Uranian (from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

Aphrodite Urania Aphrodite Urania (, Latinized as Venus Urania) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, signifying a "heavenly" or "spiritual" aspect descended from the sky-god Ouranos to distinguish her from the more earthly epithet of Aphrodite Pandemo ...

(, )) is a historical term for

homosexual men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual men, bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included ''Sexual inversion (sexology), in ...

. The word was also used as an adjective in association with male homosexuality or inter-male attraction regardless of

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

. An early use of the term appears in

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

's 'Sixth Letter' in the '' Aesthetic Education of Man'' (1795–96). Schiller claims that state institutions are so jealous they would rather share their servants with a

Cytherean Cytherean is an adjective literally meaning ''of Cythera'' (Latin ''Cytherēa'', from the Greek adjective Κυθέρεια ''Kythereia'', from Κύθηρα ''Kythēra'' 'Cythera'). Cythera is a small Greek island, southeast of the Peloponn ...

Venus than a Uranian Venus.Friedrich Schiller. 'Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man.' In Harrison, Wood and Gaiger eds. ''Art in Theory 1648-1815: An Anthology of Changing Ideas''. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2000. p. 800. The term was used by activist

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (28 August 1825 – 14 July 1895) was a German lawyer, jurist, journalist, and writer. He is today regarded as a pioneer of sexology and the modern LGBT rights movement, gay rights movement. Ulrichs has been described as ...

in a series of five booklets from 1864 to 1865 collected under the title (''The Riddle of Man–Manly Love''). The term ''uranian'' was adopted by English-language advocates of homosexual emancipation in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

, such as

Edward Carpenter Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rights and prison reform whilst advocating vegetarianism and taking a stance against vivise ...

and

John Addington Symonds John Addington Symonds Jr. (; 5 October 1840 – 19 April 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies of writers and artists. Although mar ...

, who used it to describe a comradely love that would bring about true democracy.

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

once wrote to his lover Robert Ross in an undated letter, "To have altered my life would have been to have admitted that uranian love is ignoble. I hold it to be noble—more noble than other forms." Additionally, in his studies, Ulrichs notes that, whilst many Urnings felt as women did, others did not; with a number being otherwise quite manly despite their desires for men. Furthermore, of notability among some with variant gender identities, Ulrichs lists some possessed qualities much more akin to the female sex — such as mannerisms, clothing preferences, voices, temperaments, dislike of vulgarity, & a liking for typically feminine things such as flowers. Some accounts of patients even show signs of what we today call gender dysphoria, with one individual being noted for their tendency to avoid viewing their naked body at all times along with being distressed at the sight of their beard hair; feeling alien in their body & speaking of how they view it, they state "this is not how I feel inside". As a rule, Ulrichs did also make it clear that not all effeminate men were Urnings and that one may be feminine for a variety of reasons. The term

Uranians The Uranians were a late-19th-century and early-20th-century clandestine group of up to several dozen male homosexual poets and prose writers who principally wrote on the subject of the love of (or by) adolescent boys. In a strict definition they ...

also designates a group of writers who studied

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and wrote

pederastic Pederasty or paederasty () is a sexual relationship between an adult man and an adolescent boy. It was a socially acknowledged practice in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, Rome and elsewhere in the world, such as Homosexuality in Japan#Pre-Mei ...

poetry from roughly the 1870s to the 1930s. The writings of this group came to be known by the phrase Uranian poetry. The art of

Henry Scott Tuke Henry Scott Tuke (12 June 1858 – 13 March 1929) was an English artist. His most notable work was in the Impressionist style and he is best known for his paintings of nude boys and young men. Trained at the Slade School of Art under Alphons ...

and

Wilhelm von Gloeden Wilhelm Iwan Friederich August von Gloeden (September 16, 1856 – February 16, 1931), commonly known as Baron von Gloeden, was a German photographer who worked mainly in Italy. He is mostly known for his pastoral nude studies of Sicilian boys ...

is also sometimes referred to as Uranian.

Etymology

Ulrichs derived ''uranian'' ( in German) from a dialogue on ''

eros Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite. He is usually presented as a handsome young ma ...

'', in particular male love, metaphorized by the birth of Greek goddess

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

from

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's work ''

Symposium In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...

''. In this dialogue, Pausanias distinguishes between two types of love, symbolized by two different accounts of the birth of

, the goddess of love. was derived from

, who was created out of the god Uranus' semen, a birth in which "female has no part", therefore representing love between men. Its counterpart, ''dionian'' ( in German), was derived from Aphrodite Dionea, the daughter of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

and Dione, associated with a common love which "is apt to be of women as well as of youths, and is of the body rather than of the soul", representing for Ulrichs men's love for women. Diverging from Plato's account of masculine love, Ulrichs understood male to be essentially feminine and male to be masculine in nature. Ulrichs developed his terminology before the first public use of the term ''

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

''. John Addington Symonds was one of the first to take up the term ''uranian'' in the English language and is also responsible for its connection with Ulrichs' .

References

External links

Who were the urnings?
{{LGBTQ, history=expanded 1860s neologisms 19th century in LGBTQ history Gay history LGBTQ terminology Male homosexuality Terms for men de:Karl Heinrich Ulrichs#Urninge und Dioninge

Etymology

See also

References

Further reading

External links