Cretan pederasty - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Cretan pederasty was an archaic form of pederasty

Pederasty in ancient Greece

Pederasty in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged relationship between an adult and a younger male usually in his teens. It was characteristic of the Archaic and Classical periods...

that involved the ritual kidnapping (harpagmos) of a noble boy by an adult male of the aristocratic class, with the consent of the boy's father.

The man (known as philetor, "befriender") took the boy (known as kleinos, "glorious") into the wilderness, where they spent several months hunting and feasting with their friends. If the boy was satisfied with the conduct of his would-be comrade, he changed his title from kleinos to parastates ("sidekick," indicating he had fought in battle alongside his lover) returned to the philetor and lived in close bonds of public intimacy with him.

The function of the institution, beside teaching the youth adult skills, was supposed to confirm the status of the best men, and to offer both lover and beloved the chance to give proof of a noble character deserving of respect.

History

Archaeological work indicates that the Cretan pederastic tradition was already well established and structured in the Minoan

Minoan civilization

The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...

period, around 1650-1500 BCE. Ancient Greek historical tracts trace the origins of the tradition to mythological times. Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

states that it was king Minos

Minos

In Greek mythology, Minos was a king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every year he made King Aegeus pick seven men and seven women to go to Daedalus' creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten by The Minotaur. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades. The Minoan civilization of Crete...

who established pederasty as a means of population control on the island community: [They] "segregated the women and instituted sexual relations among the males so that women would not have children." The practice seems to have been reserved for the aristocracy, and it was a reciprocal acknowledgment and cultivation of honor. The man was honored by being allowed to take the boy, and the boy's honor was increased by being thus taken. As the historian Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

records it,

"(The Cretans) have a peculiar custom in regard to love affairs, for they win the objects with their love, not by persuasion, but by abduction; the lover tells the friends of the boy three or four days beforehand that he is going to make the abduction; but for the friends to conceal the boy, or not to let him go forth the appointed road, is indeed a most disgraceful thing, a confession, as it were, that the boy is unworthy to obtain such a lover; and when they meet, if the abductor is the boy’s equal or superior in rank or other respects, the friends pursue him and lay hold of him, though only in a very gentle way, thus satisfying the custom; and after that they cheerfully turn the boy over to him to lead away; if, however, the abductor is unworthy, they take the boy away from him."

Recent scholarship has suggested that the practice may have been adopted by the Dorians around 630 BC, spreading from Crete to Sparta and then to the rest of Greece.

Structure

This custom was highly regarded, and it was considered shameful for a youth to not acquire a male lover. Again, Strabo:

"It is disgraceful for those who are handsome in appearance or descendants of illustrious ancestors to fail to obtain lovers, the presumption being that their character (masculinity) is responsible for such a fate. But the parastathentes (those who stand by their lover in battle) receive honors; for in both the dances and the races they have the positions of highest honor, and are allowed to dress in better clothes than the rest, that is, in the habit given them by their lovers; and not then only, but even after they have grown to manhood, they wear a distinctive dress, which is intended to make known the fact that each wearer has become kleinos, for they call the loved one kleinos (distinguished) and the lover philetor."

Not surprisingly, these same Cretans were credited with introducing the myth of Zeus kidnapping Ganymede to be his lover in Olympus – though even the king of the gods had to make amends to the father. This myth, however, is denounced by Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

in his Laws as having been made up to justify purely sensual practices:

And we are unanimous in accusing the Cretans of fabricating the story of Ganymede: because they believed that their laws had come from Zeus, they have also attached this story to the god, thinking that they could reap the fruit of this pleasure and say that they were following the god's example. But that is the realm of myth. (636B-D)

Strabo also indicates that it is the boy’s masculinity

Masculinity

Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...

that consigns him his lover:

The most desirable youths, according to Cretan conventions, are not the exceptionally handsome ones, but rather those who are distinguished for manly courage and orderly behavior.

Together the boy and his lover live in the wilderness for a time, and at some point during the courtship the two made an offering of a votive tablet and an animal sacrifice at the sanctuary of Hermes and Aphrodite, on Mt. Dikte

Dikti

Dikti or Dicte is a mountain range on the east of the island of Crete in the prefecture of Lassithi. On the west it extends to the prefecture of Heraklio.According to the Greek Mythology, Zeus was reared on this mountain...

, close to the cave where Zeus was said to have been reared.

Upon their return the lover gives the boy expensive gifts, among which a military outfit, an ox (a sacrifice to Zeus

Zeus

In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

), and a drinking cup (symbolic of spiritual accomplishment). At that time, according to Strabo, the boy also is empowered to choose between continuing or putting an end to his relationship with his abductor, and to denounce the man if he misbehaved in any way. Here the cycle of honor given and returned is completed, but now it is the boy's turn to grant - or withhold - that honor:

The youth sacrifices the ox to Zeus and gives a feast to those who came down with him from the mountains. He then declares, concerning his relationship with the lover, whether it took place with his consent or not; the convention encourages this in order that, if any violence is used against him in the abduction, he may restore his honor and break off the relationship.

A late comment by the Roman historian Cornelius Nepos

Cornelius Nepos

Cornelius Nepos was a Roman biographer. He was born at Hostilia, a village in Cisalpine Gaul not far from Verona. His Gallic origin is attested by Ausonius, and Pliny the Elder calls him Padi accola...

claims that Cretan youths had more than one lover: "Quite young men in Crete are praised for having had as many lovers as they could."

Archeological findings

A number of archaeological findings have been interpreted as documentation of the Cretan pederastic rites. At a rustic shrine dedicated to Hermes and Aphrodite, at Kato Syme, approximately sixty kilometers east of Hagia Triada

Hagia triada

Hagia Triada is the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan settlement. Hagia Triada is situated on a prominent coastal ridge, with the Mesara Plain below. Hagia triada sits at the western end of the ridge, while Phaistos is at the eastern end...

, on Mt. Dikte

Dikti

(location of the cave where allegedly Zeus was reared) at ca. 1200m above sea level, excavations led by Angeliki Lembessi have uncovered numerous bronze objects offered to the deities, together with remains of animal sacrifices.

Among these were found bronze figures of youths from the Minoan period (before 1100 BC), indicating this to have been a long-standing sanctuary site. Such figurines were offered over the course of many centuries. One set, dated to ca. 8th-7th century BC and presently in the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

depicts a male couple consisting of an older bearded male and a younger male with long, flowing hair and curls in front. The older partner, who carries a horn bow, grasps the younger by the arm and draws him close. The younger carries a slain goat on his shoulders, presumably a sacrificial animal. They are looking intently at each other, their legs and feet touch, and the genitals of the younger male are exposed.

Another bronze piece, dated ca. 750 BC and presently in the Heraklion

Heraklion

Heraklion, or Heraclion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete, Greece. It is the 4th largest city in Greece....

Museum, shows two helmeted but otherwise nude youths, one older than the other. They both display erections and stand beside each other holding hands. Yet another bronze cutout dated to the 7th century BC shows a lad, nude except for a long, decorative cape and sandals, holding a bow and quiver. These pieces document that this Cretan initiatory tradition continued over many centuries and that later offerings left by pairs of lovers at this shrine became more elaborate and erotically explicit.

These objects appear to belong to the same tradition reflected in the Chieftain Cup (image at bottom of linked page), found in 1903 in the male dining club of the palace at Hagia Triada

Hagia triada

, and dated to the Middle Minoan II to Late Minoan I

Minoan chronology

Sir Arthur Evans developed a relative dating scheme of Minoan chronology based on the excavations initiated and managed by him at the site of the ancient city of Knossos. He called the civilization that he discovered there Minoan...

, (c. 1650 BC-1500 BC). It is carved out of serpentinite

Serpentinite

Serpentinite is a rock composed of one or more serpentine group minerals. Minerals in this group are formed by serpentinization, a hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle...

and depicts two beardless youths, one older than the other (discernible by the difference in height and in hairstyle), dressed in kilts and tall boots and wearing jewelry. The older presents the younger with a sword and a javelin, while on the reverse of the cup other youths (the lover's friends?) bring three flattened ox hides, presumably for making a shield.

Myths and folktales

Beside the myths, a couple of Cretan pederastic folktales have come down to us, albeit in fragmentary form. In both tales the boy is named Leucocomas (leukos = bright / kóme = hair) and puts his lover to the test by challenging him to perform a number of difficult tasks, known as "athlon" (the same term used of the twelve Labors of Heracles, "dodekathlos"). In the tale of Euxinthetus and Leucocomas the lover must bring the boy's dog from Prasus back to Gortyn

Gortyn

Gortyn, Gortys or Gortyna is a municipality and an archaeological site on the Mediterranean island of Crete, 45 km away from the modern capital Heraklion. The seat of the municipality is the village Agioi Deka...

, a distance of one hundred eighty stadia (over twenty eight kilometers). In the other tale, that of Promachus

Promachus

Promachus is a name that refers to several different people.-Mythology:*Son of Aeson and Alcimede, killed by Pelias along with his father while his brother, Jason, searched for the Golden Fleece....

("forward fighter") and Leucocomas, the boy set his lover a number of arduous tasks, culminating in retrieving a priceless helmet. Promachos, however, infuriated by his beloved's endless and unreasonable demands, retrieved the helmet but placed it on the head of another boy, leading Leucocomas to kill himself in a jealous fit.

External links

Ephorus on Cretan pederasty

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History

Structure

Archeological findings

Myths and folktales

See also

External links