The age of love: gender and erotic reciprocity in archaic Greece

Archaic Greece (eighth to sixth centuries BCE) is a society which we might term “before sexuality”: in the sexual and romantic relations that characterize it, the criterion of age plays a different role from that in modern Western societies. This applies not only within the framework of marriage, bu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clio (English ed. En ligne) 2015-01 (42), p.24-51
Main Authors: Boehringer, Sandra, Caciagli, Stefano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Ancient Greece
Archaic period
Banquets
Love
Love poetry
Love relationships
Men
Poetry
Words
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Summary:Archaic Greece (eighth to sixth centuries BCE) is a society which we might term “before sexuality”: in the sexual and romantic relations that characterize it, the criterion of age plays a different role from that in modern Western societies. This applies not only within the framework of marriage, but also in the context of homoerotic relations – known as pederastic – as celebrated in the poetry of the aristocratic banquet (Theognis, Anacreon) and other communitarian contexts (Alcman, Sappho). Greek marriage was asymmetrical in terms of age, and it is necessary to challenge the preconceived idea that female homoerotic relations between women were any more egalitarian than those between men. Consequently, if we are to understand the connection between age and sexuality in Archaic Greece, the approach to Greek matters of love (éros) must distinguish between asymmetry of age and romantic reciprocity (philótēs).
ISSN:2554-3822