On homosexuality in different cultures

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I have just watched the YouTube videos:

The Tragic Life of Male Concubines in Roman Empire

The Tragic Life of a Male Concubine in Ancient China

This prompted me to present the following question to ChatGPT.

Q. What is the history of homosexuality in ancient cultures?

ChatGPT answer:

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The history of homosexuality in ancient cultures is rich and varied, reflecting a wide range of attitudes, practices, and beliefs. Here's an overview of how different ancient societies viewed and practiced same-sex relationships:

1. Ancient Mesopotamia

Earliest records (c. 2000 BCE) suggest acceptance of male same-sex relations in some contexts.

Sumerian and Akkadian texts mention temple priests called gala, some of whom may have been involved in same-sex acts as part of religious rituals.

The Code of Hammurabi (Babylon, ~1750 BCE) does not explicitly criminalize homosexuality.

2. Ancient Egypt

Homosexuality is less well documented, but suggestive evidence exists.

The tale of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep (c. 2400 BCE), two male royal manicurists buried together in a pose typically reserved for married couples, is often cited.

Egyptian texts mostly remain silent on homosexuality, which may suggest tolerance or indifference.

3. Ancient India

The Kama Sutra (c. 3rd century CE) includes descriptions of homosexual acts and third-gender individuals (hijras).

Hindu mythology includes same-sex themes—e.g., Shiva and Vishnu in the Mohini avatar having a child together.

Ancient texts acknowledged and even described same-sex attraction without consistent condemnation.

4. Ancient China

Historical records from the Zhou to Han dynasties (1046 BCE – 220 CE) mention male same-sex relationships among aristocrats.

The term "passion of the cut sleeve" refers to Emperor Ai of Han cutting off his sleeve to avoid waking his male lover, Dong Xian.

Homosexuality was not taboo in early Chinese history, especially among elites.

5. Ancient Greece

Male same-sex love, especially pederasty (an adult man with an adolescent boy), was a social institution, particularly in Athens.

Relationships were often educational, emotional, and sexual.

Philosophers like Plato (in Symposium) idealized male-male love as a path to virtue and truth.

Lesbian relationships, though less documented, appear in the poetry of Sappho from Lesbos.

6. Ancient Rome

Roman society tolerated male-male sex as long as the citizen male took the dominant (penetrative) role; passive adult males were often ridiculed.

Emperors like Hadrian openly loved men—Hadrian deified his lover Antinous after his death.

Roman law regulated sexuality more by class and status than by gender.

7. Indigenous Cultures of the Americas

Many Native American tribes recognized Two-Spirit people—individuals with both masculine and feminine traits, who often had same-sex partners.

These individuals were often revered as shamans, healers, or spiritual guides.

Summary of Ancient Attitudes

Varied and context-specific: Some cultures accepted same-sex relationships openly, while others regulated or ignored them.

Gender roles and power often shaped views of sexuality more than the gender of the partner.

Modern concepts of orientation (e.g., "gay" or "lesbian") did not exist, but same-sex relationships were common and often normalized.

Q. Would you like more detail on a specific civilization or religious context?

A. Yes. Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece had one of the most documented and philosophically discussed traditions of same-sex relationships in antiquity. However, their understanding of sexuality was very different from modern ideas of sexual orientation. Here's a detailed look:

Homosexuality in Ancient Greece

Cultural Norms and Power Dynamics

Greek society, particularly in classical Athens (5th–4th century BCE), saw male-male relationships as acceptable under certain social and age-related conditions. Key factors:

● Status mattered more than gender: The active (penetrative) partner was typically an adult citizen male, while the passive partner was often a youth (called an eromenos).

● These relationships were part of a socially recognized practice called pederasty, involving an older man (erastes) and a younger boy (eromenos).

Pederasty

A structured institution, not merely sexual, but also educational and mentorship-based.

The older man was supposed to guide the boy in matters of politics, warfare, and culture.

The sexual aspect was not supposed to be exploitative or commercial —it had to be framed within an ideal of mutual admiration and virtue.

Despite this structure, penetration of another citizen male (especially an adult) was taboo. A grown man who took the passive role could be mocked or degraded.

Philosophical Reflections

Plato (in Symposium and Phaedrus):

● Exalted male-male love as a path to higher forms of beauty and truth.

● Plato described "Platonic love" (named after him much later), where a relationship between men could transcend the physical and become a form of spiritual ascent.

Socrates, in Plato’s dialogues, describes love between men as divine.

"Love is the pursuit of the whole" – Plato, Symposium

Aristotle:

● Less enthusiastic than Plato, Aristotle viewed same-sex desire as natural in youth, but not ideal for adulthood.

● He emphasized procreation as the goal of relationships, aligning more with biology than emotion.

Sparta and the Sacred Band of Thebes

● In Sparta, homoerotic relationships were encouraged among soldiers to promote loyalty and courage in battle.

● The Sacred Band of Thebes (4th century BCE) was an elite military unit of 150 male couples. They believed that lovers fighting side by side would be more fearless and devoted.

Sappho and Lesbianism

● Sappho of Lesbos, a lyric poet (c. 6th century BCE), wrote poems about her love and longing for other women.

● Her works are among the earliest and most powerful expressions of female same-sex desire.

● The word “lesbian” comes from her home island, Lesbos.

Legal and Social Limits

● While pederasty was idealized, male prostitution or taking a passive role as an adult was stigmatized.

● Citizens who sold sex or were perceived as “unmanly” could lose legal rights, such as the right to speak in court or hold office.

● Laws focused more on shame and honor, especially for citizen males.

Summary

● Homosexuality in Ancient Greece was institutionalized, philosophical, and militarized.

● It was widely accepted in certain forms, especially male-male relationships between older mentors and younger protégés.

● Relationships were regulated by age, status, and role, not identity.

● Female same-sex love was less discussed but acknowledged in poetry and myth.

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Q. What would I have to say about all this?

A. It is obvious that homosexuality is not something a person is born with as many defenders of homosexuality claim. It is not some genetic predisposition toward having desires for others of the same sex. All of those emperors of China didn’t just happen to be born homosexual. All those practitioners of ancient Greece weren’t born homosexual. Homosexuality is some kind of esoteric perverted sexual practice with its own knowledge and techniques that is passed on from one person to another. Depraved minds in many different cultures learned of this erotic practice involving sex between males (or sex between females) and passed it on. Once they are initiated they develop love relationships with the same sex and apparently are no longer interested in normal sex.

The Bible is absolutely clear about the practice.

When God gave his commandments to the Children of Israel his

position on homosexuality was crystal clear:

Lev 18:22,24 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It

is an abomination. Do not defile yourselves with any of these

things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am

casting out before you.

Lev 20:13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman,

both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely

be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.

The attitude of Christianity is the same as that of the Old

Testament, completely unequivocal on the subject:

Rom 1:26-28 For this cause God gave them up unto vile

affections: for even their women did change the natural use

into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men,

leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one

toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly,

and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error

which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in

their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do

those things which are not convenient;

Jude 7 ... as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them

in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to

sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth

as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

1 Cor 6:9-10 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not

inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither

fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,

nor sodomites, {10} nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,

nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

I just saw another YouTube video narrated by someone who is sympathetic toward this kind of thing (homosexual love relationships with young boys) and critical of the Biblical position:

Horrific Things That Were Normal for Ottoman Male Concubines

Men who are attracted to young boys and want them for their sexual pleasure. What causes this? I don’t know. But it certainly does sound sick, like outrageous moral perversion.

Sexual child abuse. How does a person pervert an innocent five year old boy? I don’t know but there have obviously been many in many cultures through the ages that do know. They have their special techniques. And their ability to do it, success in doing it, shows that young boys can be sexually perverted. Homosexuals know how to pervert others. I think it is horrendous and sick. But I am of a Christian perspective.

I wonder if the following scripture applies to them.

Matt 18:5-6 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

There is one thing on which I have a real respect for Russia. Their strong position on homosexuality.

1 July 2025