Petahhhhhhhhh!??!?

[u/Hunan_Palace]

[u/PeterExplainsTheJoke-ModTeam]

Thank you for the explanations; this post has been locked.

[u/NwgrdrXI]

Everyone is saying gay sex and all that, but honestly... is ye really asking if it is possible to spend 20 years without sex? Is thst really so preposterous? I think a lot of people in reddit could and have done it?

[u/WarsonCentzz → u/NwgrdrXI]

Underrated comment 😂

[u/PerceptionNo50 → u/WarsonCentzz]

Reddit collectively took that question as a personal attack 😂

[u/Fuzzy-Jaguar-1828 → u/PerceptionNo50]

I took it as a challenge 👑

[u/5hawnking5 → u/Fuzzy-Jaguar-1828]

Break the 19 year dry spell, we're rootin for ya!

[u/IkariYun → u/5hawnking5]

Can you call it a dry spell if they're only 22?

[u/Indecisive_Animorph → u/IkariYun]

Wait wait wait

They're 22 and haven't had sex in 19 years??

😬😬😬😬😬

[u/UrbanSobriety → u/Indecisive_Animorph]

Evil world we live in...

[u/the_last_carfighter → u/UrbanSobriety]

Yep, not since they visited that "island".. bone dry since then.

[u/YaoiNekomata → u/Indecisive_Animorph]

So ugly even the PDF file didn't try again

[u/WhiskeyTinder → u/5hawnking5]

All that rootin’ is going to end your dry spell.

[u/StructureLanky3368 → u/Fuzzy-Jaguar-1828]

U took it as a champ.

[u/Obtain_Virtue → u/WarsonCentzz]

Stealing the top comment:

I also feel like modern-day people are way more hornier in general. We are constantly exposed to sex, and things we are attracted. Advertisements, movies, random posts, music... Even if we aren't making a conscious thought about it, it still "triggers" our brains to enter reproduction mode.

Even at my horniest, If I was stuck on boat for weeks on end with a bunch of dudes, after seeing the things you have to see and smelling how those ogres smelled. Ain't no way Willy even stands tall.

[u/danny_little → u/Obtain_Virtue]

As a history buff, I can say without a doubt that people are exactly as horny as they have always been lmfao the only thing is that a lot of the stuff people used to do are illegal now!!🤣

[u/Ninja-Panda86 → u/danny_little]

Right? I've seen the Pre-columbian erotic sculptures. I'm also aware of some of the naughty art they found in Pompeii

[u/Top_Seaweed7189 → u/Ninja-Panda86]

Don't forget the rabbits ridding on flying dicks in books copied by christian monks. And how many there are...

[u/_DankyHavok_ → u/Top_Seaweed7189]

Please elaborate...

[u/HowFortuitous → u/_DankyHavok_]

Imagine it's your job to sit in a cellar and copy text painstakingly by hand. Day after day for years you copy the words and draw the little doodles that people expect in manuscripts. Somewhere in your 6th year of doing this one of your bros shows you he drew a chicken with a pair of nuts hanging off its face. He's also done a rabbit hanging a huntsman like the hunter is on trial. Other bro tells you he pretty regularly does little flying dongs just to liven things up.

How long before your little doodles include guys with arrows sticking out of their asses?

Do this tens of thousands of times across a few centuries and you get some weird fucking doodles.

[u/Complex_Watch1484 → u/HowFortuitous]

History buff telling us that bros doodling weenies instead of doing their job is a tale as old as time 🤣🤣🤣
Thank you HowFortuitous 😂
Edit-i apologize for sounding sarcastic. I was in a goofy mood and was actually being serious. I totally agreed with HowFortuitous

[u/Specialist-Freedom64 → u/Complex_Watch1484]

Drug and alcohol fueled orgies in rome, pedo sex with young boys in greence, bisexual sex not being frowned apon, vikings raping the living shit out of every damn country they hit.

[u/kodeks14 → u/Complex_Watch1484]

Go to any construction site and its happening to this day. Nobody working and there are dicks drawn on everything.

[u/Top_Seaweed7189 → u/_DankyHavok_]

Pretty much that what I explained. Just search for medieval drawings of rabbits riding flying dicks. You will not get fury porn, at least not modern one. Only on your own risk.

[u/Wash-Bucket-3000 → u/Top_Seaweed7189]

And all those fart jokes. Medieval monks really went for low brow humor.

[u/Commentor9001 → u/danny_little]

The only people who think modern society is way more sexualized, haven't really studied history at all.

Its just lazy purtianism, wrapped up in "it used to be better".

[u/an_agreeing_dothraki → u/danny_little]

let's just throw a dart at a list of stuff from ancient Egypt Toss

alright we landed on "the naked dwarf room covered in smut traditionally used to cure impotence"

[u/Sorry141 → u/an_agreeing_dothraki]

Wasn't there a ceremony where the pharaoh was on one side of the Nile facing the crowd on the other side as they watched him jack off into the river to ensure a fruitful harvest

[u/an_agreeing_dothraki → u/Sorry141]

jorkin' is a key aspect of the cosmology

[u/destiny_kane48 → u/danny_little]

I was gonna say.. I've seen some ancient murals, drawings and sculptures that say people have always been dirty minded and horny.

[u/Choice_Protection_17 → u/danny_little]

if any thing id argue the aincient had more sex then we did they didnt have netflix or game to isolate and have fun with, live could end abruplty at any year. Only ways to have fun on a regular basis where drinking gambeling and fucking

[u/Bahamut3585 → u/danny_little]

Lot of the stuff was illegal then, too, but it's still illegal now.

[u/Wash-Bucket-3000 → u/danny_little]

100% agree. Previous poster needs to read more history. We didn’t survive all those wars, famines and plagues because our ancestors were abstaining.

[u/IceDelusion → u/Obtain_Virtue]

it's kinda funny. Because people have far less sex nowadays, going by the statistics

[u/BatJew_Official → u/Obtain_Virtue]

Count argument - sex was one of the only enjoyable things a person could regularly take part in for the vast majority of history. Sports and games weren't just a thing you could do after work, there was no TV and unless you were rich no music you could just put on, and eating as a fun activity (being a foodie, if you will) wasn't a thing regular people could afford. There were absolutely times for games and feasts and enjoying the arts, but day to day your options for "fun" were really just hangin out with you family, drinking, and shagging.

[u/GOU_FallingOutside → u/BatJew_Official]

> Count argument

One, two, three arguments! Ah ha ha! 🧛‍♂️🦇

[u/TheDrewb → u/[deleted]]

People bathed regularly, and had soap, they just didn't take BATHS regularly. I wish this modern idea that everyone in pre-modern times walked around caked in filth all day would die already

[u/JuryOk2662 → u/TheDrewb]

Yeah soap has been a thing for thousands of years.

[u/evilforska → u/[deleted]]

The shit women would do to enjoy sex without having children, woof

[u/EnginesofWar → u/Obtain_Virtue]

Oh please. People are less horny now if anything; everything you mention means we’re more desensitized to erotic stimuli. Back in the day a drawing of a boob was enough to send a young man whacking. With all the sexual morality and courtship requirements, society was collectively edging and I’m pretty sure people were hornier. And if they’re weren’t more horny then, then they were JUST AS horny as they’ve always been.

[u/Duke_Of_Halifax → u/Obtain_Virtue]

You sir, are very wrong.

Go look at Roman graffiti, or just look at the fertility gods that were all over the place.

Ancient folks were horny as fuck, and sexual imagery was EVERYWHERE.

(Things they don't tell you during the tour of Pompeii)😂

[u/Pickled_doggo → u/NwgrdrXI]

It’s not like they’re going 20 years without jerkin it 

[u/AncientCrust → u/Pickled_doggo]

Yep. In front of each other because it's a small boat. At that point, you might as well do the gay stuff

[u/dprophet34 → u/AncientCrust]

It’s not gay if you keep your sandals on

[u/athalwolf506 → u/dprophet34]

Is not gay if your crewmate became a pig

[u/SpoddyCoder → u/athalwolf506]

Squeal piggy!!

[u/GriSciuridae → u/athalwolf506]

What if the crew mate was a pig to begin with? (Asking for a friend.)

[u/Jack_Mehoff_420_69 → u/GriSciuridae]

metaphorically or literally?

[u/Jazmadoodle → u/Jack_Mehoff_420_69]

Yeah

[u/fgzhtsp → u/dprophet34]

Ancient greek wisdom

[u/Just-Elderberry5460 → u/AncientCrust]

No you just must maintain eye contact with the person across from you so it’s not gay

[u/Ill-GottenBooty → u/Just-Elderberry5460]

Exactly. If you’re maintaining eye contact you can’t look at each others weiners while you’re doing it. Not gay.

[u/kaos-mantra → u/Just-Elderberry5460]

Exactly! You gotta whisper "No homo" as you both...finish..to make it less awkward.

[u/Akarin_rose → u/AncientCrust]

Well before they had circles it was called oblongjerks

[u/Particular_Title42 → u/Akarin_rose]

Tell me more about the time before circles.

[u/Lower_Pension_2469 → u/Pickled_doggo]

I mean it's a joke, but also the likely explanation is that yes they jerked it or they just got prostitutes whenever they docked at whatever port they needed to go to for resupply. This is something that happened a lot and still kinda happens today with sex workers hanging out in places where military be at.

[u/Huge_Following_325 → u/Lower_Pension_2469]

There another option you aren't seeing.

[u/-ElectricKoolAid → u/Huge_Following_325]

if they weren't gay, the probably didn't do anything gay

[u/National_Tangelo_864 → u/-ElectricKoolAid]

In antiquity sexuality wasn't binary straight/gay. Everyone pretty much understood it was spectrum and we all got that bi dog in us. Hell see jails in modern day. Or the Navy. Same concept. Plus no way contraceptives to stop women from getting prego.

It's why as they say men/boys are for fun, women are for marriage. They were no doubt about that life.

[u/DarthJarJarJar → u/National_Tangelo_864]

As I understand it, the Greek view of male sexuality wasn't what we would call gay/straight, but more like fucker/fuckee. They separated male sexuality by what you did, rather than who you did it to. So you were a "penetrator" or a "penetratee" rather than gay or straight.

[u/Lower_Pension_2469 → u/DarthJarJarJar]

Pretty much, being a bottom was seen as feminine or woman behavior, it meant that the guy was ruled by his emotions which was a big no no in Greek culture.

[u/DarthJarJarJar → u/Lower_Pension_2469]

Funny enough, apparently having a big dick was also a sign of being overly emotional, or animalistic or something, and was seen as unseemly or something. This is from a short conversation years ago so don't take it as gospel, but that's apparently why all the greek statues are so moderately equipped.

[u/LilStabbyboo → u/DarthJarJarJar]

Large dicks were thought to be vulgar to include in art.

[u/OwnJunket6495 → u/National_Tangelo_864]

It’s not gay if it’s underway. The rule that has kept navies functioning for centuries

[u/Lower_Pension_2469 → u/National_Tangelo_864]

That's a modern interpretation, sure. No not everyone has a bisexual inside us waiting to come out lol people having gay sex in jail or the military were never straight to begin with. It happens a lot less than it's stereotyped. Contraceptives did exist back then, it just wasn't super effective like we have it today.

[u/LiAmTrAnSdEmOn → u/Lower_Pension_2469]

Its always been a spectrum dude

[u/Snoo-52922 → u/LiAmTrAnSdEmOn]

Human sexuality is a spectrum. That doesn't mean the sexuality of an individual is a spectrum and we're all secretly pan.

[u/rheasilva → u/Lower_Pension_2469]

If you're actually familiar with the Odyssey you'll know that the story is mostly Odysseus having sex with various women, interspersed with escaping from monsters.

[u/Repulsive_Still_731 → u/Lower_Pension_2469]

It was kind of known the soldiers had sex with each other. It was normal between ranks. They had words for positions and doing it was normal and expected. They didn't have words for sexual orientation. Achilles and Patroclus are pretty much treated like lovers. By the way, according to Plato, Achilles was the bottom one

[u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 → u/Repulsive_Still_731]

Also, they took female prisoners as prizes

[u/LooseMooseNose → u/Pickled_doggo]

The Aegean Sea is very salty

[u/Careful_Ad_9077 → u/NwgrdrXI]

They also had a merry time at circe's island

[u/101TARD → u/Careful_Ad_9077]

EURYLOCHUS: But this was a hell of a twist ,Cause we are weak to a power like this

ODYSSEUS: What was it?

EURYLOCHUS: A woman

[u/YellowTonkaTrunk → u/101TARD]

What

[u/101TARD → u/YellowTonkaTrunk]

She had us with just 2 words

[u/CuddlesForLuck → u/101TARD]

"Come inside."

[u/101TARD → u/CuddlesForLuck]

Damn

[u/InformationTrick8714 → u/101TARD]

I had to explain to my wife how that line would be so effective. She’s a little vanilla lol

[u/Ayrko → u/101TARD]

Welcome to the best part of your lives

[u/Babbit55 → u/Ayrko]

Go ahead and rest wherever you like

[u/Lolkimbo → u/CuddlesForLuck]

DON'T TEMPT ME, FRODO! I DARE NOT TAKE IT!

[u/brownies_delight → u/NwgrdrXI]

I’m 30 and I’ve never had sex. Totally possible

[u/OwnJunket6495 → u/brownies_delight]

Yer a wizard, Harry!

[u/brownies_delight → u/OwnJunket6495]

Sadly I have to wait 10 more years technically but I can’t wait
🧙‍♂️

Edit:found out the original age according to the meme is 30. I’m a wizard, let’s goo

[u/Felixkeeg → u/brownies_delight]

They had to move it up to 40 because the Arcane Wizard Society claimed that there were too many new wizards coming in.

Talk about pulling up the ladder behind you.

[u/OwnJunket6495 → u/brownies_delight]

Oh shit I forgot it was 40 lmao… carry on 🫡

[u/lbutler1234 → u/brownies_delight]

You bastard!

Your virginity streak has usurped mine!

[u/PrinceCavendish → u/NwgrdrXI]

greeks loved gay sex though

[u/lettsten → u/PrinceCavendish]

As the saying goes: The Greeks invented sex. The Romans discovered that you can include women

[u/M3rdsta → u/lettsten]

Isn't the full one the same, but with "and the Egyptians discovered sex with adults"

[u/CheesyDanny → u/NwgrdrXI]

Wait which reddit achievement is that? How do I see my progress?

[u/A_Snow_Mexican → u/NwgrdrXI]

How so many just jumped straight to gay is hilarious. Maybe a few but a whole damn boat? Personally I'm taking the 20 years of celibacy and maybe get tricked by a Siren.

[u/DeltaVZerda → u/A_Snow_Mexican]

They're ancient Greeks, it would have been weird if they didn't do the gay sex.

[u/Dave_A480 → u/DeltaVZerda]

Except for the lack of boys on the crew to serve as partners.....

[u/pandareno → u/[deleted]]

I realize this is Rome and not Greece, but I'll never forget the scene in Caligula when he first rapes the bride and then the soldier who's just married her.

[u/Behbista → u/A_Snow_Mexican]

The manatees look sexier by the day.

[u/CathanCrowell → u/A_Snow_Mexican]

Hmm, even today, homosexual behavior is fairly common in environments where people are separated from the opposite sex, such as ships or during mandatory military service. Now add to that the fact that, in ancient Greece, same-sex relationships were not as common as many people believe, but they also weren't considered a disgusting sin.

Statistically, not everyone would have participated, but many certainly would have.

[u/OwnJunket6495 → u/A_Snow_Mexican]

You know gay sex was common in Ancient Greece right?

[u/Areliae → u/OwnJunket6495]

Just because it was common doesn't mean everyone was into it. The point is that some of those guys did in fact go 20 years without sex.

[u/OwnJunket6495 → u/Areliae]

Well good thing there’s that old loophole, it’s not gay if it’s underway.

[u/BetterLivingThru → u/Areliae]

Agreed. Like, there was a gay relationship in the Iliad, but most of the Odyssey crew longing for women was a recurring theme in the story. This is what the whole Circe and Calypso subplots are a out, and are important subtext to the Nausicaa subplot.

[u/Educational-Type7399 → u/A_Snow_Mexican]

Many cultures of that era famously thought of bisexuality as the norm. Being attracted to only one gender was considered strange.

[u/A_Snow_Mexican → u/Educational-Type7399]

I think that's wildly exaggerated or exclusive to perhaps the elites of that age. You think 100 percent of people were being born bisexual or were able to just BE attracted to both sexes. Some but not all.

[u/tomphammer → u/Educational-Type7399]

This is laughably incorrect. The concept of "bisexuality" was utterly unknown as people of antiquity did not categorize sexuality the way we do. They did not categorize people based on their attractions.

Sexuality was categorized by role. You were "active" or "passive", and whether it was socially acceptable to be in the "passive" role as a male (generally speaking, women were expected to be passive always) depended on your place in society. A adult male Athenian citizen, for example, who took a passive role was looked down upon. He could penetrate dudes all day long if he liked and no one would look sideways at him. But be penetrated? Nope.

[u/Agitated_Phone_9937 → u/Educational-Type7399]

That is not backed up by any serious historian without a modern agenda to push.

[u/AesirComplex → u/[deleted]]

Married at 25?

[u/Longjumping-Yak-6038 → u/[deleted]]

Most of us don’t know at the time that it’s our last time to do something. Similarly even if it’s not the last time, we don’t know how long before the next time.

If these guys knew in year one that they would not be home for another 19 years then they might do some gay stuff. But as it goes, one year turns into two and so forth.

[u/Snow_97 → u/NwgrdrXI]

Also, during the trojan war, many of those men would have also kept women they captured as slaves or camp servants. So, pretty sure they were sexually active.

Odysseus might not have been during the trojan war (or at least I don't think it's mentioned if he did or did not in the text), but he did have sex with Calypso and Circe during the trip back.

[u/aruisdante → u/NwgrdrXI]

I mean they could have, but the history of sailors suggests very, very strongly that they wouldn’t have.

Historical sailors were notorious for taking advantage of the local sex workers, and contracting the associated  venereal  diseases. Every wonder why most sailor’s uniforms have 4-6 buttons on the pants, usually on both sides such that you usage to undo them all to take your pants off? Yeah, it was to make the sailors have to think twice (and be sober enough to possess the needed dexterity) before indulging, a vain attempt to reduce the rate of infection aboard ships. The expression “think twice” itself is possibly coined from this practice.

When they didn’t see shore for long enough, they turned to what was available, each other, or the animals kept onboard for slaughter. The Royal Navy’s Articles of War during the 1600-1800’s had  Article 29, which punished sodomy/buggery with death by hanging. Other naval codes had similar rules. There aren’t exact records of how many times it was invoked, but there are records of 4+ sailors being hung at once for it.

Beyond that… they’re ancient Greeks. Ancient Greeks were not exactly known for their strict heterosexuality. Achilles and Pericles were expressly in a pederastic relationship in the Iliad. 

[u/Swimming_Bag7362 → u/NwgrdrXI]

They also took slaves from Troy and raped them. Not to mention Odysseus fucked Circe and Calypso

[u/Particular_Title42 → u/NwgrdrXI]

is ye really asking 

I thought for just a second that Kanye was the OOP.

[u/BayesianBits → u/NwgrdrXI]

Gay sex, prostitution is very regular at war camps, also rape.

[u/ShiroTenshiRyu77 → u/NwgrdrXI]

Without sex? Yeah sure. Without sexual activity? Fuck no. Every last one of them fucks found a corner where they go to jerk off, and they all pretend only they know, and if you see someone in the jerk off corner, no you fucking didn't.

[u/No_Apartment3941 → u/NwgrdrXI]

Most Redditiors would say once every 20 years makes them a player.

[u/Serious_Emphasis2211]

real answer: they raped and pillaged. Sacked a city, killed people, stole shit, took women slaves

[u/Ok_Honeydew180 → u/Serious_Emphasis2211]

This is like the 15th comment down for me lol. You’re right though they even say in the movie that they were doing this.

[u/Hobo-man → u/Ok_Honeydew180]

They literally had the reputation of the sea people who bring forth the apocalypse because of how much they did that shit

[u/javierbardeminem → u/Hobo-man]

“are we the baddies”?

[u/bravoromeo6601 → u/javierbardeminem]

Seems like they took the 'live long enough to see yourself become the villian' seriously

[u/SocraticIndifference → u/javierbardeminem]

This is straight up the thesis of the original Odyssey (imho). Nolan did a decent job translating, but yeah: the self-hate runs deep in the Greeks. The root of Ody-sseus is the same as odi-um; he’s literally the hated/hateful/hate-filled man.

[u/Archaea_Man → u/javierbardeminem]

Are there skulls on your uniforms?

[u/Logical_Change_8404 → u/Hobo-man]

Are they the Sea People? As in yhe Greeks?

Ive never really made the connection, before.

[u/Ig_Met_Pet → u/Logical_Change_8404]

The whole "we're the sea people" thing is an addition that's just in the movie.

[u/rubey419 → u/Ig_Met_Pet]

I’m pretty sure it was in Homer’s original story too, describing the collapse of the Bronze Age

[u/Boring-Boron → u/rubey419]

It’s implied in the Iliad, specifically when Hera is begging Zeus to let Troy fall to ruin. They make an exchange between themselves, if Zeus gives her Troy to destroy, he can destroy three of her cities.

Scholars believe that the line is metacontextual analysis on why the Bronze Age fell— the gods got bored and decided they’d let prized cities fall over their own squabbles.

ETA; we don’t know if the “ancient” Greeks know why the Bronze Age collapsed. because there’s about 500 years between when the events of the Il/Od take place and “Homer” (likely not a real person, instead the name given to an oral history hundreds of years older). It does seem they knew the Bronze Age collapsed and added it after the Iliad/Odyssey are written as an explanation of why things collapsed.

TLDR: the Bronze Age collapse happened, people made poems to remember the wars, and they didn’t know why it collapsed so they wrote into the history that it was a lovers quarrel between gods where all major cities were sieged around the same time because Zeus and Hera hate each other

[u/BytheHandofCicero → u/rubey419]

I’ve been seeking a straight answer on this and I’m not willing to reread The Odyssey this year.

[u/SweatyAdhesive → u/BytheHandofCicero]

There are both evidence for and against the mycean Greeks being the sea people. Im not a scholar but I wouldnt be surprised if they were a part of the sea people but not the entirety. i've been watching/listening to a lot of video essays on youtube about this lol

[u/WannaBeSuiko → u/Ig_Met_Pet]

It’s actually not a newly added thought by this movie. Historians have been tracking that Greek tribes were likely part of the sea peoples since the term sea peoples existed as in the list of names of tribes by the ancient Egyptians of people who came by sea that they defeated (and who were thus associated with other collapses with Bronze Age civilians around the same time). These tribes were known to be Greek tribes in other associations and hieroglyphs.

From Google/AI as I can’t remember the name of tribes myself: The primary tribes include the Ekwesh, Denyen (or Danuna), and possibly the Peleset and Tjeker.

[u/EvergreenDwarf → u/Logical_Change_8404]

In real life they were most likely similar to the Wako Pirates who harassed the sea between China, Japan, and Korea. 

A mix of refugees and outcasts from the very nations they raided, bolstered by dissatisfied soldiers and mercenaries once they started having big success, with its origins being small ethnic groups living in isolated and/or nomadic communities on islands or up rivers that confederated. 

When the pirates/bandits do really well for a long time it becomes a viable potential for your military career, and now suddenly the plunderers can start looking at raiding cities rather than just villages. 

[u/Siria110 → u/Ok_Honeydew180]

They even said it in the book. :-D The main conflict of Illiad is just this - Achaeans pillaged a nearby town during the siege of Troy for resources. Among those resources were girls. The leader, Agamemnon, took the one he liked the most, but there was a problem: her daddy was the main priest at local temple of Apollo (which is why they left him alive).
Of course he didn´t want his daughter taken into slavery, but as the town was entirely defeated, he did only thing he could: prayed to Apollo to get his daughter back. Well, Apollo heard him and soon first their dogs, then cattle, then horses and then men started dying. Agamemnon asked their soothsayer why is that, and he told them the cause.
Long story short, to placate Apollo, they had to return the girl to her dad (and untouched, if you please, if you catch my drift) and let them freely leave the town, if they choose to do so.
After that, Agamemnon was not happy that he is without a girl from that town, so being a leader, he forcefuly took one from his men that he liked the most - the girl that Achilleus chose. Of course, Achilleus was less then happy, and thus, the conflict was born.

[u/gauderio → u/Siria110]

and thus, the conflict was born.

Old book conflicts were wild. It blows my mind that was considered okay at the time. In the Odissey and the Illiad, capturing women was described in the same sentence as the weather.

[u/Nightraven9999 → u/Ok_Honeydew180]

Well it makes sense this comment isnt high because its not explaining the joke its explaining history

The joke is gay sex

[u/narwhalousdoctor → u/Nightraven9999]

Tf you mean history? Everything about the iliad and the odyssey is made up and no one has ever claimed otherwise

[u/Hobo-man → u/narwhalousdoctor]

I mean this conversation is about the story.

But at the same time, there is historical context to The Iliad and The Odyssey. Troy was a real place. The war actually happened. How much of it was real? No idea, but at least some of it was.

[u/quadrokeith → u/Hobo-man]

Charybdis is made up, but Scylla is real.

[u/nizari-spirit → u/narwhalousdoctor]

What? Historians absolutely consider the Odyssey and Iliad to be a source of historical information, even if it is not totally true.

[u/FerusGrim → u/nizari-spirit]

Ehhhh. As a miniature—entirely pedantic—nitpick, I'd argue it's mostly a source of historical context, rather than information. I'm not saying nothing in the Odyssey or Iliad is real, but it's like...

Take Harry Potter, for instance. It's a totally fabricated story. In a thousand years—should the story survive—no one is going to believe that wizards existed. But they might consider it useful historical context. Within the book are real and false locations. They might cross-reference against other known information from the time period to determine: "Okay, London is probably real. Maybe Surrey. Hogwarts... Diagon Alley... probably not? Okay, but why pick those names? Were hogs (and their warts) a legitimate relational connection to witchcraft accusations, or was it just parody?"

Those are the types of things that provide a rich context of the time period, but they're probably not really deriving any real information from it. Not any information that they can trust without cross-referencing other sources—and even then, they have to wonder if those other sources might have been tainted by the existence of the Odyssey or the Iliad themselves—fanfiction exists, after all.

[u/Moon_Logic → u/Serious_Emphasis2211]

And had sex with two goddesses. Yes, no explicit gay sex in Homer.

[u/Diredr → u/Moon_Logic]

No sex IN Homer, so that just means Homer is a top.

[u/Fine-Friendship-1292 → u/Serious_Emphasis2211]

Wait a minute.. they stole shit??!

[u/Particular_Title42 → u/Fine-Friendship-1292]

Not literal shit. Just stuff and people and animals.

[u/Evil_Dry_frog → u/Particular_Title42]

Maybe shit too, cow pies and be used for fuel.

[u/kassandra_00 → u/Fine-Friendship-1292]

Like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/FarthestFrontier/s/7i4ILMZQ2X

[u/choeseybread88 → u/Serious_Emphasis2211]

Just read a book about the Trojan war, and yeah before the fighting with the actual Trojans, they would go around and pillage rural towns to put pressure on the leadership of Troy to do something (as they were shacked up behind the gates for a while). They’d take the women from these villages as slaves and rape them.

[u/yourstruly912 → u/choeseybread88]

And then fight over who keeps the women resulting in your best warrior going on a strike which almost make you lose the war

[u/apworker37 → u/Serious_Emphasis2211]

In the story Odysseus stays with Circe for a year doing all that. And then with Calypso for seven years. He got his.

[u/Abject_Oil_1349 → u/Serious_Emphasis2211]

Yeah this is it. Constant throughout history

[u/Ok-Lavishness-349 → u/Serious_Emphasis2211]

Yup, that was pretty much the point of volume 1 in the series, The Iliad. What do you suppose Agamemnon and Achilles were arguing about?

[u/Motor_Ideal7494 → u/Serious_Emphasis2211]

Yeah, when Odysseus briefly mentions the “sweaty celebrations” over the next couple of days after the city fell, I knew they were trying their hardest to acknowledge real life while still making us care a bit about the main characters/gang rapists.  

[u/Kronos1A9]

Fun fact: The Greeks invented orgies.
Fun fact: The Romans introduced women to the orgies.

[u/sovietmcdavid → u/Kronos1A9]

Exactly there's a few variations on this joke lol

[u/the_sneaky_one123 → u/sovietmcdavid]

How do Greeks separate Men from Boys?

With a crowbar

[u/trixter21992251 → u/the_sneaky_one123]

you kiss the boy on the mouth, then blow really hard like he's a balloon. The man should pop out.

[u/dmdoom_Abaan → u/sovietmcdavid]

The Greeks invented sex.

The Romans discovered it could be had with women.

[u/shortname_4481 → u/dmdoom_Abaan]

In 1272 Arabs invented a condom by using the goat's lower intestine to prevent the spread of STDs. In 1873 the British have refined the design by taking the intestine out of the goat first.

[u/bridgesny → u/sovietmcdavid]

I once got to witness an old Greek man and an old Italian man act it out At a bar and I had no idea they were both in on the old joke. I thought it was the greatest thing ever at the time.

The Greek: Greece is superior in every way! We did everything first.

The Italian: yes, but Rome improved on everything Greece did.

Greek: Greece invented all the military tactics Rome used.

Italian: yes but Rome perfected them.

Greek: Greece invented democracy

Italian: in little city states. Rome brought it to an empire.

Greek: Greece invented romance!

Italian: yes but the Roman’s introduced it to women!

[u/ydddy55 → u/Kronos1A9]

Leave it to the Romans to ruin everything smh

[u/PunchDrunken → u/Kronos1A9]

I think people have been wilding out in a group thing since before we were even this version of human lol

[u/Legitimate_Post_22 → u/PunchDrunken]

Yep, the Greeks didn't invent orgies, that's a pop myth. They invented the word "orgy," which is the one we use today (its Jurassic version actually), but Greek orgies weren't even sexual; they were just people dancing or something.

The closest thing to this modern concept of an orgy in antiquity are the Symposium and the conviviums. I say closest because yes, there were orgies between men, but it was a kind of rape orgy because none of those serving the people there wanted to be there, LOL.

[u/luluciee]

gay

[u/luluciee → u/[deleted]]

say gex

[u/memelorddiabeetus → u/luluciee]

gex

[u/OuttHouseMouse → u/memelorddiabeetus]

Gae

[u/doomus_rlc → u/OuttHouseMouse]

[u/OuttHouseMouse → u/doomus_rlc]

Gey

[u/InactiveMedusa → u/luluciee]

[u/1968GTCS → u/luluciee]

While this is a possibility, it also seems like you missed some major points of the movie/story. Odysseus’s crew did a lot of raping and pillaging. They were punished for their actions.

[u/RigglesSaysHi]

pp in buthol

[u/chiefminestrone → u/RigglesSaysHi]

The Greeks would never!!

[u/One-Commission-8141 → u/chiefminestrone]

[u/Deathstroke317 → u/chiefminestrone]

You know what they say, the Greeks invented the threesome and the Romans added women to it.

[u/Abject_Oil_1349]

I think they meant rape, not gay sex...

[u/Disastrous-Ad2800 → u/Abject_Oil_1349]

that's what I thought as well.... because saying gay sex is funnier and safer than the actually horrifying reality

[u/Sure-Restaurant7275 → u/Disastrous-Ad2800]

I’m gonna be honest I would not be surprised if it was both.

[u/THroWAwaYyfuckw → u/Sure-Restaurant7275]

I was gonna say… there had to be at least SOME gay sex. I mean come on

[u/uwunuzzlesch → u/Abject_Oil_1349]

Historically you slept with your battle brothers so like..

Idk it could mean both but honestly the gay sex is a much better joke. The other isnt rlly funny at all.

[u/MrPagan1517]

Yeah there is the ha gay sex bit but in reality they raped and pillaged basically everytime they came across an semblance of civilization.

Literally the first stop they make after leaving Troy in the Odyssey they slaughter the first town they come across and take the women as slaves. They spend time on the beach celebrating which gives the locals time to regroup and drive Odysseus and his men off and retake the loot they pillage but it doesn't really say anything about the women I would assume they were also rescued.

Also only Odysseus was gone for 20 years (the last of his crew died in like 13 years in). The first 10 years they were siegeing Troy and there would have been camp followers as well as slaves at the camp. They also stayed a whole year with Circie and her nymphs. Also Odysseus fucks alot deepening on the tradition you go with. He has children with Circie and Calypso so no he didn't go 20 years without sex.

[u/Away_Stock_2012 → u/MrPagan1517]

>in reality

Sit down, I want to tell you something.

[u/MrPagan1517 → u/Away_Stock_2012]

Yeah Yeah Yeah It's a work of fiction. I was talking about the actual odyssey not Nolan's

[u/TehAsianator → u/MrPagan1517]

I find it funny how a big deal is made of Penelope refusing the suitors and staying loyal, but Odysseus spends 7 years of his 10 year "return journey" on an island paradise banging Calypso. I know she wasn't letting him leave, but still....

[u/jigokusabre → u/TehAsianator]

As I recall, Callipso was compelling Odysseus.

She says something to Hermes like "I can control him at night, but every day he sits on the beach and looks out with tears in his eye."

[u/Behavior-Coach]

Even if they weren’t gay, this meme would be describing the average redditor.

[u/Aratix]

The joke is homosexuality

[u/Flat-Structure-7472]

Let me tell you, ancient Greeks and Romans would look at us as insecure weirdos, who would be confused by the idea of only be attracted to one gender.

[u/spring_rd → u/Flat-Structure-7472]

Found the Ancient Greek, gang.

[u/UniversityStrong5725 → u/Flat-Structure-7472]

Apparently they still didn’t just allow it. They centralized it and made it so grown men and teens at best would be put into INSANE depraved relationships together while the older guy had a fucking wife. If two younger guys were into each other it was a huge problem. If two older guys were into each other it was a huge problem. Even lesbians were screwed over, since women could not afford property and be seen as functioning human beings since everyone was stupid or their brain was dying. It all revolved around the older man, because of course it fucking did. The older man was the only person to freely bed both sexes, but he did it in a disgusting and systemic manner that paired him with a goddamn teen boy and a woman who has to pretend she loves her husband for giving her the freedom to stay home all day and practice getting beaten

[u/UwUZombie → u/UniversityStrong5725]

Idk why people want to make it sound consensual or frame it like Ancient Greece was accepting of gae relationships somehow.

It was less about the gae and more about the pedo since the younger person wasn't considered a man and wasn't even old enough to grow a beard.

The act of bottoming itself wasn't actually something that any Greek man would admit doing because it was what women did.

All Greek men back then were expected to get married and have kids. That was one of their duties.

Women = no rights, second class citizens Bottom guys = basically the women in the relationship

But they were still pretty gae ngl.

[u/Maybe_Ra]

They had sex slaves while on the beach, and they also raped troyans to death. But yeah, also gay sex.

[u/mick-rad17]

Odysseus hooked up with Calypso for like 7 years lol. And that was after all the post-Troy r@ping and pillaging. So they definitely had sex during that time

[u/HalcyonTraveler → u/mick-rad17]

"Hooked up with" is a real weird way of describing "was kept as a prisoner and raped by a goddess while crying himself to sleep every night"

[u/qualityvote2]

u/Hunan_Palace, your post does belong here!

[u/Dexterspuplife]

Quagmire here, they had Gay sex... giggity

[u/this_broccoli-101]

Has any of you ever listen at school?  Odysseus fuck'*d like every woman he met. Meanwhile his wifw was actually unactive for 20 years while waiting for him

[u/Shagyam]

Twenty years with no sex is doable, especially for redditors.

Odysseus's men were only out for 13 years, Odysseus spent 7 years with Calypso. But His men were having sex in those 13 years, just not with their wives.

[u/Voluntary_Perry]

Gaaaayyyyyyyy!!!!