Pederasty in Ancient Greece

Brittany Alvarado
12-01-2021

Is a relationship between a lover and the beloved in Ancient Greece seen as pedophilia? As we

have seen in the book, The Last of The Wine, and in many more historical Ancient Greece texts,

romantic relationships between older men and prepubescent males were common even more than

heterosexual relationships. In The Last of the Wine, the protagonist Alexias at the age of 15 is

pursued by many suitors for a chance to be his lover. To understand cultural features in pederasty

relationships many of these relationships occurred with upper-class Athenian youths and older

men. This practice involved the lover contributing in many ways to help and guide the beloved

through his development. These relationships were seen as culturally moral and only included

males, these relationships were short term but, if chosen by both the relationship could be long

term. these relationships were always associated with love. Marriage with women was only

beneficial economically and politically including reproduction.

Do cultural pluralism and historical justification support their actions? Is the relationship

between Alexias (beloved) and Lysis (lover) in any way wrong? It would not be correct to

associate their actions with pedophilia mostly because the youths had a choice of associating

with such relationships and many youths would refuse all pederastic relationships. However,

some might argue that the youths might be too young to involve themselves with older men,

which is true in some parts. Yet, Ancient Athenians did not target or fetishize boys before

puberty, the boys must be pre-pubescent or beyond puberty and there was always consent

involved. Many modern pedophiles target a younger audience in a significant age difference
including before puberty and aren't always consensual. Pedophilic relationships often include

older people having sexual attraction to those who are distinctively younger. Pederasty

connections did not only revolve around sexual acts or sexual attraction. However, in today's age

relationships like these are usually frowned upon not because of homosexuality but, because of

the lack of consent. Usually, minors are incapable of giving meaningful consent, this includes the

age difference, and varied maturity levels. For our modern society 18 is the age of adulthood yet,

in ancient Greece the age was much earlier. We really cannot argue if it's morally right in our

society because of the difference between cultural moral systems otherwise known a cultural

pluralism, and distinct timelines.

In the last of the wine Alexias chooses Lysis as his lover, even when their relationship included a

lot of guidance it was still very romantic between the two and their relationship continued even

after Alexius reached the age of adulthood. They are both able to support each other emotionally

and intellectually, “As for Lysis and me, anyone who has gone campaigning with a lover will

know what I mean when I say we have never been together so much, and never so little. We

seldom spent an hour out of each other’s sight; for after the first day I always rode with Lysis

and fought at his side, and no one, I believe, ever questioned my place. We got a new way of

talking to each other from being always overheard; sometimes, if we were alone for a while, we

were almost tongue-tied, and would look at each other smiling, not knowing how to begin.”

(122) As Alexias developed into a well-educated citizen his relationship with Lysis did not end

on bad terms because Alexias did the most common thing that many ancient Greeks did after

their pederasty relationships they would often marry and have kids of their own. Another

situation would be as the beloved aged, they would end their relationship with their lover and

seek a new relationship as the lover themselves. Although we may see these practices and

traditions as strange, we must understand their cultural and society norms, their systems, and the

political views we're often idealized. In Why “Pedophilia” Was So Normalized in Ancient

Greece by
“First of all, it’s woefully inaccurate to equate pederasty with modern-day pedophilia. And

second, just because something was common in the ancient world, doesn’t mean we should

condone it in the present world. After all, misogyny was rampant in ancient Greece. So was the

ownership of slaves. Hopefully, we can all agree that this doesn’t justify either of those moral

ills.” The difference between timelines and how society ages is important to how we would view

the situation. The statement in the article completely supports my personal argument, both

pederasty and pedophilia cannot be compared or condoned.

In the article Greek nationhood and 'Greek love': sexualizing the nation and multiple readings of

the glorious Greek past states, “The present analysis does not seek to suggest that ‘Greek love’

can be substantiated as a historical reality, however. On the contrary, it will show that this set of

data has been used for reflexive and political improvisation over the last two centuries, elevating

the very theme of ‘Greek love’ to an imaginary ideal, often an exportable good, repeatedly

(re)presented for the satisfaction of various audiences.” There is an enormous difference between

Greek love and modern love, in our modern-day society we can be more open and accepting of

many different sexualities and preferences but there is a limit. It is still not a norm to be in a

relationship with a relatively big age gap or with blood relatives, that is considered incest. Even

though, incest was also an ancient tradition in many other cultures. However, as I've stated

before, a relationship that was composed of love, if consented to by both parties' sexual

attraction, and intellectual compatibility in ancient Greece was the pederastic relationship

between an older male and an eromenos. although these were the ideal relationships it does not

mean this was the only type of relationship, both the males could have been of similar ages.

The relationship could be between two people acknowledging their differences. In the article,

Examining Greek Pederastic Relationships the author states, “However, accounts and reports of
relationships between people in our current society are not always representative of relationships

as a whole; it is quite possible that the ideal pederastic relationship portrayed in writing may not

have been the most practiced form of same-sex interaction in Greece. So, although the ideal

pederastic relationship was perhaps the most popular type of relationship in ancient Greece, it

was by no means the only one possible.” Indicating that pederasty relationships are the most

satisfying to Greeks society's conception of what a relationship should consist of. Lastly, there is

a reason why these relationships aren't seen in Greek's or Roma’s current society and are in fact

illegal because of the change in everyone's mindset throughout the years.