Were there any ancient cultures that accepted homosexuality?
score:10
A note: it's important to draw a distinction between modern and ancient concepts of sexuality. Our paradigm where one is classified as somewhere on a spectrum between hetereosexual and h*m*sexual simply doesn't apply to other periods. As other commenters have noted, attitudes towards men having sex with men varied in classical antiquity, but much of it had to do with social status, age, and "masculine" versus "feminine" roles, and not male/female preference as we would understand it. So it may be better to ask if there were ancient cultures that accepted same-gender romantic or sexual relationships (which, of course, there were many of).
Upvote:-3
As you might know, the myth that Alexander, David, Jonathon, Shakespeare, etc were h*m*sexual is a complete falsehood. It's a fanciful retelling of history.
You might be aware of this since you said you "do not count pedophilia", but the Greeks practiced pederasty. Virgil recounts something very similar to pederasty in The Aeneid and it's very likely almost all open h*m*sexual relationships in classical antiquity were of this nature.
Quoting from this article:
"Same sex intercourse with prostitutes, slaves or war captives was considered totally acceptable as it did not threaten a freeborn’s masculinity as long as the Roman citizen took the active role in penetration. Same sex activity amongst soldiers of equal status was punishable by death."
Upvote:9
At least some ancient Greeks accepted h*m*sexuality. Thebes and Sparta are both reported to have military units made up of h*m*sexual couples, the reasoning basically being that this would inspire them to fight harder to protect their lovers. Some sources say that Sparta considered h*m*sexuality superior to heterosexuality because they believed women were inferior to men and thus not worthy of true love -- a woman was only good for reproduction. For the most part Greek h*m*sexuality appears to have been pedophilia, at least, they routinely talked about the older man as the "lover" and the younger as the "beloved", though I don't know what the upper limit on the age of the beloved was. Plato quotes Socrates as saying that when he was a boy he was proud of his abilities to seduce older men.
Homosexuality was certainly known and practiced by the Romans, but it was widely condemned. Or at least, the surviving history books were written by people who condemned it. But for example, according to Plutarch, when Julius Caesar was a young man, he was appointed ambassador to Illyria, and had a h*m*sexual affair with the king of Illyria. But Plutarch says this brought widespread criticism, opponents taunting him as the "Queen of Illyria" and the like.
According to the Bible, Sodom and Gomorroh accepted h*m*sexuality.
I don't know of any other ancient cultures who accepted it. Of course that doesn't prove there were no others: I don't claim to know all about every culture that ever existed.
More post
- 📝 What were Hiroshima and Nagasaki known for prior to World War II?
- 📝 What was the timetable for the arrival of the 100,000 man Japanese garrison at Rabaul?
- 📝 How is it known that Phidias used the golden ratio in the Parthenon?
- 📝 Why are flagpole tips spear-shaped?
- 📝 Did the Buyids emerge as allies of the Abbasid Caliphate?
- 📝 What happened to people's houses during the Soviets' reign?
- 📝 What did the people of the Middle Ages call their period?
- 📝 Why are Vikings singled out for raids in Britain and Ireland when records may indicate most raids were by local rulers?
- 📝 What capabilities did Southern soldiers in the American Civil War have to get news about the North?
- 📝 Did the Axis try to "bribe" Turkey into joining them during World War II?
- 📝 Was slavery in the United States legally limited to blacks?
- 📝 How were books published in Ancient Greece?
- 📝 What would've been the outcome of the Yom Kippur War had the UN not intervened?
- 📝 How many people lived in the Mexican territories annexed by the US?
- 📝 Why did the East India Company accept the Government of India Act 1858?
- 📝 When was the last name introduced in World History?
- 📝 What was the structure of religious beliefs among the Arabic peoples before conversion to Islam?
- 📝 Why did General Billy Mitchell regard war with Japan as inevitable as early as 1912?
- 📝 What were women doing at the Battle of Dorylaeum during the First Crusade?
- 📝 When was the first airborne combat drop?
- 📝 What allowed the British to be able to burn Washington D.C. in the war of 1812?
- 📝 Were prisons in Maine mixed race in 1947?
- 📝 Why were the kingdom of Prussia's territorial ambitions focused in Saxony?
- 📝 How was Canadian sovereignty in the arctic threatened in the 1950s?
- 📝 What are some instances of professional army funding being stolen in full?
- 📝 Did any native US-Canadian tribes have written language before the advent of the Europeans?
- 📝 How did laborers travel from China to Malaya in the early 19th century?
- 📝 What was Lenin's major criticism of or differences with Marx?
- 📝 Did other American empires also fall to the Europeans?
- 📝 What was the relationship between Indian caste system and martial skills?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Were there any ancient cultures that accepted h*m*sexuality?
- 📝 Were there any conquests that Ancient Rome undertook explicitly to gain control of a natural resource?
- 📝 Besides the Hebrews, were there any other ancient cults that used salt in animal sacrifices?
- 📝 Were there any ancient civilisation that functioned without currency or bartering?
- 📝 Is there any documentation that indicates the Aztecs were as violent as they are made out?
- 📝 Were there any wars in ancient Greece where religion played a major part?
- 📝 Were there any well known royal dynasties that did not in some way cite religious mandate for their rule?
- 📝 Were there any war movies made during WW2 that were well regarded by front-line American soldiers?
- 📝 Are there any historians who believe that the crusades were not motivated as a distraction from internal conflicts?
- 📝 Were there any pilots that declined to carry out the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
- 📝 Were there any battles in Continental Europe that were decided by "peasants with pitchforks?"
- 📝 Are there any historical sources that support the claim that ancient high-speed archers held multiple arrows in their hand?
- 📝 Were there any assassinations of high-profile Austrian officials before that of the Archduke Ferdinand?
- 📝 Were there any developed countries that became "undeveloped" for reasons other than war?
- 📝 During World War II, were there any parts of the Japanese overseas empire that was capable of local re-supply?
- 📝 Are there any misunderstandings in history that were resolved in the 20th century?
- 📝 Was there any Egyptian Pharaoh that was considered the one and only god that ancient Egyptians worshiped during his life?
- 📝 Were there any Ancient Greek theatres not built on a hill/slope?
- 📝 Were there any Native American tribes that had more than a strategic alliance with the Confederates?
- 📝 Are there any universally accepted or non-Abrahamic based books in history that have mentions of longevity of prophets?
- 📝 Were there any natural disasters that decisively changed the result of a later election by killing the electorate of one side?
- 📝 Have there been any other US presidents besides JFK that were groomed from birth to be president?
- 📝 Were there any potential areas around Smolensk that Army Group Center might have found as defensible as the Rzhev line?
- 📝 Are there any communist countries that were model high functioning societies?
- 📝 Were there any recorded instances of outlaws (people that were illegal out of their wanted place 100% of the time) in Nazi Germany?
- 📝 Were there any notable historic figures that weren't racist by modern standards?
- 📝 Were there any successful revolutions that didn't end in a totalitarian regime?
- 📝 Is there any evidence to support the claim that the United States was "suckered into WW1" by Zionists, made by Benjamin Freedman in his 1961 speech?
- 📝 Have there been any countries that voted themselves out of existence?
- 📝 Is there any proof that Robin Hood existed?