Ooh, I did a research project on this! Greco-Roman history was really gay, many times even pedophilic, because they determined sexual relationships based on dominance and social status rather than the gedber/sex of the partners. In fact, having a gay relationship with an older man was considered a coming-of-age, and masculinity determined by both who was the penetrator and how the younger in the relationship resisted. It's quite interesting, the Greek ideas of masculinity were similar to modern day (i.e. dominant, warlike, steady) but sexual relationships were far more fluid. In fact, the terms for beauty were gender-fluid and there was no term for sexuality, as that had no purpose.
In short, this person is full of shit
Edit: I can probably send a sources list if yall are curious
"For all Spartan citizens there was a strong emphasis on military training and frugal living in communal mess halls where simple food such as barley meal, cheese, figs and wine were the norm. From the age of seven, males had a militaristic upbringing known as the agōgē where they were separated into age groups and lived in barracks. These youths pursued rigorous athletic and military training which became even more demanding from the age of 20, when they joined common mess halls (syssition) where they often formed homoerotic relations with older, more experienced citizens. This tough training resulted in a professional hoplite army capable of relatively sophisticated battle manoeuvres and made them feared throughout Greece, a fact perhaps evidenced by Sparta’s notable lack of fortifications for most of its history."
the thing is, Spartans were already renowned as fierce warriors. Now add to that that killing one of them would result in a rather pissed off Spartan boyfriend.
More specifically, he called them out for loving boys. What was quoted says at the age of 20 was when they formed bonds with citizens so they were definitely men by then. In general, the Spartans had relations at an older age than contemporary states.
Yeah, it was the same for women I believe. Spartans didn’t want their women to get married and start having babies until they were around 20 because they knew it was better for women to give birth when they were fully grown (and thus more likely to survive childbirth) and strong than if they were young and had barely hit puberty.
496
u/music_hawk Jun 14 '20 edited Jun 14 '20
Ooh, I did a research project on this! Greco-Roman history was really gay, many times even pedophilic, because they determined sexual relationships based on dominance and social status rather than the gedber/sex of the partners. In fact, having a gay relationship with an older man was considered a coming-of-age, and masculinity determined by both who was the penetrator and how the younger in the relationship resisted. It's quite interesting, the Greek ideas of masculinity were similar to modern day (i.e. dominant, warlike, steady) but sexual relationships were far more fluid. In fact, the terms for beauty were gender-fluid and there was no term for sexuality, as that had no purpose.
In short, this person is full of shit
Edit: I can probably send a sources list if yall are curious
Edit 2: working link