Pederasty is an ancient Greek form of interaction in which members of the same s$x would partake in the pleasures of an intellectual and/or s$xual relationship as part of a socially acceptable ancient custom.
The ideal pederastic relationship in ancient Greece involved an erastes (an older male, usually in his mid- to late-20s) and an eromenos (a younger male who has passed puberty, usually no older than 18).
This age difference between the erastes and the eromenos was of the utmost importance to the scheme of the ideal pederastic relationship. Pederasty in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged romantic relationship between an adult male (the erastes) and a younger male (the eromenos) usually in his teens.
It was characteristic of the Archaic and Classical periods. The influence of pederasty on Greek culture of these periods was so pervasive that it has been called “the principal cultural model for free relationships between citizens.”
Some scholars locate its origin in an initiation ritual, particularly rites of passage on Crete, where it was associated with entrance into military life and the religion of Zeus.
It has no formal existence in the Homeric epics and seems to have developed in the late 7th century BC as an aspect of Greek homosocial culture, which was characterized also by athletic and artistic nudity, delayed marriage for aristocrats, symposia, and the social seclusion of women.
Pederasty was both idealized and criticized in ancient literature and philosophy. The argument has recently been made that idealization was universal in the Archaic period; criticism began in Athens as part of the general Classical Athenian reassessment of Archaic culture.
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Scholars have debated the role or extent of pederasty, which is likely to have varied according to local custom and individual inclination.
The English word “pederasty” in present-day usage might imply the abuse of minors in certain jurisdictions, but Athenian law, for instance, recognized both consent and age as factors in regulating sexual behavior.
There has long been debate about the true nature of this Greek custom – what the Greeks called eros, a “passionate life-churning love”, or philia, “fond intimacy”. Was it essentially sublime or sodomitical?
