan funerary art were not intended as reflections of actual activities, but served symbolic metaphors to either ward off evil or were associated with rituals or religious festivals.

18. Circle of the Nikosthenes Painter.
Satyr Scene, c.5th century BC. Staatliche Museen

Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

The Disenchantments of Sappho

In antiquity, males dominated society and women were segregated from men in almost all of the Greek city-states. Unlike boys and young men in classical Athens, women were completely absent from public life. Most women were not allowed an education and were kept in virtual seclusion from everyone but their immediate families. Because Greek society was male centered—that is, as a society created by and for men who took part in the public aspect of society (art, poetry, literature, politics, etc), female homosexuality is all but invisible on vase paintings, in lyric poetry, and on the dramatic stage. Although female homosexuality did exist in antiquity, there are only a few writers and artists in the Greek world who dealt with the topic. Plato did make a passing reference to female homosexuality in his writings, presenting it in abstract philosophical terms through a parable about primeval androgynes, but saying nothing of its daily practice in society. (Saslow: 29) Aristophanes, too, also avoided the topic by collapsing it into a discussion of the role of women as hetaerae, or professional entertainers/courtesans in Greek society. There is a rare vase painting by Apollodoros showing two hetaerae in sexual intimacy. There is also one extraordinary vase painting showing two women in gestures of courtship.

Although Athenian men were thoroughly disinterested in the sexual life of women, Greek law did permit a form of institutionalized female homosexuality in Sparta. It was within the thiasoi, or educational and social communities of women and girls, that female homosexuality was most prevalent. Thiasoi were schools where “older women trained teenage girls in music and dancing, charm and beauty.” (Saslow: 19–20) Like boys with their erastai, girls of high social standing were segregated from society and took part in rituals worshipping Diana, goddess of virginity and the hunt. Theoretically, thiasoi were schools to prepare young girls for marriage, but the woman-centered nature of their environment also fostered intimate emotional and sexual relationships among them. As part of a refined yet limited education, many girls were trained in the writing of poetry. The lyric poems (poetry accompanied by a lyre) of Sappho are the most famous and known for extolling the passionate love of women for one another.

19. Polykleitos. Doryphorus (Spear-Carrier), c.440 BC.

Marble copy after a Greek original by Polykleitos.

Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples

Sappho’s influence was so profound that Plato dubbed her as “the tenth Muse.” She was born during the archaic period in 612 BC in the city of Mytilene on the Aegean island of Lesbos, located near the western coast of what is today called Turkey. She was a thiasos educator of girls who came specifically from Lesbos and the Ionian coast. Her lyric poems spoke of the many loves in her life, including love of her own pupils. Her words are of longing and despair—extolling passion and jealousy driven by desire. Most of the poems are fragmentary and available only in ancient copies. Only one poem survives completely intact.

Despite the obvious homoerotic nature of her poetry, most ancient writings about Sappho’s life only sporadically mention her homosexuality. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, she was promoted as a married bisexual woman. The story of her dramatic suicide over a man named Phaon, a ferryman of great beauty, became legendary. (Dover: 174) Her suicide has given some writers a legitimizing excuse for foregrounding her heterosexuality and playing down or completely ignoring her homosexuality. Still others have compared her intimate relationships with women with the erastes-eromenos setup in ancient Greece—a point that also shows to what extent women’s sexuality was seen only in relationship to that of men.

There is no visual or verbal evidence recounting exactly what Sappho looked like. Her appearance on vases appear at least one hundred years after her lifetime and none of these, it has been observed, bear any resemblance to one another (Snyder, 31). No identifiable statues of Sappho survive. There does exist, however, a red-figure vase dating around 450 BC that supposedly shows Sappho seated between two standing female figures, one of which holds up a lyre, the other, a garland.

Introduction

Chapter 1. Homosexuality in Western Antiquity (from Ancient Greece to the Roman Empire)

Comrades in Arms and the Body Beautiful

The Hellenistic Period: The Age of Dionysos

Greek Influence Abroad

The Disenchantments of Sappho

Chapter 1. Homosexuality in Western Antiquity
(from Ancient Greece to the Roman Empire)