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People with a History
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An Online Guide to
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* History
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Site Maintainer: Paul Halsall
©1997
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Introduction
There has been a huge outpouring of research on lesbian, gay and
bisexual history, as well as the newer "queer studies",
in the past fifteen years. [See the Bibliographical Guide to Lesbian and Gay History
for evidence.] But the field is awash with controversies, controversies,
it must be said, which advance our knowledge on all fronts. The
central questions raised address the nature and possibility of
a "history of homosexuality". Some scholars assert that
"homosexuality" as a discrete identity is a very modern
western construction (although the dates suggested by these scholars
vary considerably). Others argue that there have always been "homosexuals"
with some self-awareness, but even they would acknowledge that
the large, highly visible and open "gay and lesbian community:
of the past few decades is a new development in history.
For those who argue that "gays and lesbians" are a new
creation, the only "gay and lesbian history" that can
really deserve the name is the history of the modern political
and social movement. In practice, however, even those who argue
this way accept that homosexual activity in the past was widespread
(however conceived at the time) and that this past is of interest
to modern lesbians and gays. An analogy may be made here with
"national" histories: there was no "English nation"
before the late middle ages - the idea of "nation" is
itself a late development - and yet the history of both Roman
Britannia and Anglo-Saxon and earlier medieval England
is fairly studied as contributing to the history of the modern
English nation. In the same way the lives and activities of those
who were sexually active, or attracted to, members of the same
sex, as well as the attitudes of others towards them may fairly
be said to constitute a history of interest to modern lesbians,
gays and bisexuals.
But what makes up "modern lesbian, gay and bisexual"
[hereafter "LGB"] identity? Clearly "sexuality"
- broadly understood as sexual activity and understandings of
such activity - plays an important part. The history of sexuality,
and especially homosexual activity, is a subject for LGB history.
Some indeed would seek to limit LGB history to a history of sexual
activity. It does not seem accurate, however, to restrict modern
understandings of LGB identities to sex. There are, and have been,
societies in which same-sex sexual activity has been widespread
but has had little or no emotional significance [as with some
modern prison homosexuality]. But a preference for, or orientation
to, homosexual activity is only part of modern LGB identities.
Just as important is an emphasis on emotional contact and partnership
with another person of the same sex [called "homoaffectionalism"
by author Paul Hardman]. Social surveys of modern lesbians and
gays in couples show this clearly: the relationships continue
to be emotionally central to participants even if sexual activity
after a number of years becomes minimal or non-existent. On the
other hand, in modern European and American societies emotionally
intense same-sex relationships -- sometimes called "friendship"
in the past -- have very limited, if any, public role. It is not
uncommon for people to claim that they have "hundreds of
friends", a nonsensical statement if "friend" were
to have its significance in ancient and medieval European discourses.
There is thus some reason to claim the history of friendship is
of special interest to modern LGBs, who preserve with their subcultures
a tradition of intense emotional same-sex friendship, both with
sexual partners and with others.
The "History of (Homo-)Sexuality" and
"Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual History"
Traditional history has sought to understand past and present
societies with categories of analysis such as politics,
thought, economics, and, at least since Karl Marx,
class. In the past twenty or so years other categories
of analysis, not considered important in the past, have appeared
as significant to many historians. Perhaps the most important
of these is gender. To these historians Gender
is the cultural meaning given to the rather limited facts
of biology. One aspect of gender analysis consists
in looking at how "men" and "women", "masculinity"
and "femininity", are understood in a society - and
at how such understandings play out in people's lives. Another,
even newer, aspect of gender analysis looks at issues of sexual
behavior and sexuality.
Although Western medievalist, John Boswell, who legitimated lesbian
and gay history as a field of study in his book Christianity,
Social Tolerance and Homosexuality (1980) famously advanced
the theory that "Gay people" have always and everywhere
existed, this has not been widely accepted by scholars. Since
1980 a very specific theory the history of sexuality as it applies
to homosexuals, has come to be accepted by the majority of historians
working in the field. The model now is this:
- Homosexual behaviors exist in most societies, and in most,
including European society until about 1700, homosexuality falls
into two main patterns (at least for men.) One pattern is based
on age-dissonant sexual dominance; an older man
(not always very much older by the way) will take a conventionally
"male" role in a sexual relationship with a younger
male, but will not, in doing so, be regarded as any different
from other "male" men in general society. The second
common pattern is based on gender-dissonant sexual
dominance; this means that in a number of societies there were
"biological" males who lived as "non-males"
throughout their lives, and these people can also be the sexual
partners of "male" men without the "men" loosing
any status. The Native American berdache is perhaps the
most famous example of a widespread phenomenon.
- Around 1700, in Western Europe a change took place. A subculture
of effeminate men arose in major cities, men who identified themselves
as different. The word "molly" was used in London and
other words elsewhere. Although they were prepared to have sex
with "male" men these "mollies" were also
prepared to have sex with each other. This is not, it seems, common
across various societies. Some historians have called this the
emergence of a "third gender".
- Since "a third gender" is not the model of modern
homosexuality in the West, there has been a question of when the
"modern homosexual" emerged. Many writers have argued
that that the medicalization of homosexuality in the late nineteenth
century resulted in the creation of a new creature - the "modern
homosexual" (and the "modern heterosexual"!) What
distinguishes "homo-" and "heterosexuals"
from earlier models of sexuality is that they are in strict opposition
to each other, and are defined not by gender role, or even sexual
role, but by "sexual orientation". Certainly in Germany
in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century there was
a clear notion of homosexuality, and a political movement based
on it.
- A major recent readjustment of this theory, resulting from
the work of George Chauncey in his recent Gay New York.
Chauncey has called into question the last part of the traditional
formulation. He argues that elite terminology and labels (also
known as "medicalization") had no immediate effect on
the mass of working class New Yorkers (with the suggestion that
this was probably true elsewhere.) That although there were, eventually,
some self-identified "queers", until as late 1940 [!]
it was common for working-class men to have "male role"
sex with other men ["fairies"] without in any way feeling
that they were "homosexual". What happened around 1940,
the Chauncey-amended model says is that, first, more and more
of the mass of the population began to identify as "heterosexual"
and see any homosexual behavior as transgressive; and secondly
among self-identified "queers" a shift in desired sexual
partner took place. Previously "queers" had tended to
prefer "male" men but now "queers" began to
prefer other "queers" as sexual partners.
- It was this emergence of a social identity of "homosexual"
which enabled lesbian and gay people to come together, recognize
each other, and begin a social movement for legal, political and
social equality.
As can be seen current discussion amongst historians focuses on
the history of Western sexuality. It would also seem to imply
that there were no "homosexuals", or "heterosexuals",
in the past nor in other cultures [there was of course always
homo- and heterosexual behavior]. In reading the various texts
from other cultures below, readers might consider if the current
dominant model applies as widely as its proponents suppose?
"Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual History"
and Same-Sex Friendship
Lesbian history has long been roiled by the issue of "Romantic
friendship" - with Lillian Faderman's Surpassing the Love
of Men (in which she discusses women's romantic friendships).
The question posed comes down to this "Does it matter whether
they had sex?" It turns out that there is more evidence of
lesbian sex than Faderman may have noticed (see Emma Donahue's
book on Early Modern British Lesbian), but for "gay"
history this has seemed less of a problem: there is no shortage
of evidence about sexual activity between men in the past. If
we want to restrict history for gay people to the history of same
sex activity, we can do so. The result might be a sorry story
of oppression, appearances in court, and Bohemian exceptions,
but it is there.
But is this all there is, or is the wider topic of male-male emotional
relationships also part of "gay" history? This is the
real issue with the whole debate over Boswell's Same Sex Unions.
In fact the issue of "Romantic friendship" between men
is shaping up as a real panel-buster at conferences [perhaps we
need a book "Surpassing the Love of Women" to discuss
it?]. When we ask the question "Does it matter if they were
having sex?", we have to ask "matter to whom [?]?".
And if we have "Romantic Friendship" plus "socially
created kinship" minus-"demonstrated or publically validated
sexual activity", as seems to have been the case with adelphopoiia,
what exactly are we dealing with? Clearly it is not unambiguous
"gay history".
Some writers have argued that "homosociality, homoeroticism,
and homosexuality are analytically distinct". In response,
I would note that almost anything can be distinguished from anything
else, and, to use a medieval terminology, nominalism is surely
more accurate that realism in discussions of human relationships.
If one wanted, I am sure one could make an argument that "homo-whatever"
relationships between modern mid-American white men were qualitatively
distinct from interracial relationships in LA, and then go on
to insist that since they are analytically distinct, they should
not be "confounded" by "gay historians". The
issue, of course, is who makes the distinctions. All sorts of
perspectives can be taken on this: sometimes mere whim is involved,
at other times social power relations are involved. As far as
I am concerned, history is written to be read: it involves narratives
and analyses of current concern. So, why should we choose
to argue that "homosociality, homoeroticism, and homosexuality"
are analytically distinct? I think that there is no justification
for distinguishing homoeroticsm and homosexuality as areas of
analysis.
I am more prepared to listen to arguments about homosociality,
so nicely misrepresented by the word "friendship", as
a necessarily distinct phenomenon, but would ask what is gained
and what is lost making the distinction? Does making the distinction
make the past clearer or more obscure? Or is some sort of analytic
tension required? I would argue that in the modern Western construction
of homosexuality, traditions of romantic friendship have played
crucial roles: in writers such as John Addington Symonds, Walt
Whitman, a real gay tradition of reading Plato's Symposium,
and so forth. In other words, there is a direct and demonstrable
historical appropriation of traditions of romantic friendship
by nineteenth and early twentieth century homosexual men which
precedes "gay" and "gay history".
FIN
INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTE
If you have texts which could be added to this page, please consider
sending them to me at halsall@bway.net.
Texts can include texts from the past, or papers you have written
about homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgendering in history.
Contents
Chapter 1: History and Theory
For teachers of courses on LGBT subjects an important choice is
always whether to address "events and people" or "theory"
first. In most areas of history this is simply not an issue: courses
focus on periods and any relevant "theory" -- for example,
Marxist economics, Whig politics -- is discussed as it come up.
But LGBT history almost from the outset has been intertwined with
complex discussions about what makes a "homosexual".
It is also true that much of the evidence about "homosexuality"
in the past survives in sources which have long been of interest
to philologists, philosophers, and literary critics. The result
is that the field is awash with jargonistic discussions. These
discussions are not, however, pointless, and have raised basic
questions about the entire arena of the history of human sexuality.
Discussions:
- John Thorp, Review Article/Discussion, The Social Construction of Homosexuality
Phoenix, [At Medieval Sourcebook]
Thorp analyzes one of the defining debates in the academic study
of homosexuality in the past. He attacks the notion that there
was no "homosexuality" in ancient Greece by considering
claims of Foucault and Halperin.
- Paul Varnell, Foundations of gay history: the architect,
OutNow 1996 [At OutNow]
On what sort of evidence counts for "gay history".
- David M. Halperin, Forgetting Foucault: Acts, Identities, and the History of Sexuality
[At Emory]
Halperin is among the leaders of the "social constructionist"
school of thought in regard to homosexuality in the Ancient world.
- Laurel M. Bowman, Interview with David Halperin,
Favonius vol. 3 (1991), 27-43 [At UVIC]
- Marilyn B. Skinner, Zeus and Leda: The Sexuality Wars in Contemporary Classical Scholarship
[At UKY]
- Kirk Ormand, Positions for Classicists, or Why Should Feminist Classicists Care about Queer Theory?
, [At UKY]
- Rictor Norton: Synopsis
of The Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the
Search for Cultural Unity, (London: Cassells, 1997) [At Norton's
website]
Norton is an opponent of "social construction" theories.
He holds that the proper subject of gay history is queer culture
in the past.
- Richard Mohr: "John Boswell and Gay Generations",
[At TCP]
Although a number of gay historians have been critical of John
Boswell (along with the usual right-wing critics), many others
have appreciated what he brought to gay historical studies.
- Vincent Cheng: Judith Butler's Obliteration of the "I"
[At Berkeley]
A paper on Butler's concept of "performitivity" - now
a major theme in a number of LGBT research projects.
- Paul Halsall: Comments on Defining a Field: Lesbian and Gay History,
CUNY 1995
- Paul Halsall: A History of Heterosexuality?
- Wayne Dynes: Queer Studies: In Search of A Discipline,
Academic Questions 1995 [At fc.net]
Critique of 1994 Queer studies conference at University of Iowa.
- Annamarie Jagose: Queer Theory, Australian Humanities Review, December 1996, [At latrobe.edu.au]
- Donald Morton : The Crisis of Queer Theory and/in Altman's "Globalism"
[At www.lamp.ac.uk]
- Marc Greyling: INVENTING QUEER PLACE: Social space and the urban environment as factors in the writing
of gay, lesbian and transgender histories [At maya.eagles.bbs.net.au]
- Frederick Whitam, A Question of Sexual Orientation,
ASU RESEARCH, 23Aug95 [At Arizona State U.]
Summary of ethnographic report, with claims of genetic basis for
homosexuality
- Amy Goodloe: Choice, Biology and the Causes of Homosexuality
[At Wodesigns.com]
Presented at a panel discussion on Queer Studies at SFSU September,
1994.
- HOMOSEXUALITY - An Analysis of Biological Theories of [At U Texas]
Reviews:
Websites:
- Queer Frontiers
[At USC]
An important "Queer Theory" site.
- LeFonque's PostModern Hotspots
[At coc.com.au]
Contemporary Philosophy, Critical Theory and Postmodern Thought
Resources.
- Foucault Home Page
[At CSUN]
Discussion of the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault has
been central to some recent historiography of LGBT's. This is
probably the best Foucault site, and has links to others. The
links page here provides references to sites concerned with the
other divinities of "theory" - Nietzsche, Lacan, Heidigger,
Derrida, Deleuze. Some would argue it is all a commentary on Nietzsche.
- The Gay Gene
[At AOL]
A site run by Chandler Burr for "both scientists and non-scientists.
It contains articles and links to ongoing studies. Much of the
"critical theory" aspect of discussion about LGBT history
has been founded on the assumption that "sexuality"
is a human "social construction". This notion does
have solid backing from anthropological data. A major challenge
to the "constructionist" position has arisen with the
publication of a number of different studies which suggest that
homosexuality has a genetic basis in at least some people.
- The Scientific Debate on Homosexuality
[At Dallas Net]
Slightly "lighter" than the Gay Gene site.
- Scientific Inquiries into Sexual Orientation
[At CMU]
Back to Contents
Chapter 2: The Ancient Near East
and Egypt
The oldest human cultures complex enough to be called "civilizations"
seem to have emerged in Ancient Iraq and Turkey, and in Egypt.
The basic historical distinction between the two areas is that
Egypt had a more or less continuous "national" history
from the earliest Pharoahs until the rise of Islam, while Iraq,
Syria and Anatolia, being much more geographically exposed, were
homes to succeeding and not entirely continuous cultures - Sumeria,
Akkad, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Seleucia, to name only a few.
Despite the immense time covered, research into homosexuality
seems to have only just begun for these areas, and this is a section
of this page that will be developed as more information becomes
available. So far much of the discussion is based on Biblical
texts, and on the assumption that the hostility of the Hebrew
Bible to homosexual practice reflects homosexual activities associated
with the surrounding religions.
An area which need more research is evidence of "homoaffectionalism"
in these ancient societies: that is relationships based on desire
but not necessarily sexual. The epic story of Gilgamesh contains
one very important story in this regard.
Discussions:
Texts:
- The Book of Ani, or the Egyptian Book of the Dead
[At Upenn]
The is the full text in E. Wallis Budge's translation. Homosexual
activity is addressed in the "Negative Confession".
Search for "lain with men".
- Contendings of Horus and Seth [trans Edward F. Wente, in The Literature of Ancient Egypt, ed. William Kelly Simpson, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972), 108-26
The struggled between these two gods (Seth was brother and murderer
of Horus's father Osiris) in this New Kingdom literary text, has distinct homosexual overtones - based on who was dominating whom.
- Mesopotamian Law and Homosexuality
- Epic of Gilgamesh
[extended summary] [At WSU]
Only a long summary is available online. Note that in Tablet I:
Cols. 5-6, Gilgamesh relationship with Enkudu is explicitly said
to be like that "with a wife". Some versions, especially
summaries, elide the homoeroticism of the text..
- The Promise of Inanna to Gender Variants,
[At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
- Myth of Cybele and Attis,
[At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
- Avesta Vendidad: Fargard 8
- Zoroastrian Law Book on Homosexuality [At Avesta Homepage, with
links to text in original language]
There is some difficulty in dating Zoroastrian scriptures. The
Gathas, the presumed writings of Zoroaster, are silent
on the subject. The legal texts here were collected in
the Vendidad, circa 250-650 CE, and are overtly hostile
to male homosexual activity. It has been suggested that they are
the root of the Hebrew Scripture's condemnation - they contain
the phrase "Lies with mankind as womankind" for instance.
This depends on the assumption that Vendidad is a collection
is of much earlier texts. But given the dates the influence may
have been from the Hebrew texts. There is a general discussion
of Zoroastrianism and Homosexuality
on the net.
- Coptic Spell: For a Man to Obtain a Male Lover,
Egypt, [poss. 6th C. CE]
Web sites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 3: Ancient Greece
For modern western gays and lesbians, Ancient Greece has long
functioned as sort of homosexual Arcadia. Greek culture was, and
is, highly privileged as one of the foundations of Western culture
and the culture of sexuality apparent in its literature was quite
different from the "repression" experienced by moderns.
The sense of possibility the Greek experienced opened up can be
seen in a scene in E.M. Forster's Maurice where the hero
is seen reading Plato's Symposium at Cambridge.
It would be too simple, however, to see Greek homosexuality as
just a more idyllic form than modern versions. As scholars have
gone to work on the -- plentiful -- material several tropes have
become common. One set of scholars (slightly old-fashioned now)
looks for the "origin" of Greek homosexuality, as if
it were a new type of game, and argues that, since the literature
depicts homosexual eros among the fifth-century aristocracy,
it functioned as sort of fashion among that group. This is rather
like arguing that because nineteenth-century English novels depict
romance as an activity of the gentry and aristocracy, other classes
did not have romantic relationships. Another, now more prevalent,
group of scholars argue that term "homosexual", referring
they say to sexual orientation, is inappropriate to discussions
of Greek sexual worlds. Rather they stress the age dissonance
in literary homoerotic ideals, and the importance of "active"
and "passive" roles. Some stress these themes so intently
that it comes as a surprise to discover that we now the names
of quite number of long-term Greek homosexual couples.
As a result of such scholarly discussions, it is no longer possible
to portray Greece as a homosexual paradise. It remains the case
that the Greek experience of eros was quite different from
experiences in the modern world, and yet continues, because of
Greece's persistent influence on modern norms to be of special
interest.
Discussions:
Reviews:
Texts:
For Greek texts, in addition to complete English texts (when available),
there are also links, where possible, to PERSEUS,
an Internet resources which gives access to texts in both English
and hyper-linked Greek.
Philosophical Views of Eros
- Plato (427-347 BCE): The Symposium (complete in one file, English)
The classic discussion of the nature of "eros". This
text provided a cultural basis for many educated homosexuals in
later eras.
- Plato (427-347 BCE): The Symposium,[At
Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
- Plato (427-347 BCE): Phreadrus,
(complete in one file, English), [At UPenn]
Plato's use of homosexual eros, and the figure of the Charioteer
of the soul, has been of lasting importance in positive conceptions
of homosexual love.
- Plato (427-347 BCE): Phreadrus,[At
Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
- Plato (427-347 BCE): The Laws (excerpts)
Plato, although seeing eros as fundamentally homosexual in the
Symposium, adopted a more negative view here. He describes homosexual
sex as "unnatural".
- Plato (427-347 BCE): The Laws,
636bff [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
- Aristotle (384-322 BCE): Homosexuality in The Politics
(excerpts). The Full text of The Politics
is available [At MIT]
- Aristotle (384-322 BCE): Homosexuality in The Nichomachean Ethics
[Bk. VII, C. 5]
- Aristotle (384-322 BCE): "Friendship" in The Nichomachean Ethics
[Bk VIII]
The Full text of The Nichomachean Ethics
is available [At MIT]
- Demosthenes (384-322 BCE): Erotic Essay,
[At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
- Demosthenes (384-322 BCE): Against Androtion
58 [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
- Sextus Empiricus (c. 200 CE): Outline of Pyrrhonism,
1:152, 3:199
Homosexuality in Literature
- Homer (c.850 BCE), Achilles Meets the Ghost of Patroclus,
Illiad 23, [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
Although Homer does not present Achilles and Patroclus as homosexually
active, later Greeks assumed that they were.
- Sappho (late 7th C. BCE): Poems,
[At Sappho.com]
The first poet to call the moon "silvery", very few
of Sappho's poems survive (only one in its entirety). But her
poems are among the best evidence we have of Lesbian love in antiquity.
- Sappho (late 7th C. BCE): Poems
[At PSU]
- Sappho (late 7th C. BCE): Poems
[At U. Wisconsin]
- Theognis (first half 6th C. BCE): "To Kurnos"
- Solon (c.638-558 BCE): "Boys and Sport"
- Pindar (518- after 446 BCE): Ode on Theoxenos
- Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Clouds
(complete in one file, English), [At MIT]
- Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Clouds,
[At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
Although overtly "homophobic" at times, Aristophanes
assumes homosexuality is both common and a normal aspect of human
sexuality.
- Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Knights
(complete in one file, English), [At MIT]
- Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Knights,
[At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
- Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Thesmophoriazusae
(complete in one file, English), [At MIT]
- Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Thesmophoriazusae,
[At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
- Theocritus (c.320-c.260 BCE): Idylls
12 and 29 (trans. Edward Carpenter)
Idylls 5, 12, 26, 30 are all autobiographical. See also 13, and
23. The originator of pastoral or bucolic poetry. Idyll
12:30 describes a homosexual kissing contest at the Diocleia festival
at Megara.
- Achilles Tatius (2nd C. CE): Women unfavourably compared with boy lovers.
Egypt, 2nd cent. CE, from Leucippe and Clitophon 2.37.5-9,
38.1-3. G [At UKY]
From a debate between defenders of heterosexual and homosexual
intercourse in one of the most popular ancient Greek novels.
Homosexuality in Historiography
- Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): Histories 1.135
Go here
for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text
accessible]
On Persian pederasty as borrowed from the Greeks.
- Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE): on Aristogeiton and Harmodius,
from The Peloponnesian War. Full Text
available at MIT.
- Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Anabasis 7.4.7,
Go here
for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text
accessible]
On Episthenes and a boy.
- Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Cyropeadia 7.1.30,
Go here
for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text
accessible]
On the value of comrades and lovers in battle. See also Anabasis 1.8.25,
Anabasis 1.9.31
for accounts of Cyrus' friends dying with him.
- Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Memorabilia 2.6.28
Go here
for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text
accessible]
Socrates' description of himself as "experienced in the pursuit
of men". In 1.3.12
he describes the effect of love on him.
- Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Symposium 8,
Go here
for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text
accessible]
Section 8 begins an extended discussion of love, primarily homosexual.
- Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Constitution of Sparta, 2:13.
Go here
for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text
accessible]
On Spartan homosexuality. The whole of Const.Sparta
2 is about the education of Spartan youths is of interest.
- Aeschines (c.390-c.322 BCE): Against Timarchus (complete in one file, English)
A legal brief delivered by Aeschines against a political opponent.
It is among the most revealing of all texts on Greek attitudes
to homosexuality.
- Aeschines (c.390-c.322 BCE): Against Timarchus,
[At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
- Timaeus of Tauromenium (c.356-260 BCE): History of Sicily
Discusses pederasty among the "Tyrrhenians". He specifically
states that neither "active" nor "passive"
sex was considered objectionable.
- Strabo (64 BCE-after 24CE): Geography 10.4.20-21
- Go here
for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text
accessible]
Quoting Ephoros on Cretan homosexuality and rituals.
- Plutarch (46-120 CE): On The Sacred Band of Thebes,
from Life of Pelopidas
- Plutarch (46-120 CE): Life of Pelopidas,
(complete) [At Virginia Tech]
- Plutarch (46-120 CE): Life of Solon,
[At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
[1.3] explains how Solon forbade pederasty to slaves. [1.4] discusses
Peistratus' lover Charmus.
- Plutarch (46-120 CE): Life of Lycurgus
(complete) [At Virginia Tech]
An important text for Spartan pederasty and sexual life in general..
- Plutarch (46-120 CE): Life of Alexander,
(complete) [At Virginia Tech]
An account of Alexander's life which makes clear his intimacy
with Hephasteion. Alexander's favourite Bagoas is also describes,
including a famous scene in which Alexander was called on by a
crowd to kiss Bagoas in public. He did.
- Plutarch (46-120 CE): Parallel Lives,
(complete in English) [At Virginia Tech]
- Plutarch (46-120 CE): Erotic Essay, esp. #5
Although Plutarch discusses without any horror homosexual lover
in his Lives, here he is opposed to pederasty.
- Pausanias (c. 160 CE): Description of Greece 1.30.1
Go here
for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text
accessible]
The story of Timagoras and Meles and the altar of Love built by
Charmus. Refers to love between Athenian citizens and metics (resident
aliens).
- Pausanias (c. 160 CE): Description of Greece 9.23.1
[At Perseus]
On the hero-shrine of Iolaus at Thebes. Cf. Pindar: Olympian Odes
7:84 and Scholia.
- Pseudo-Apollodorus (2nd C. CE: Library
3.5.5. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
On the Abduction of Chrysippus by King Laïus of Thebes, sometimes
said to have "invented" pederesty.
- Athenaeus (c. 200 CE): The Deipnosophists,
Book 13:601-606
The report of a Roman dinner party, in fact a weaving together
of anecdotes, it includes a wealth of gossip about homosexuals
in antiquity.
- Philostratus: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana: Of Eunuchs and of Passion [At magna.com.au]
Eunuchs were an important part of Greco-Roman gender systems. Here Appollonius discusses their sexual appetites with the king of Bablyon.
Images of Homosexuality and Homoeroticism
websites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 4: Ancient Rome
Discussions:
Reviews:
- Michle Lowrie: Edmunds, Lowell: From a Sabine Jar, Reading Horace, Odes 1.9. (Michele Lowrie) [Review
at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Lowell Edmunds. From a Sabine
Jar, Reading Horace, Odes 1.9. Chapel Hill and London: University
of North Carolina Press, 1992.
- Christina S. Kraus: Sussman: Declamations of Calpurnius Flaccus
[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Lewis A. Sussman: The
Declamations of Calpurnius Flaccus. Text, Translation, and
Commentary. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994
- David Meadows: Eyben: Restless Youth
[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Emiel Eyben. Restless
Youth in Ancient Rome. London: Routledge, 1993.
- Wade Richardson: Panayotakis, Theatrum Arbitri
[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Costas Panayotakis, Theatrum
Arbitri: Theatrical Elements in the Satyrica of Petronius.
Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995.
- Elizabeth Block: Garrison, D.H. (ed): The Student's Catullus
[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] The Student's Catullus.
Ed. Daniel H. Garrison. University of Oklahoma Press.
- D. Potter: Treggiari, Susan: Roman Marriage (D. Potter) [Review
at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Susan Treggiari. Roman Marriage.
Iusti Coniuges from the Time of Cicero to the time of Ulpian.
Oxford University Press. Oxford, 1991.
- Jeanne Neumann O'Neill: Mulroy, Horace's Odes and Epodes
[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] David Mulroy, Horace's
Odes and Epodes. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
1994
- T. Corey Brennan: Brooten, Bernardette: Love Between Women[Review
at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Brooten, Bernadette J., Love between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism, (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1996)
- Tom Hanks: Brooten, Bernardette: Love Between Women[Review in Presbyterian for LG Concerns Newsletter] [At QRD]
Texts: Literary
- Catullus (84-54 BCE): Selected Poems,
selections, trans. John Porter, [At Univ. of Saskatechewan]
- Catullus (84-54 BCE): Carmina 63,
on the Gallae, [At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
In English and Latin
- Catullus (84-54 BCE): 9, 15, 16, 24, 33, 38, 47, 48, 56, 61,
80, 81, 99
- Catullus (84-54 BCE): Complete Poems,
in Latin [At obscure.org]
- Tibullus (c.55-19 BCE): Elegies,
I:4, 8, 9
- Horace (65-8 BCE): Satires:1,2,11, 113ff
- Horace (65-8 BCE): Epodes XI
- Horace (65-8 BCE): Odes IV, 1 and 10
- Ovid (43BCE-17CE): Metamorphoses 9:666-797
The story of Iphis and Ianthe. One of the most important Roman
presentations of lesbianism, but somewhat problematic in its details.
- Ovid (43 BCE-17CE): Metamorphoses 10 (excerpts)
Male gods who love male humans: Zeus and Ganymede, Apollo and
Hyacinth.
- Ovid (43 BCE-17CE): Metamorphoses
full text of Dryden translation, [At Virginia Tech]
- Ovid (43 BCE-17CE): Amores,
selections, trans. John Porter, [At Univ. of Saskatechewan]
- Ovid (43 BCE-17CE): Art of Love esp. 2. 663-746 and 3.769-812.
Generally about heterosexual love, but with specific comparisons
with the love of youths.
- Virgil (70-19 BCE): Aeneid 9
[At EWAC]
Virgil tells of the heroic deaths of the lovers Nisus and Euralus.
- Virgil (70-19 BCE): Eclogues,
Complete. In English, trans. Dryden] [At Virginia Tech]. Another
version in HTML
is available [At UMD]
See especially Eclogue II -On Corydon and Alexis. Love, not just sex, is the issue here. Also see Eclogue VII.
- Virgil (70-19 BCE): Eclogues
Complete, In Latin [At intellinet.com]
- Valerius Maxiumus (early 1st Cent CE): The History of Damon and Pythias
from De Amicitiae Vinculo
- Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE): Natural Questions
1.16.1-3
Seneca discusses a man who likes to be "passive" in
sex.
- Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE): Moral Letters
122
What "natural" and "unnatural" meant to a
stoic philosopher.
- Petronius Arbiter (d.65 CE): Satyricon, 16-25 (p. 31-38
Arrowsmith), 126-140 (p. 142-163 Arrowsmith).
- Martial (c.40-103 CE): Epigrams
- Statius (c.40-c.96 CE): Sylvae Book 2
- Juvenal (early 2nd C. CE): Satire II - Against Hypocritical Queens
[At Classics Homepage. In Latin]
- Juvenal (early 2nd C. CE): Satire IX,
[At Classics Homepage. In Latin]
On male hustlers.
- Lucian (c.115-189 CE) [writes in Greek]: Toxaris
A dialogue between a Greek and a Scythian about customs of
"philia" (friendship). The text is of major interest
in assessing the play of same-sex "friendship" in the
history of sexuality. While sexual activity is not made the focus,
desire for the "friend" is a focal concern.
- Lucian (c.115-189 CE) [writes in Greek]: Charidemus
A discussion of the nature of beauty - of males.
- Lucian (c.115-189 CE) [writes in Greek]: Dialogue of the Courtesans
5
An important discussion of Lesbianism.
- Ps.-Lucian (Lucian c.115-180 CE) [writes in Greek]: The History of Orestes and Pylades,
from Amores or Affairs of the Heart
Although there has been a recent emphasis on the age-dissonant
and time-limited nature of Greek homosexual relationships, Orestes
and Pylades were presented as models for reciprocal and lasting
eros.
Texts: Historical
- Polybius (c.200-after 118 BCE) [writes in Greek]: Histories
VI: 37.9
- Cicero (106-43 BCE): Second Philippic Against Anthony
18
- Cicero (106-43 BCE): Laelius, or on Friendship [At CMU]
- Livy (59 BCE-17 CE): Histories
8: 28
Livy's account of the homosexual affair in 428 AUC/326 BCE which
led to the abolition of imprisonment for debt in Rome. A creditor
tried to force a debtor to have sex with him and this enraged
the public.
- Plutarch (46-120 CE) [writes in Greek]: On Sulla and Metrobius,
the full text of the Life of Sulla
also available [At MIT]
- Plutarch (46-120 CE): Life of Anthony,
(complete) [At Virginia Tech]
Early sections describe Anthony's early affair with Curio.
- Suetonius (b.c.70-d. after 121 CE): Julius Caesar 2, 45-53
Caesar - every man's woman, and every woman's man!
- Suetonius (b.c.70-d. after 121 CE): Augustus 68-71
- Suetonius (b.c.70-d. after 121 CE): Tiberius
42-45
Not a nice guy. The old Loeb version kept this in Latin.
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Caligula
24-25, 36
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Nero
27-29.
Includes an account of Nero's two homosexual "marriages".
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Galba
22.
Galba as an older homosexual who prefers other older men.
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Otho 12.
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Vitellius 3-5
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Titus 2-3, 7
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Domitian Domitian 7-8, 18-22
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Life of Tibellus [Attrib.]
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Life of Vergil [Attrib.]
- Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Life of Horace [prob. not by Suetonius.]
- Tacitus (b. 56/57-d.after 117 CE): On Homosexuality, selections from The Annals
- Tacitus (b. 56/57-d.after 117 CE): The Annals,
Full Text [At MIT]
- Battakes and the Plebian Tribune,
A Gallus before the Senate, [At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
- Soranus (2nd. C. CE) [wrote in Greek], On Pathics,
as summarized in Caelius Aurelianus: On Acute Diseases and
on Chronic Diseases IV.9.131-137
Vern Bullough thought this passage a counter to the apparent proliferation
of homosexuality in other literature since it seeks to counter
doubts that "passive" homosexuals exist. Its interest
is much wider, as Soranus presents his opinion that passive homosexuality,
and lesbianism, is a "disease of the mind" and hereditary.
Websites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 5: Early Christianity
There is no area of discussion about homosexuality which is more
contentious than the interrelationship of Christianity and homosexuality.
The whole issue is irretrievably bound up with modern concerns
because of Christianity's continued importance. On one hand there
are conservative Christians who insist that modern Christian hostility
to gays has a continuous tradition and that this is a good thing.
On another hand the notion that Christianity caused homophobia
was very important to early gay scholars working to explain gay
oppression. But it has also turned out to be the case, in the
United States at least, that the phenomenon of gay churches has
been so successful that in almost every area they are the largest
GLB organizations. LGB Christians have been unwilling to surrender
the comforts of their faith and LGB Christian scholars, seeking
to find a space for themselves in their past have challenged the
orthodoxies of both conservative Christians and radical gays.
There is no doubt that Christian writers in every century have
voiced criticism, sometimes virulent and obscene criticism, of
homosexual activity and of "homosexuals" or other gender
transgressive groups. The counter to this has not been to deny
such voices, but to seek for more positive aspects of Christian
history. And there is little doubt that this positive history
also exists: even in the virulently anti-homosexual polemic of
John Chrysostom, for instance, one finds evidence of entire Christian
communities [in Antioch] which were unworried about homosexuality.
Even the Bible itself, it turns out, contains "pro-gay"
texts.
How much one reads such discussions as "history" and
how much as modern theological discussion is an interesting question.
The discussion is now, however, moving beyond these fairly fixed
positions. There is now increasing exploration of gender, both
homosexual and heterosexual, as an important metaphor in Christian
discourse. The person of Christ, a forgiving deity, who bleeds
in order to nourish, and whose body is quite literally penetrated
on the cross often ends up being described in a variety of "queer"
ways: as a mother hen, as a eunuch, as a lover. When Christian
writers tried to discuss female sanctity, they repeatedly end
up by transgendering, or "queering" as a modern literary
"theorist" might say, the holy woman in question: there
is no higher praise for a Christian saint than that she has a
"male soul in a female body", as Gregory of Nyssa says
about his sister Makrina. Startling indeed to those who recognize
this as a term for modern lesbianism. And when Christian authors
tried to make sense of males in love with a male God, they end
up asserting that the male soul is feminine (as indeed it is grammatically
in both Greek and Latin), and that it is penetrated by God to
bring forth the child of salvation.
These sorts of discussions are not comfortable for either religious
conservatives, gay radicals, or even gay Christians looking for
gay ancestors. What the discussions are doing is opening up new
pathways to an appreciation of the "queerness" of the
world's most popular religion.
Discussions:
- Bernardette Brooten: Early Church Responses to Lesbian Sex, The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, Volume III, No. 4, Fall, 1996. [At HGLC.org]
- Homosexuality in the New Testament
[At Upenn]
An extended and very informative collection of scholarly Internet
discussions.
- Thomas B. Dozeman, Creation and Procreation the Biblical Teaching on Homosexuality, Union Seminary Quarterly Review 49:3-4, [At Columbia U.]
- Christopher T. Lee, Paul's Malakos: Its Evolution from Classical Greece Through the Roman World
[At Upenn]
- Nonna Verna Harrison , The Feminine Man in Late Antique Ascetic Piety, Union Seminary Quarterly Review 48:3-4, [At Columbia U.]
Texts: Biblical
- Biblical Texts,
listing of all texts. [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
- Full text
of all Bible texts. KJV. [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic
Handbook]
- Pro-Gay Bible Texts
- Introduction, [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
- All the Pro-Gay Texts,
[At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
- All the Eunuchs of the Bible,
[At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
There is some evidence that the major sexual minority of
Biblical times was eunuchs - yet on the whole the Bible is pro-
eunuch, It certainly has a lot of them.
Texts: Patristic
- The Didache
(1st C. CE), or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, [At
American U.]
One of the earliest Christian texts to condemn pederasty
- The Secret Gospel of Mark
References, and some of the text, of this "special edition"
of The Gospel of Mark were included in a letter of Clement of
Alexandria. Some have argued that the text is witness to intense
homoeroticism among early Christians, including - controversially
- Jesus.
- Letter of Barnabus,
[At American U.]
Chapter 10 attempts a "spiritual" explanation of the
food codes of the Mosaic Law. It connects the forbidding of hares
with a prohibition against "unnatural lusts", apparently,
according to John Boswell, because the hare was supposed to grow
a new anus each year.
- Apocalypse of Peter [1st half
2nd C.]
Discusses male and female homosexuals being
tortured in Hell.
- Acts of Thomas excerpts, [Early
3rd C.]. The full text is available at the Non-Canonical Homepage
Discusses male and female homosexuals being tortured in Hell.
- Apocalypse of Paul [Also known
as the Vision of Paul] [3rd C.]
Discusses male and female homosexuals being tortured in Hell.
- Conciliar Legislation
- Passion of SS. Sergius and Bacchus
(3rd C. CE) [At CMU]
The story of the martyrdom of two soldier saints. In this version,
the earliest, they are clearly indicated as emotionally tied.
In the later "Metaphrastic" version they are referred
to as erotic "lovers"
- Church Fathers on Gender Variance,
[At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
This is an interesting compilation of comments, especially from
Tatian, on gender variance. Unfortunately no citations are given.
Moreover, the page is devoted to showing Christian hostility to
gender variance, but the historical reality was considerably more
complex. There is an interesting reference to Lesbian marriage
as well!
- Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215 CE): Paidogogus 2:10
- On Hares, Hyenas and Homosexuality
Unfortunately the most interesting parts here are in Latin.
- Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215 CE): Paidogogus 3:3
- On Effeminate Men and Masculine Women
A very interesting text which includes some suggestion of Lesbian
marriage in Egypt.
- Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215 CE): Paidogogus 3:4
- On Women and Effeminate Men
Clement seems to describe "fag-hags" in the Third century.
- Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215 CE): Paidogogus 3:5
- On Behavior in Bathhouses
- Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215 CE): Stromateis 4:8
- On Equality and Inequality of the Sexes
The "effeminates" are lower than men and women.
- St. Paulinus of Nola (353-431 CE): To Ausonius
A beautiful love poem by Paulinus.
- St. Augustine (354-430 CE): from the Confessions
On his relationship with another man.
- St. Augustine (354-430 CE): Confessions,
(full text) [At Wheaton College]
- St. Augustine (354-430 CE): Confessions,
(full text - more modern translation) [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- St. Jerome (c.347-420 CE), Letter LV,
[At Wheaton College]
A woman may not divorce her husband on account of his vices, even
if he is a sodomite!
Websites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 6: Byzantium
One of the oddities Byzantine studies is that it has long attracted
homosexual scholars, but virtually none of them have written about
Byzantine homosexuality. There may be reason for this - in comparison
with the mass of information about Ancient Greek and Roman homosexuality,
the thousand years of Byzantine culture is poorly served. Entire
classical genres disappeared - plays, satires, secular philosophy.
There has been, instead, a legal tradition to explore; rather
a lot of monastic regulation; and the occasional comments in elite
historiography on homosexual activity by some emperors. John Boswell's
Same Sex Unions rather surprisingly (to Byzantinists at
least) for a time has made Byzantine liturgical manuscripts a
focus of much interest.
But there is considerable room for further exploration. A number
of saints lives reveal diverse opinions, and relatively little
shock, about homosexuality (usually "andromania" in
these sources), but they have not been fully exploited. Some saints
lives also discuss homoerotic pairings with little comment. Although
certainly not sexually active, it is also common to find Byzantine
saints paired with each other in relationships which can be analyzed
from the perspective of desire - "friendship" hardly
begins to describe what they are about.
Other texts which may yield more are the small number of Byzantine
romances now coming under increased scrutiny. It may be thought
that hey are about "heterosexuality", but much current
scholarship in western literature suggests that this will not
be a satisfactory way in which to evaluate them.
Byzantium also supported an important sexual category not common
in modern life - the eunuchs who rose to prominence in Church
and state. There was even a monastery specifically for eunuchs.
Comments on this group, as with any liminal group, help explain
a society's gender expectations.
Finally, it cannot be overlooked that ancient texts tend to survive
in Byzantine made copies. Which texts were copied, how often,
and where are all answerable questions which may yield insight
into Byzantine mores. While they did not write much homoerotic
literature, they did copy it and, presumably, read it. Why?
Discussions:
Texts:
- Coptic Spell: For a Man to Obtain a Male Lover,
Egypt, [poss. 6th C.]
- John Chrysostom (d. 407 CE): Sermon on Romans 1:26-27,
= Homily 4 [At Wheaton College]
- John Chrysostom (d. 407 CE): Against the Opponents of Monastic Life
3
No friend of homosexuals, Chrysostom nevertheless reveals apparent
acceptance of homosexual activity among Antiochene Christians.
- Justinian I: Novel 77, [538 CE] and Novel 141, [544 CE]
Includes texts of earlier Roman legislation.
- Procopius (c.500- d. after 562 CE): The Secret History, (complete text) [At Medieval Sourcebook]
Includes a sympathetic account of Justinian's attacks on homosexuals
- John Malalas: World History 18:18,
(excerpt)
On two bishops tortured for homosexual activity
- John Nesteutes ("the Faster") (d.595 CE): Penitential,
Migne PG 88, 1893C
Distinguishes between three kinds of homosexual acts - giving,
getting, doing both. Unlike ancient Greek views, it was more acceptable
to be "passive".
- The Ecloga on Sexual Crimes (8th Cent.), [Eclogues 17.33][At Medieval Sourcebook]
- Theophanes: Chronographia, 443.15
On Nicephorus I
- Theodore of Studium (late 8th/early 9th C. CE): Reform Rules, [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- Arethas: Scholia
Apparently Arethas was the first to use "Lesbian"
in its modern sense (although Lucian did connect female homosexuality
with the island).
- Two Versions of Rite of Adelphopoiia
[At Medieval Sourcebook]
- The Life of St. Theodore of Sykeon (7th Cent.), Chapters 134-135.
An adelphopoiia relationship is established between St. Theodore and Patriarch Thomas of Constantinople.
- Chin Bratotvoreniyu
[At QRD]
Old Church Slavonic text of the Rite of Brotherhood, abbreviated,
with standard liturgical prayers (most of Litany, Antiphons, etc.)
omitted. Cf. Jacobus Goar, Euchologion (1st ed., Paris 1647; 2nd
ed., Venice 1730), pp. 706-709, s.v. "Akolouthia eis Adelphopoiian
Pneumatiken." From: Velikii Potrebnik, printed by Edinovertsii
in Moscow (Now called Belokrinitsky Hierarchy of Old Rite), in
the year 1904. Transcribed by Nikita Syrnikov. Translated by Fr.
Basil Isaacks April 1, 1995.
- Church of Greece on Adelphopoiia
[At QRD]
- Life of Andrew Salos
- Life of Basil the Younger
- Life of Mary the Younger (10-11th C )
- Michael Psellus (11th C.): On Basil II
- Michael Psellus (11th C.): On Constantine VIII
- Michael Psellus (11th C.): On Constantine IX Monomachus
Weblinks:
- Byzantium: Byzantine Studies on the Internet
- Roz Moz
This is a site on modern Greek Gays and Lesbians. Extensive bibliographical
guides.
- Kalliarda: The Gay Greek Dialect
[At Roz Moz]
Not clear how far back this patois goes back. It contains between
3000-5000 words. This site contains examples, and .WAV files and
is based on Elias' Petropoulos, Kaliarda, an Etymological Dictionary
of Greek Homosexuals' Slang, (Athens: Nefeli, Athens, 1980)
Back to Contents
Chapter 7: Latin Christian Middle
Ages
Discussions:
- Paul Halsall: The Experience of Homosexuality in the Middle Ages,
1988 [At QRD]
- Paul Halsall: Calendar of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Saints,
[At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
- Paul Halsall: Modern Gayness and Medieval Friends: Homoeroticism and Homophilia,
1997
- John Addington Symonds (1840-1893): The Dantesque and Platonic Ideals of Love (1893)
- Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship [chapter on middle ages]
- Gunnora Hallakarva: The Vikings and Homosexuality
[At The Viking Answer Lady Page]
A splendid synoptic and detailed account of current research.
- Jo Ann Hoeppner Moran (Cruz), The Roman De La Rose and the Thirteenth Century Prohibitions of Homosexuality ,
(a paper prepared for the Georgetown University Cultural Studies
Conference, "Cultural Frictions", October 27-28, 1995)
[At Georgetown]
- Glenn Burger, Queer Performativity and the Natural in Chaucer's Physician's and Pardoner's Tales
[At Georgetown]
- Robert L. A. Clark (Kansas State U.) & Claire Sponsler
(U. Iowa): "Queer Play: The Cultural Work of Crossdressing in Medieval Drama",
Cultural Frictions Conference, Georgetown U., 1995 [At Georgetown]
- Martin Irvine, The Pen(is), Castration, and Identity: Abelard's Negotiations of Gender,
[At Georgetown]
- Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, et al: Medieval Masculinities: Heroism, Sanctity, and Gender
[At Georgetown]
- Mediev-l List: Was Richard the Lionheart "Gay"?: An Internet Discussion
- Discussion: Paul Halsall et al.: Braveheart: The "Inning" of Piers Gaveston
On Pierre Chaplais' book, which claimed that Edward II and Gaveston
were "adoptive brothers".
- Thomas L. Long: Julian of Norwich's "Christ as Mother" and Medieval Constructions of Gender,
March 18, 1995, [At Long's Homepage]
Reviews:
- Keith Busby: John Baldwin, The Language of Sex
[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] John W. Baldwin. The Language
of Sex: Five Voices from Northern France around 1200. Chicago:
Chicago Univ. Press, 1994.
- Elaine E. Whitaker: Gender Rhetorics
[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Gender Rhetorics: Postures
of Dominance and Submission in History. Ed. Richard C. Trexler.
Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 113. Binghamton, NY:
CEMERS, 1994.
- Jeffrey Jerome Cohen: Feminist Approaches to the Body
[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Feminist Approaches to
the Body in Medieval Literature, edited by Linda Lomperis
and Sarah Stanbury. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
1993.
- Alison Taufer: Louise Mirrer: Women, Jews, and Muslims ... Reconquest Castile[Review
at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Louise Mirrer, Women, Jews, and
Muslims in the Texts of Reconquest Castile. Series: Studies
in Medieval and Early Modern Civilization. Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Press, 1996
- Paul Pascal: Gaisser: Catullus and His Renaissance Readers
[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Julia Haig Gaisser. Catullus
and His Renaissance Readers. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993
On the reconstruction of Catullus' text after its medieval mauling.
- Penelope Rainey: Walsh, ed.: Love Lyrics from the Carmina Burana
[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] P.G. Walsh (ed.), Love
Lyrics from the Carmina Burana. Chapel Hill: The University
of North Carolina Press, l993.
- Michael Rocke: Forbidden Friendships
- summary [At OUP]
Short summary of Rocke's important book on sexuality in Renaissance
Florence.
Texts: Religious
- St. Benedict (late 5th C.): Rule, Chapter 22
[At OSB]
Sleeping arrangements for monks: part of the rationale was to
prevent sexual activity.
- Bede: Life of St. Cuthbert (7th Cent) Chapter 28 on St. Cuthbert's soul mate. The Full text is available, [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- Rudolf of Fulda: Life of St. Leoba (8th Cent) Chapters on the 28 on passionate friendship between St. Leoba and Queen Hiltigard, one of Charlemagne's wives.
- Burchard of Worms (c.1012): Penitential, [Migne PL
140], Bk. 19.5
- St. Peter Damian (late 11th C.): 'The Different Types of Those Who Sin Against Nature',
from Liber Gomorrhianus [.c.1048-54] , [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- Alain de Lille: The Plaint of Nature
(selections) , [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- Alain de Lille: The Plaint of Nature
(full text), [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- St. Thomas Aquinas: On Unnatural Sex,
Summa Theologiae II-II, 154, 10-11, [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- St. Thomas Aquinas: On Lust, Sodomy, etc,
Summa Theologiae Question II-II, 154: On Lust [At EAWC]
Texts: Historical
Texts: Literary
Websites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 8: Islam
Islam was the last of the great world cultures to emerge. With
regard to homosexuality there are polar contrasts. On the one
hand The Qur'an seems to condemn homosexuality unequivocally,
on the other Muslim societies have shown a great deal of tolerance.
From the sexually explicit poems of Al-Andulus [Muslim Spain],
to the sexual comedy of The Arabian Nights, to the ecstatic
loving of Sufi mystics, to modern Morocco and Tunisia - the Islamic
world looked benevolently on men who love [usually younger] men.
In India, according to Richard Burton, it was among Muslims, not
Hindus, that homosexual eros was most accepted.
The first thing to note is that in some respects Islam has been
the most sex-positive of the great world religions: the Christ
and the Buddha were both sexually abstinent, but Muhammad was
sexually active with a number of wives, and had children. Sex
itself was not a bad thing, nor was abstinence desirable.
This sex-positivity of Islam is a starting point for further consideration.
So far, until very recently at least, research does not seem to
have gone beyond the basics, nor to have escaped the colonialist
gaze. The situation is likely to change.
Discussions:
- Richard Burton: Terminal Essay,
from his edition of the Arabian Nights.
Burton' compilation of data on variety of societies was meant
to explain some of the stories in The Nights. In doing
so, he provided first overview of Islamic homosexuality.
- Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship [chapter on Arabia and Persia], with extracts from Rumi, Hafiz and Saadi.
- Islam and Homosexuality
[At Islam Homepage]
An extremely homophobic article which claims Islam never tolerated
homosexuality.
Texts
Websites:
- Islam Homepage
One of the best Islamic sites, but not sympathetic to gays.
Chapter 9: Ancient and Medieval Jews
Discussions:
Texts
- Medieval Spanish Jewish Homoerotic Poetry: Selection
Websites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 10: China, Japan and Korea
Discussions:
Texts
Websites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 11: India
It has proved to be extraordinarily difficult to find much infromation
about South Asian homosexuality. Some relevant documents are under
"Islam", (including Richard Burton's Terminal Essay,
in which he claims that homosexual activity was common in Indo-Muslim
culture but not Hindu cultures). See also the Buddhist references
collected under "China and Japan).
Discussions:
Texts:
- Vatsyayana: Kama Sutra, Part 2. Chap 9,
1883 trans. by Richard Burton. [At Bibliomania.com]
On "Mouth Congress" and "different types of eunuchs".
- The Vinaya [Buddhist Monastic Precepts]
Websites:
- Shri Krishna as Kali and Lalita
[At Hubcom.com]
Although the sexual relationships of Indian gods often follow
heterosexual expectations, the individual God/dess may change
form and be incarnate as another. This story could be read as
gay, lesbian, or multiply transgendered.
- Tantrik Links
[At Hubcom.com]
Tantricism was the "short path" to Enlightenment in
Hinduism and Buddhism. Sexual ecstasy was a particularly important
feature, often represented by heterosexual "yab-yum"
figures.
Back to Contents
Chapter 12: Native American Societies
There are modern "Gay American Indians" whose self-definition
seems pretty much the same as other gay and lesbian Americans.
What is of interest in this section is the tradition in many different
Native American societies of socially validated gender-divergent
roles. Some groups essentially allowed children to choose their
gender. A male child who chose female clothes, for instance, would
be raised as a female, and would marry man. In some societies
analogous roles were open to female children. The general term
for these individuals is "berdache" - a colonialist
French word, derived from Persian, - but which has retained its
utility give the great variety of Native American terms for the
practice.
Some writers have objected to what they see as the appropriation
of the "berdache" by modern gay people, and by writers
such as Will Roscoe (whose books are probably the most widely
read on the subject). While this complaint has some justification,
it could be made about any past group seen as relevant to the
history of "homosexuality" but where the societal definition
was in terms of gender-identity rather than sexual orientation.
Discussions:
Texts:
Websites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 13: Early Modern Europe
The great distinction between "modern" and "ancient
and medieval" history lies in the quantity of available sources.
In pre-modern culture we rely primarily on literary and legal
sources to understand homosexuality. Both types of source are
highly distorting. Although we can - with care - outline the contours
of some "homosexual" subcultures in pre-modern societies,
such efforts always remain tentative.
From the late fifteenth century in Europe this all changes. Large
amounts of source material begins to survive, and new sorts of
material at that. Most important are court records - especially
when full trial records remain. So great are the survivals in
some Italian cities that statistical surveys of the data are possible
(for which see the work of Michael Rocke and Guido Ruggiero in
the bibliography). The sources are not perfect, but now a social
history is possible.
Real progress has been made for some parts of Europe - especially
Italy. Other areas remain less well investigated. But debates
are now flourishing about what exactly was the social "identity"
of homosexually active men (there is still not enough evidence
to document Lesbian subcultures until much later than for males).
At the same time, the types of "homosexual source" we
have for previous societies continued to be produced. Plays and
poems are less central to our conception of homosexuality in this
period, but they remain important. Especially because we now have
evidence about audience and styles/occasions of performance, socially
significant inferences can be made. This data cannot be disgarded.
Discussions:
Texts: Legal and Historical
- The Law in England, 1290-1885, texts
of the major laws.
- The Act of 1533, which first made buggery
a crime under English Criminal Law [jpeg image]
- Homily Against Adultery and Whoredom, from Short-Title Catalogue 13675. Renaissance Electronic Texts 1.1.1994 Ian Lancashire (ed.) [At U. Toronto]
With some discussion of Sodom!
But Among Our Own Selves, 1728 [At Rictor Norton's website]
- Molly Exalted, 1763 [At Rictor Norton's website]
- Documents of Early Modern Queer History [At Rictor Norton's website]
[Rictor Norton has informed me that "During the coming few months I hope to add pages on various broadside ballads, satires and trials, e.g. John Dunton's The He-Strumpets, 1710; The State of Rome, 1739; Love in the Suds, 1772; excerpts from Sodom and Onan; a molly trial of 1709; a molly trial of 1707; A Sapphick Epistle, 1777; the Latin Epitaph on Bob Jones, 1773; A Dialogue Concerning Venus, 1691, and Jenny Cromwell's Complaint Against Sodomy, 1690s."]
- Montaigne: A Homosexual Marriage in Rome, [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook].
Account of a gay marriage in 16th-century Rome by Montaigne.
Texts: Literary
- Michael Drayton (1563-1631): Piers Gaveston
[extracts]
- Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): Edward II
- Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"
[At Rjgeib.com]
Presents it as a heterosexual poem!
- Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): Amourous Neptune
[At WWU]
- Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): Jupiter and Ganymede
- Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): Hero and Leander
- William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Sonnets
[At Ludweb]
With sound! See esp. 20, 29, 35, 36, 53, 55, 57, 60, 67, 87, 94,104,
110, 116, 144.
- William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Sonnets
[At MIT]
- Richard Barnfield (1574-1627): The Affectionate Shepherd
Famous for the line "If it be a sinne to love a lovely
lad/Oh, then sinne I"
- Thomas Heywood (1574?-1641): Jupiter and Ganimede
- Charles Churchill (1731-1764): from The Times
- Poetry of Aphra Benn,
selections at [Sappho.Com]
The first women to earn her living by writing in English.
- Montague Summers, ed.: Memoirs of Mrs. Behn
[At Virginia Tech]
- Der Dichter Friederich Hoelderlin
[At Tübingen]
Websites:
Back to Contents
Chapter 14: Nineteenth-Early Twentieth-Century Europe
Discussions:
Texts:
- Jeremy Bentham: "Offences Against One's Self" (c. 1785) [Full text] [At Columbia U.] Bentham's work was one of the earliest modern ethical texts in favor of the rights of homosexuals. The treatise examines the question of what, if any, legal sanctions should be applied against homosexuality.
- Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895): The Riddle of Man-Manly Love
[This is a link to a notice about a translation of the book --
by the first "modern homosexual". ]
- John Addington Symonds (1840-1893):
A Problem in Modern Ethics (London: 1896)
- Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women,
(London: George Allen & Unwin,1908) Also available in zip
form [At Apana.org.au]
- Edward Carpenter (1884-1929):: Homogenic Love and Its Place
in a Free Society 1894
- Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship (1909) [Full text]
(1902)
Texts: Literary
- Anna Seward (1747-1809): Poems on Female Friends
- Lord (George Gordon) Byron (1784-1824): Don Leon
(attrib?)
The poem is passionate defense of homosexuality, and is usually
attributed to Byron
- Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892): Selected Poetry
[At U. Toronto]
- Walter Pater (1839-1894): Selected Prose
[At U. Toronto]
- Bertram Lawrence (pseud. of J. F. Bloxam): Poem: "A Summer Hour",
1894
- John Francis Bloxam: Story: The Priest and the Acolyte,
1894
An extraordinary short story which combines high ritualism, saccharin
melodrama, and a quite specific plea for acceptance of difference.
- Fr. Faber:
- Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889): Select Poetry
[At U. Toronto]
A gay Jesuit priest and poet. See "Felix Randell" and
"The Bugler Boy's First Communion".
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): Ballad of Reading Gaol
[At Cbef.gov]
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): The Complete Shorter Fiction & Poems in Prose
[At Bibliomania.com]
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): Poems
[At Columbia University]
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): Selected Works
[At Virginia Tech]
Includes full texts of Charmides, Dorian Gray, Garden
of Eros, and more.
- Lord Alfred Douglas (1870-1945): Two Poems,
1894
- A.E. Houseman (1859-1936): A Shropshire Lad
[At Columbia U.]
- Pierre Louys (1870-1925): from Chansons de Bilitis
- Marcel Proust (1871-1922): A Race Accursed
- Vincent Bui: Literrature:
French Homosexual Literature [At ensta.fr]
extracts from Racine, Anouilh, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Yourcenar and
others. [In French]
Links
Back to Contents
Chapter 15: The German Gay Rights
Movement
Discussions:
Texts:
- Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935):
- Sigmund Freud: Letter to a Mother
Although the psychoanalytic movement in the US became a major
victimizer of homosexuals [through its dedication to the notion
of ego-normality], Freud himself, as in this letter to the mother
of a homosexual, was much more approving.
Websites:
- Magnus Hirschfeld Exhibit
- Schwules Museum Berlin/Akademie der Künste [The Gay Museum/The
Academy of Arts] Goodbye to Berlin?
HUNDERT JAHRE SCHWULENBEWEGUNG - 100 YEARS OF GAY LIBERATION -
CENTENAIRE DU MOUVEMENT GAI [At www.adk.de]
An exhibition celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the
founding of the TheWissenschaftliche-humanitäre Komitee (Scientific
Humanitarian Committee) in May 1897 in Berlin. There are English
and German versions of the site.
Back to Contents
Chapter 16: The Nazis and the Gays
At one time it was fashionable to claim that the Nazis accepted
homosexuality. Partly this was a way to slur the Nazis [as if
they need slurring], and partly a reflection of the suppressed
homoeroticism of Nazi visual expression. What was overlooked until
the 1970s, and the publication of a series of articles by James
Steakley in the Toronto Body Politic (quite possibly the best
bi-weekly ever produced by the modern gay community), was that the Nazis
had directed laws, prisons, and the full panoply of the state
against homosexuals; had deliberately destroyed the sex research
institute set up by Magnus Hirschfeld; and added homosexuals to
the list of those to be eliminated. In other words the world managed
to "forget" the holocaust of homosexuals.
In recent years this forgetting has been overcome. Thanks to the
efforts of Steakley, Richard Plant and Burchhard Jellonek, as
well as the publication by Hans Heger [pseud.] of his memoirs,
and the play Bent by Martin Shaw, the suffering of gays
under the Third Reich has become well known. Now the Holocaust
Museum in Washington DC makes sure to explicate the issues involved.
The total number of gays killed seems to have been about 15,000
[figures from Jellonek], mostly by being worked to death. Gays
were not sent as gays to extermination camps. This is massively
smaller than the devastation visited on Jewish, Gypsy and Serbian
populations. But documenting the Naz
