His. Antq. Doric Race, Pederasty of Sparta

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This is a section from The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race by [[Karl Otfried M�ller]].

Vol. II, Book 4, Chapter iv, §6; pg 300-302. Preceding section: His. Antq. Doric Race, Different treatment of women among the Ionians. Following section: His. Antq. Doric Race, And (Pederasty) of Crete.

Παιδεραστια of Sparta

"Having now considered the personal relations between the sexes, we next come to those depending on difference of age; which from the Doric principle of the elders instructing the younger, are intimately connected with education. ¹ But before we enter on that subject, it will be necessary to speak of a connexion (termed by the Greeks παιδεραστια), which, so long as it was regulated by the ancient Doric principles, to be recognised both in the Cretan laws and those of Lycurgus, had great influence on the instruction of youth. We will first state the exact circumstances of this relation, and then make some general remarks on it; but without examining it in a moral point of view, which does not fall within the scope of this work.

At Sparta the party loving was called εισπνηλαs, ² and his affection was termed a breathing in, or inspiring (εισπνειν ³); which expresses the pure and mental connexion betwen the two persons, and corresponds with the name of the other, viz., α�ταs, ⁴ i.e., listener or hearer. Now it appears to have been the practice for every youth of good character to have his lover; ⁵ and, on the other hand, every well educated man was bound by custom to be the lover of some youth. ⁶ Instances of this connexion are funished by several of the royal family of Sparta; thus Agesilaus, while he still belonged to the herd of youths, was the hearer of Lysander, ⁷ and himself had in his turn also a hearer; ⁸ his son Archidamus was the lover of the son of Sphodrias, the noble Cleonymus; ⁹ Cleomenes the Third was, when a young man, the hearer of Xenares, ¹⁰ and later in life the lover of the brave Panteus. ¹¹ The connexion usually originated from the proposal of the lover; yet it was necessary that the listener should accept him from real affection, as a regard to the riches of the proposer was considered very disgraceful: ¹² sometimes however it happened that the proposal originated from the other party. ¹³ The connexion appears to have been very intimate and faithful, and was recognised by the state. If his kinsmen were absent, the youth might be represented in the public assembly by his lover: ¹⁴ in battle too they stood near one another, where their fidelity and affection were often shown till death; ¹⁵ while at home the youth was constantly under the eyes of his lover, who was to him as it were a model and pattern of life; ¹⁶ which explains why, for many faults, particularly for want of ambition, the lover could be punished instead of the listener.¹⁷"

Notes of text

1. Plutarch Lycurg. 17. Dionys Hal. XX. 2. ed. Mai. Old men could punish persons conducting themselves improperly (ακοσμουντεs) by striking them with their sticks.
2. Εισπνηλαsis probably the genuine form; see Callim. Fragm. 169. ed. Bentl. Etymol. Mag. p. 43. 34. p. 306. 24. Gudian. p. 23. 2. Orion, p. 617.49. Εισπνηλos is used by Theocritus Id. XII. 13.
3. �lian V. H. III. 12. Εμπνεισθαι is the word used by Plutarch Cleom. 3.
4. Vol. I. p. 5. Compare Etymol. Magn. p. 43.31. Gudian. ubi sup. Αειτηs was used by Aristophanes; see Bekker's Anecd.p. 348. Tzetzes ad Lycophr. 459, and α�τιαs by Alc�us ap. Athen. p. 430 D. Alcam also called lovely young women α�τιαs κοραs; see Schneider's Lexicon in v. and Etymol. Gudian. p. 23. 3; also the Lexicon bocum peregrinarum in Valpy's edition of Stephen's Thesaurus, part XII. p. 492.
5. Servius ad �n. X. 325. adeo ut Cicero dicat in libris de re publica (p. 280. Mai.) opprobrio fuisse adulescentibus si amatores non haberent.
6. �lian III. 10.
7. Plutarch Ages. 2. Lysand. 22.
8. Plutarch Ages. 13. Reg. Apophth. p. 128. Lac. Apophth. p. 177.
9. Xenoph. Hell. V. 4. 25.
10. Plutarch Cleom. 3.
11. Ib. c. 37.—The youth of Argilus, loved by Pausanias, cannot be mentioned among these, Thus. I. 132. Nepos Pausan. 4.
12. �lian. V. H. III. 10.
13. Id. III. 12.
14. Plutarch Lyc. 25.
15. Xen. Hell. IV. 8. 39. Plutarch Reg. Apophth. quoted in note ⁷, p. 301
16. See Plutarch Lac. Apophth. p. 209. In B�tia also ανιρ και παιs συζυγεντεs ομιλουσιν, Xenoph. Rep. Lac. 2. 12.
17. Plutarch Lycurg. 18. �lian V. H. III. 10.

Addendum & Commentary

(For your use.)

• Plato in his The Laws:

(Megillus the Spartan is speaking about homosexuality) "Yet, for myself, I hold that our Lacedaemonian lawgiver is right to command avoidance of pleasures. ... In Sparta, to my mind, this matter of pleasure is ordered better than in any place on earth. That which, by its keen delightsomeness, most easily entangles men in outrage and all manner of follies is, by our law, banished entirely from our territory. Neither in our country districts, nor in towns which are controlled by Spartans, can you find drinking parties, with the strong incentives to various pleasures that attend them." (§636e f)

• Ernie Bradford, in his The Battle for the West—Thermopyl� 480 writes:

"Also, contrary to the attitude that might have been expected among a warrior caste, homosexuality seems to have been little known—quite unlike the Thebans in northern Greece who were to make a cult among their soldiers of couples fighting side by side together, as in the famous 'Theban Band of Lovers'." pg 64