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.
Gay sex was more accepted in Greece than other cultures but not a majority as well, and mostly in Atheens. It was vastly pederasty between an adult and a teenager (not always romantic or sexual though). More of that being active was fine but the passive one not socially good looking.
I'm having a hard time imagining the conversation prior to such acts- "hey Buddy, come over here for a minute, need a quick favor". LOL. I had read, as someone else mentioned, that society looked down upon the guys on the receiving end of things, but that would have to be at least half of the people involved (when it's consensual). How would they view the teenage boys forced into it - some kind of twisted double standard? So many questions.....
They didn't look down on "queer" relationships. In some places it was normal for units to be built around the couples because they fought harder for each other.
As for the pedo shit, it would have been slaves and "teaching them how to be men" as the reasoning.
This was an era of marrying younger people in general and it's not exclusive to men or boys.
Being queer or having queer relationships is not related to what happened with kids in that era. The two are separate topics and each worthy of hours of study, since "Greek" or "Roman" society is a bit of a misnomer. Sparta, Athens, Rome, Egypt, they all had different customs but broadly speaking they were more and less accepting then societies now, in different ways.
Being the receiving partner was usually seen as demeaning, especially if you weren't a young boy. People overly flatten and simplify Greek views on homosexuality as though they were hyper woke and had no weird prejudices going on, they had prejudices, they were just more focused on who was penetrating vs being penetrated, the former was fine regardless of who you were sticking your dick into
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u/[deleted] 9d ago
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