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Ομοφυλοφιλία στην αρχαία Ελλάδα: Ο μύθος καταρρέει
Σκοπός της έρευνας αυτής δεν είναι να τοποθετηθούμε θετικά ή αρνητικά στο φαινόμενο της ομοφυλοφιλίας αυτό καθ' αυτό, αλλά να διαπιστώσουμε τις απόψεις των ιδίων των αρχαίων Ελλήνων για το ζήτημα. Χωρίς καμία απολύτως αμφιβολία, θα διαπιστώσετε, ότι στην αρχαία Ελλάδα την ομοφυλοφιλία την αντιμετώπιζαν, ιδιαιτέρως αρνητικά, αυτή είναι η αλήθεια.
207 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 27, 2022
The powerful LGBT lobby was able to change psychiatry books (homosexuality used to be a mental illness), medical books (now even men can be pregnant), so of course they want to change history books too.
This book brings strong evidence of how homosexuality was loathed, despised, and subject to severe penalties in ancient Greece. And it refutes the lie that teachers were having sexual intercourse with their pupils. Also debunked are the claims of sexual deviance for Alexander the Great, Achilles, Sappho, and Oedipus.
In ancient Greece being the "lover" of a boy was not intended in a sexual sense; it was an intellectual love of virtue, soul and physical beauty, designed to develop the boy socially and spiritually. It was essentially a mentor/disciple relationship that didn't involve sex.
The reason that people nowdays immediately think that "love" between two men automatically means sodomy is that the values of Western civilization have been subverted and replaced by Jewish "values". In Jewish culture love does not exist: what they call "love" is for them simply sexual attraction. This is clear to anyone who reads the perverted filth promoted by Freud. The irony, and the connection with this book, is that Freud connected his ideas of sexual deviance with ancient Greece by using Oedipus' name (who was not a deviant), rather than admitting that they come from his own Jewish identity (to understand what I mean, read the book The Jewish Religion; Its Influence Today).
In summary, this is a very important book to read so that the culture of the ancient Greeks can be preserved. Our society that promotes having "pride" in sodomy should not try to defile an ancient society that was built around virtue.
This book brings strong evidence of how homosexuality was loathed, despised, and subject to severe penalties in ancient Greece. And it refutes the lie that teachers were having sexual intercourse with their pupils. Also debunked are the claims of sexual deviance for Alexander the Great, Achilles, Sappho, and Oedipus.
In ancient Greece being the "lover" of a boy was not intended in a sexual sense; it was an intellectual love of virtue, soul and physical beauty, designed to develop the boy socially and spiritually. It was essentially a mentor/disciple relationship that didn't involve sex.
The reason that people nowdays immediately think that "love" between two men automatically means sodomy is that the values of Western civilization have been subverted and replaced by Jewish "values". In Jewish culture love does not exist: what they call "love" is for them simply sexual attraction. This is clear to anyone who reads the perverted filth promoted by Freud. The irony, and the connection with this book, is that Freud connected his ideas of sexual deviance with ancient Greece by using Oedipus' name (who was not a deviant), rather than admitting that they come from his own Jewish identity (to understand what I mean, read the book The Jewish Religion; Its Influence Today).
In summary, this is a very important book to read so that the culture of the ancient Greeks can be preserved. Our society that promotes having "pride" in sodomy should not try to defile an ancient society that was built around virtue.
August 22, 2018
We live in a strange time. Any rumour of a historical figure bumping into another man at the ancient equivelent of the water cooler is categorised as a rampant homosexual (Alexander the Great). On the other hand, modern day Catholic priests helping themselves to the arses of choir boys? Nope, nothing to do with homosexuality at all.
While the author of the book, Georgiadis, is a hate figure among the bourgeois pseudo-left in Greece (the actual Communist Party of Greece, the KKE, is critical of "LGBT" promotion) he is a member of the center-right New Democracy party and can hardly be said to be coming from a radical position. He is kind of a Greek Pat Buchanan.
"Queering history", like its relative Afrocentrism, is one of the more ridiculous pseudo-historical revisionist movements to fall out of the bowels of the West's 1960s but retains currency in academia. Appropriating medieval Kings, Emperors, military leaders and others into the "LGBT" narrative as an attempt to build legitimacy is a core tactic, but prized above all is the idea of Ancient Greece.
Georgiadis has gone some way to correct the historical narrative of his country from the politically motivated calumny artificially heaped upon it by outsiders. He does not deny that in Greece, like everywhere, there were always a tiny minority of homosexuals, but what he shows is this was never regarded as socially acceptable, the norm nor was it a legally protected activity by any Greek state. A strength of Georgiadis is that he is an expert linguist in ancient Greek so is able to correct some distortions of the historical record.
An important work in the field of human sexuality.
While the author of the book, Georgiadis, is a hate figure among the bourgeois pseudo-left in Greece (the actual Communist Party of Greece, the KKE, is critical of "LGBT" promotion) he is a member of the center-right New Democracy party and can hardly be said to be coming from a radical position. He is kind of a Greek Pat Buchanan.
"Queering history", like its relative Afrocentrism, is one of the more ridiculous pseudo-historical revisionist movements to fall out of the bowels of the West's 1960s but retains currency in academia. Appropriating medieval Kings, Emperors, military leaders and others into the "LGBT" narrative as an attempt to build legitimacy is a core tactic, but prized above all is the idea of Ancient Greece.
Georgiadis has gone some way to correct the historical narrative of his country from the politically motivated calumny artificially heaped upon it by outsiders. He does not deny that in Greece, like everywhere, there were always a tiny minority of homosexuals, but what he shows is this was never regarded as socially acceptable, the norm nor was it a legally protected activity by any Greek state. A strength of Georgiadis is that he is an expert linguist in ancient Greek so is able to correct some distortions of the historical record.
An important work in the field of human sexuality.
November 2, 2024
This book is the epitome of right-wing propaganda. The idea that homosexuality was “loathed, despised, and subject to severe penalties” in ancient Greece is not supported by the breadth of evidence found in historical and literary sources. Works by eminent scholars such as Kenneth Dover, James Davidson, and Thomas K. Hubbard demonstrate that same-sex relationships were an acknowledged and, in many cases, respected part of Greek life, particularly among the upper echelons of society. The mentorship model of pederasty in Athens, for example, was not solely sexual but embedded in educational and social structures that aimed to develop young men’s virtues and civic responsibilities.
The assertion that claims of sexual relationships between teachers and pupils are fabricated ignores the documented cultural norms of the time. While these relationships were indeed regulated by social conventions and had ethical boundaries, they were part of a broader system of mentorship that included intellectual and emotional components, as noted in the writings of Plato and Xenophon. To label them as outright lies oversimplifies the historical record and disregards the context in which these practices existed.
Furthermore, the critique’s dismissal of suggestions that historical figures like Alexander the Great or Achilles might have engaged in same-sex relationships reflects a narrow reading of both historical evidence and literary tradition. For instance, the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus has been the subject of scholarly debate for centuries, with interpretations ranging from deep friendship to romantic love, supported by Homeric texts and later classical sources. Sappho’s poetry, which speaks vividly of love and desire among women, is similarly dismissed without sufficient academic grounding.
Some ideas from right-wing fanatics that contemporary understandings are shaped by an “LGBT lobby” is a politicized statement that overlooks the genuine progression of research and evolving interpretations based on evidence. History, like any field, undergoes reinterpretation as new insights are gained, not as a result of coercion but due to rigorous academic discourse. Modern historians and classicists strive to examine the past through critical and evidence-based lenses, recognizing the limitations and biases of both ancient and contemporary perspectives.
The assertion that claims of sexual relationships between teachers and pupils are fabricated ignores the documented cultural norms of the time. While these relationships were indeed regulated by social conventions and had ethical boundaries, they were part of a broader system of mentorship that included intellectual and emotional components, as noted in the writings of Plato and Xenophon. To label them as outright lies oversimplifies the historical record and disregards the context in which these practices existed.
Furthermore, the critique’s dismissal of suggestions that historical figures like Alexander the Great or Achilles might have engaged in same-sex relationships reflects a narrow reading of both historical evidence and literary tradition. For instance, the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus has been the subject of scholarly debate for centuries, with interpretations ranging from deep friendship to romantic love, supported by Homeric texts and later classical sources. Sappho’s poetry, which speaks vividly of love and desire among women, is similarly dismissed without sufficient academic grounding.
Some ideas from right-wing fanatics that contemporary understandings are shaped by an “LGBT lobby” is a politicized statement that overlooks the genuine progression of research and evolving interpretations based on evidence. History, like any field, undergoes reinterpretation as new insights are gained, not as a result of coercion but due to rigorous academic discourse. Modern historians and classicists strive to examine the past through critical and evidence-based lenses, recognizing the limitations and biases of both ancient and contemporary perspectives.
November 2, 2024
Το εν λόγω βιβλίο εκφράζει συγκεκριμένες μεροληπτικές πεποιθήσεις, απορρίπτοντας τις καθιερωμένες αρχαίες πηγές ως «πολύ γενικές» και υποστηρίζοντας ότι η ομοφυλοφιλία ήταν ευρέως απορριπτέα στην αρχαία Ελλάδα. Η προοπτική αυτή έχει τις ρίζες της σε μια συντηρητική ερμηνεία που ευθυγραμμίζεται με τις σύγχρονες ακροδεξιές ατζέντες, με στόχο να αναδιαμορφώσει την αφήγηση ώστε να ταιριάζει στους σημερινούς ιδεολογικούς στόχους αντί να παρέχει μια αμερόληπτη ιστορική ανάλυση. Το θέμα είναι καλά τεκμηριωμένο μέσα από διάφορα επιστημονικά έργα και πρωτογενείς πηγές που υποδεικνύουν σύνθετες και διαφοροποιημένες στάσεις απέναντι στις σχέσεις μεταξύ ατόμων του ιδίου φύλου. Τα έργα ιστορικών και μελετητών όπως ο Kenneth Dover και ο Thomas K. Hubbard παρέχουν εμπεριστατωμένες αναλύσεις που αποδεικνύουν ότι οι σχέσεις μεταξύ ατόμων του ιδίου φύλου αποτελούσαν αναπόσπαστο μέρος του ελληνικού πολιτισμού. Το συντηρητικό επιχείρημα ότι η ομοφυλοφιλία ήταν ευρέως απορριπτέα στην αρχαία Ελλάδα τείνει να επανερμηνεύει επιλεκτικά τις πηγές ή να απορρίπτει τα υπάρχοντα στοιχεία που έρχονται σε αντίθεση με την παραδοχή του. Οι σχολές σκέψης στο πλαίσιο των κλασικών σπουδών και της queer θεωρίας τονίζουν ότι οι σύγχρονες δυτικές ερμηνείες της σεξουαλικότητας δεν αντιστοιχούν ευκρινώς στις αρχαίες πρακτικές. Μελετητές όπως ο James Davidson και η Martha Nussbaum υποστηρίζουν ότι οι σεξουαλικές συμπεριφορές και νόρμες στην αρχαία Ελλάδα δεν μπορούν να κατηγοριοποιηθούν απλουστευτικά σύμφωνα με τα σύγχρονα δυαδικά συστήματα αποδοχής ή απόρριψης. Οι ακροδεξιές ερμηνείες συχνά χρησιμοποιούν cherry-picking και αναχρονιστικές αναγνώσεις για να ενισχύσουν τις σύγχρονες κοινωνικές και πολιτικές προκαταλήψεις. Αυτή η πρακτική διαστρεβλώνει την ιστορική πραγματικότητα και μειώνει την κατανόηση του πόσο ποικίλες και εξελιγμένες ήταν οι αρχαίες ελληνικές στάσεις απέναντι στις σχέσεις.
September 6, 2020
Αν και ομολογώ πως ο συγγραφέας μου είναι ιδιαίτερα αντιπαθής, το βιβλίο είναι μια σοβαρή και τεκμηριωμένη μελέτη σχετικά με την ομοφυλοφιλία στην αρχαία Ελλάδα, κάνοντας εκτενή χρήση αρχαιοελληνικών κείμενων (πρωτότυπο και μετάφραση με ακριβείς παραπομπές) και θέτοντας το ζήτημα στην ορθή διάσταση! Δηλαδή δεν εξετάζει αν υπήρχε ή δεν υπήρχε ομοφυλοφιλία (διότι προφανώς υπήρχε παντού και πάντα), αλλά κατά πόσο η σεξουαλική πράξη μεταξύ ανδρών ήταν ή δεν ήταν ηθικά η/και νομικά καταδικαστέα! Αυτό που προκύπτει από τα κείμενα, είναι ότι σαφώς και ήταν καταδικαστέα στην Αθηνά και την Σπάρτη. Επίσης θέτει στην ορθή του διάσταση, το ζήτημα της παιδεραστίας και τη σχέση "εραστή-ερωμενου" όπου φαίνεται η παιδαγωγική υφή αυτού του είδους της ιδιόμορφης σχέσης. Αρνητικά για το βιβλίο, μπορώ να εντοπίσω δυο, που προκύπτουν από τη γνωστή "ελληνολατρεία" του συγγραφέα. Το πρώτο είναι ότι βιάζεται να απορρίψει ως "αόριστες" τις αναφορές αρχαίων πηγών για την ομοφυλοφιλία σε περιοχές πλην Αθηνάς-Σπαρτης. Είναι γεγονός ότι δεν έχουμε πολύ συγκεκριμένα στοιχειά σχετικά με άλλες περιοχές πλην των δυο παραπάνω, αλλά γεγονός είναι επίσης ότι τόσο ο Ξενοφών στη "Λακεδαιμόνιων Πολιτεία", όσο και ο Αριστοτέλης στα "Πολιτικά", ξεκάθαρα λένε ότι στη Βοιωτία, την Ηλεία και την Κρήτη, η ομοφυλοφιλία ήταν ανεκτή. Το δεύτερο αρνητικό, είναι ότι προσπερνά το πασιφανές γεγονός (για όσους έχουν μελετήσει προσεκτικά τα αρχαία κείμενα), ότι παρόλο που η σχέση "εραστή-ερωμένου" ήταν καθαρά παιδαγωγική στην ιδεατή της μορφή, προφανώς και διάφοροι επίδοξοι εραστές με πρόσχημα την παιδαγωγική φύση της σχέσης, επεδίωκαν και άλλου είδους οφέλη (αλλιώς, ποιο το νόημα αναφορών μέσα αρχαία κείμενα περί ζηλειας εραστών ή έλλειψης ύπνου διότι σκέφτεται τον ερωμένο κλπ κλπ;). Αξιόλογο βιβλίο όπως και να' χει.
November 2, 2024
Historical Revisionism is the most prominent strategy of alt-right, and this book is an excellent example of this. The book is authored by a far-right Greek politician, and is an exercise in historical revisionism that distorts the complex realities of ancient Greek culture to fit a contemporary, ideologically conservative agenda. This revisionist approach selectively misinterprets or dismisses well-established historical evidence to argue that homosexuality was uniformly “loathed, despised, and subject to severe penalties” in ancient Greece. Such claims not only contravene centuries of scholarly work but also aim to weaponize classical history in service of modern homophobic ideologies.
It is vital to challenge such revisionism with a commitment to academic integrity and critical analysis. Historical studies should reflect the complexity of the past, not be reshaped to fit the biases of the present. By misrepresenting ancient Greek culture, this book fails to contribute meaningfully to historical discourse and instead serves as an ideological tool to align with conservative, exclusionary viewpoints.
It is vital to challenge such revisionism with a commitment to academic integrity and critical analysis. Historical studies should reflect the complexity of the past, not be reshaped to fit the biases of the present. By misrepresenting ancient Greek culture, this book fails to contribute meaningfully to historical discourse and instead serves as an ideological tool to align with conservative, exclusionary viewpoints.
June 16, 2023
This book is based on historical sources from ancient Greece. It's an excellent work that indeed collapses the anti-Hellenic, Semitic, communistic and propagandistic LGBTQ myth. Great answer to Dover's book too.
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