HANDOUT FOR OCT. 17: GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN ANCIENT GREECE
"Three things distinguish us from the barbarians: philosophy, nude sports, and love of boys." -- Plato, Symposium.
Terms:
Erastes and Eromenos: "Lover" and "Beloved" (active and passive).
Hetairos/hetaira: "Friend" or "companion" but also "prostitute."
Kinaidos: Derogatory term for "effeminate" male.
Gymnasium (from gymnos, "naked"): the Greek city’s prime location for philosophy, exercise, and…
411: Aristophanes’ Lysistrata: satire in which women of Athens and Sparta go on a "sex strike" for peace.
346: Aeschines’ speech against Timarchus, arguing that the latter should be disqualified from politics because of his sexual history.