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Paiderastia

A term which the ancient Greeks used to describe the relationship between a mature man (erastes) and his young male paramour (eromenos).   While the word is the origin of the modern term pederasty, its meaning was far from sordid in nature, and in fact described a relationship which was considered quite noble and moral.   In paiderastia, the older male was both the lover and the teacher of the younger male.   He taught him the principles of physical and mental fitness, as well as soldiery and good citizenship.   Sex was seen mainly as a way of cementing an emotional bond between teacher and student, as well as a way of expressing admiration for the youth's physical beauty.   The whole purpose of the paiderastia, in fact, was to realize through a combination of male-bonding and male erotic love the ideal of the young man who was physically beautiful, intellectually cultured, and good-hearted.   The relationship was always consensual, with the young man being of an age where he could "think for himself" and choosing his teacher-lover from an assortment of male suitors.   The relationship between an erastes and his eromenos often lasted until the young man reached thrity years, the usual age for marriage.   The young man in turn would seek out his own eromenos and carry on the tradition.   Paiderastia was always approached as a compliment to heterosexual marriage, but never a substitute.   Bisexuality was the norm among men in ancient Greece, and exclusively homosexual relationships were rare, disapproved, and even ridiculed.

Paiderastia was practiced throughout the Aegean region, but with varying customs.   In Athens, a city-state with extremely androcentric moraes, the older males were forbidden from being the passive partners in sex, as doing was seen as compromising their masculinity.   The older male was expected to be "more of a man" than his student.   Macedonia apparently had no such restrictions, as role reversals were practiced and the age differences were often negligble, as was the case with Alexander the Great and Hephastion.   In Crete and some other areas, a mock abduction was arranged in which the youth was given a grand feast and then carried off to be loved and instructed by the older male for a set time, at the end of which he would be safely returned home with an array of gifts.   Indeed, it was agreed throughout Greece that the youth in question must be wooed with gifts to insure that his participation was truly consensual in nature.

In myth Zeus's son, Minos, king of Crete, was credited with introducing paiderastia as a means of curbing overpopulation.   Many examples of the practice exist in mythology, particularly the relationships between Zeus and Ganymede and between Apollo and Hyakinthos.   Chiron the centaur was the teacher and lover of the young heroes Perseus, Hercules, Theseus, and Jason.   Hercules himself was the erastes of the brave Iolaos, the ill-fated Hylas, and the young Odysseus.   Historical examples, in addition to Alexander and Hephastion, included the members of the Sacred Band of Thebes and the Tyranicides, Harmodius and Aristogiton.

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