Terminology
''Erômenos'' (ἐρώμενος) means ‘one who is sexually desired’ in Greek language and is the past participle of the verb ''eramai'', to have sexual desire. In '' Greek Homosexuality'', the first modern scholarly work on this topic,Characteristics
In vase paintings and other artworks, the ''eromenos'' is often depicted as a beautiful young adult. His relatively smaller stature suggests his passive role in the relationship and younger age as well as social status. Usually, they show a combination of a youthful-looking face with a body which possesses mature musculature. The lack of beard and pubic hair are an important clue in identifying an ''eromenos'', though this may possibly be attributed to style. A poem quoted in ''Greek Sexuality'' (couplet 1327f) shows that ‘the poet will never cease to ‘fawn on’ the boy so long as the boy’s cheek is hairless. His specific age is a nuanced issue for the ''eromenos'', and the writer Strato put it: : The youthful bloom of the twelve-year-old gives me joy, but much more desirable is the boy of thirteen. He whose years are fourteen is a still sweeter flower of the Loves, and even more charming is he who is beginning his fifteenth year. The sixteenth year is that of the gods, and to desire the seventeenth does not fall to my lot, but only to Zeus. But if one longs for one still older, he no longer plays, but already demands the Homeric ‘but to him replied.’ Therefore, we can conclude that ''eromenos'' is not a fixed term, as it is only a stage in the development of young Greek men. After they grow up, their relationship with the ''erastes'' could end and they could get married or start another relationship. This experience, similar to some forms of socially-constructed bisexuality, is also shown in books, such as how Bion the Borysthenite condemns Alcibiades, ''that in his adolescence he drew away the husbands from their wives, and as a young man the wives from their husbands.'' According to Garrison, for Cretan boys, the passage to adulthood is the ‘prewedding’ of sex with a mature man.Representation
Visual art
The image of Ganymede in the figure above is the ideal portrait of an ''eromenos''. The muscles on his body contrasts with the hoop, a child's toy which emphasises the shape of his genitals and inner thighs, and he holds the cockerel, which is the love gift from Zeus. There is no moustache or pubic hair. John Beazley’s three types of erotic scenes appear in Athenian vase paintings. ''Eromenoi'' are often touched on chin and genitals by their ''erastes'' (alpha group), presented with gifts (beta group) or entwined between the thighs of their ''erastes'' (gamma group). Meanwhile, Eva Cantarella discovered that representations of pederastic relationships contain two successive moments of courtship. The first phase is similar to Beazley’s alpha group, while in the second phase the ''eromenos'' stands behind the ''erastes'' with his penis between his thighs, somehow similar to the gamma group. This vase (Brygos Painter) depicts a classical scene of an ''erastes'' courting an ''eromenos''. As the ''eromenos''’ legs are positioned between the ''erastes''’ thighs with the ''erastes'' touching his penis and his chin, it is similar to the alpha group. The pectoral and belly muscles show that he was well-trained in wrestling schools, and the bag of ‘Kydonian apples’ or quinces is a sign of his sexual awakening. Dover and Gundel Koch-Harnack have argued that the gift-giving scene to the ''eromenos'' is in fact a courting scene. Common gifts include a sprig of flowers, a rabbit, and a fighting cock.Poems and literature
The love for an ''eromenos'' is a frequent topic in Ancient Greek poems. Dover studied poems related to pederasty and quoted some verses expressing love to the eromonos, ‘O boy with the virginal eyes, I seek you, but you do not listen, not knowing that you are the charioteer of my soul!’ Also, A surviving fragment of Solon from the early sixth century B.C. writes that ‘Till he loves a lad in the flower of youth, bewitched by thighs and by sweet lips.’ The graffiti of Thera verified that anal penetration was normal in pederastic relationships, for in the inscriptions, Krimon used the verb ''oipein'' (male sexual act performed as either active or passive partner in Dorian dialect) to describe the intercourse with his ''eromenos'', which indicates anal penetration.Cantarella, Bisexuality in the ''Ancient World'', 26-27. Also, literature suggested that the charm of the ''eromenos'' lay in his attractive anal area, which was described by various metaphors such as rosebud, fruits, figs or gold. It is noteworthy that most of the Greek verses about homosexuality were about how the ''erastes'' longed for the ''eromenos'', but few were written from the perspective of the ''eromenos''.Myths
The ''erastes-eromenos'' relationship can be not only between humans but also between humans and gods. The love betweenAttitudes
The Athenians banned slaves from pursuing courtship of freeborn youths with themselves as the active partner, as ''Against Timarchus'' states that ‘A slave shall not be the lover of a free boy nor follow after him, or else he shall receive fifty blows of the public lash’; but this did not apply to free men. Nevertheless, to be in such a relationship with honour, ''eromenoi'' were supposed to resist the pursuit of their ''erastes'' to test their love, before finally yielding.Cantarella, ''Bisexuality in the Ancient World'', 20. According to Foucault, an ''eromenos'' should avoid being chased too easily, receiving too many gifts or quickly getting into a relationship before the ''erastes'' proved their passion, love and responsibility. Moreover, the perception of pederasty varied in different cities. While it was allowed in Elis and Boeotia, Ionians did not accept pederastic courtship. Athenians held a complicated attitude, as it was considered that Athenian fathers ought to protect their sons from suitors.Scholarship
Analysis of power structure
Some scholars believe that what the ''eromenoi'' gained from their ''erastes'' were not material rewards, but intellectual and moral edification, as well as learning how to achieve ejaculation, as pederasty was regarded as a process of education and sensual pleasure. For over a millennium, this relationship was the primary way of educating young men of the ruling class in military skills, social values, literature and the arts.Neill, ''The Origins and Role of Same-sex Relations in Human Societies'', 130. Eric Bethe, the first classical scholar to acknowledge Greek homosexuality, believed that the transmission of semen via anal intercourse was regarded as the conduit whereby the noble qualities of tutor-love were passed down to the youth. However,Comparison with women
In heterosexual erotic images in Ancient Greece, the gender roles of male and female are often depicted as the dominant and subordinate positions. Women are depicted bending over, recumbent, or supported by men positioned upright or on top; while ''eromenoi'' are often depicted as experiencing ‘intercrural sex’ (i.e., between the thighs), with their partners standing face-to-face with them. To ''erastes'', whether the appeal and seduction of the ''eromenos'' lies in their masculinity or femininity is contested. Dover discovered a line of Athenian Kritias quoted by a Roman writer, ‘In males, the most beautiful appearance is that which is female; but in females, the opposite.’ However, due to the lack of specific context and further supporting evidence, we cannot conclude that female characteristics of ''eromenos'' are the stimuli of pederasty. He also found that beardless male and female faces share the same contours, except for the eyes. Some scholars like Eva Cantarella and Cohen found that the lengths of time during which one ought to resist one's suitors' advances were similar in both same-sex and different-sex courtships; since the honour lay not in the refusal, but the choice of which was the best time to give in. Also, Garrison argues that the love of boys by men is emblematic of attitudes prevalent among the ruling class, in which love for women is devalued. The love for ''eromenoi'' can be related to misogyny in Ancient Greece.Cantarella, ''Bisexuality in the Ancient World'', 18. Not all homosexual relationships in Ancient Greece are typified as pederasty or as the ''erastes-eromenos'' relationship. The love betweenLater depictions
The 20th-century English and South African writerSee also
*References
Selected bibliography
Cantarella, Eva. ''Bisexuality in the Ancient World''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994. Dover, Kenneth James. ''Greek Homosexuality''. Updated and with a New Postcript. ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989. Foucault, Michel. ''The History of Sexuality''. 1st American ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978. Garrison, Daniel H. ''Sexual Culture in Ancient Greece''. Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture; v. 24. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000. Masterson, Mark, Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, and James Robson. ''Sex in Antiquity: Exploring Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World. Rewriting Antiquity''. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2015. Neill, James. ''The Origins and Role of Same-sex Relations in Human Societies''. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland &, 2009. Percy, William A. ''Pederasty and Pedagogy in Archaic Greece''. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996. Sissa, Giulia. ''Sex and Sensuality in the Ancient World''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. Pederasty in ancient Greece Gender studies Ancient Greece Male homosexuality Philosophy of love Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures Sexuality and society