Ancient Male Lovers pre 1000 AD

Famous Male Love and Lovers pre 1000 AD

“Love is a desire of contracting friendship arising from the beauty of the object” Cicero

‘The mightiest kings have had their minions:

Great Alexander loved Hephaestion;
The conquering Hercules for Hylas wept;
And for Patroclus stern Achilles drooped;
And not kings only, but the wisest men:
The Roman Tully loved Octavius;
   Grave Socrates wild Alcibiades.’

From Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II

Sexual activity in ancient Greece, Rome and other places was generally guided by the concept of penetration of a superior over an inferior. Unlike today there was no concept of homosexuality or heterosexuality (these terms were invented in the nineteenth/twentieth century) and often no difference was seen in a man sleeping with a partner of the same or different sex. The allowances or prohibitions were guided in most part by who was active and who was passive and one’s age and status was the most important factor that described what role one could take. It was generally considered that a man would naturally be attracted to boys and women. As women had less status in most societies it was irrelevant if they enjoyed sex or not and the fact that she may enjoy being penetrated added to her perceived inferiority. It was a totally male dominated attitude and for instance, a slave or a prostitute of either sex was fair game and no constraints of morality were attached to such activity. In Greece, under certain guidelines, a free boy could be and was even encouraged to become the beloved, but in Rome a free boy could be wooed, but was forbidden to be penetrated because of his status, but the poor were available and male slaves were even bought specifically for that purpose. A boy (adolescent in modern terms) could succumb to the advances of a man from after puberty to the time he became a full adult. Where such relationships existed in Greece the boy in turn could also have a beloved as long as he was an inferior. The expected norm was that the adolescent Greek would be courted by many men and would choose one to be his lover. In early adulthood he would begin his own courting and winning the love of a deserving youth, and then he would take a wife and have children of his own. The dominant man could enjoy pleasure, but the boy who did not penetrate his lover was said to not be the one seeking pleasure and he was also to maintain dignity no matter if he became the beloved for reasons of true affection or social gain. It appears that the adult male was the only one who was permitted to claim enjoyment. The superior older male must never be penetrated and at times it was promoted even by themselves that their love was purely platonic, although Plato was alone in his disapproval. What happened in bed was private and should not be broadcast to all and sundry, but it was generally understood that sexual relations were full and were sometimes bragged about. There were cases of love and what we would call a gay relationship continuing into adulthood, but the hypocrisy of that time as well, was to deny that any male adult would allow himself to be penetrated and thus allow himself to be dominated. Homer was often vague, but hinted at the same sex encounters of Achilles. He was the most beautiful man of ancient Greece and most Greek academics of those times assumed his relationships with males to be sexual and he was described as the beloved of Patroclus although in other relationships he took on the role of the lover. Male beauty was much prised and contests of beauty were even institutionalised in the ancient world.

(summarised in part from the Oxford Classical Dictionary)
Plato was not so reticent about the sexual relationship between Achilles and Patroclus.

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Laius, the King of Thebes, was said to have been the first mortal to bring the practice of the love of youths to the Greeks, although some say it was King Minos of Crete. While he was still too young to rule, Laius fled Thebes to save his life, and sought refuge in Pisa. King Pelops, who was once Poseidons lover, welcomed him. When he reached manhood, Pelops entrusted his son, Chrysippus, ‘Golden Horse,’ to Laius to learn the charioteer’s art.  Laius did as he was asked, but fell in love with the beautiful youth and during the Nemean games, he kidnapped the boy and took him back to Thebes where he kept him, by force, as his beloved. The young man did not live long. Some say that he killed himself in shame for having been taken against his will, but others blame Pelops’ wife who burst into Laius’s bedchamber in the middle of the night, where both were sleeping and took his sword off the wall, and plunged it into the belly of his unwilling beloved. Laius was immediately accused of the deed, but Chrysippus had recognized her and with his last breath declared the king innocent. Nonetheless Laius was thrown in a dungeon for taking the boy without his consent, an offence which became known in all of Greece as “the crime of Laius.” Pelops gathered his army and marched against Thebes to recover his son but he found the king already imprisoned and his son dead. The father, though deeply aggrieved for having arrived too late, spared Laius’ life, recognizing that it was overwhelming desire that had driven him to abduct the boy. Nevertheless he put a curse on Laius. The god Apollo, protector of youths and boys, warned him well what would happen: “No son are you to have,” said Apollo’s oracle at Delphi to Laius when he came to inquire why his wife had borne him no children, “for if you do, that boy will kill his own father and sleep with his own mother.” But Laius, always driven by passion more than by reason, of course disobeyed, and payed the price with his life. And his son, Oedipus by name, paid more dearly still.

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Cicero &Titus Atticus:

Marcus Tullius CiceroThe great Roman orator 106 BC -43 BC and Titus Pomponius Atticus, a wealthy book-seller from a notable Roman Family. He grew up in Athens and took name Atticus. Cicero's treatise on friendship, De Amicitia was dedicated to him.

Darius & Zopires:

King of Persia Darius II and his eunuch Zopires.

Aristogeiton & Harmodius:

Two devoted Athenian lovers. The young and beautiful Harmodius’ sister was insulted by the tyrant Hippias’ brother and co-ruler Hipparchus. Possibly provoked by Hipparchus sexual approaches to the youth. The lovers decided to kill him at the festival of Panathenaea in 514 B.C. They succeeded but both died and were honoured as martyrs. They have been credited with the overthrow of tyranny in Athens. However it was pride and jealousy not democracy which motivated them.

Castor & Pollux (Polydeuces):

The Spartan wrestler and boxer, sons of Leda; Castor to a mortal father and Polydeuces to Zeus . They were members of the Argonauts. Both were killed in battle but because of the love for one another Polydeuces refused heaven without his beloved brother, so  Zeus allowed them to alternate each day, one in heaven and one beneath the earth.

Gilgamesh & Enkidu:

Gilgamesh the Babylonian king (around 2,000-2,700 years BC) and Enkidu appear in the worlds oldest epic poem which relates the deeds of this devoted couple. Gilgamesh is so distraught at the death of Enkidu  that he journeys to the underworld in an attempt to retrieve his beloved.

Damon and Phintias: (also called Pithias)

Pythagoreans and devoted friends. Phintias was condemned to death under the tyrant Dionysius and allowed to put his affairs in order. Damon offered himself as victim in place of his friend if Phintias did not return. When he did return  Dionysius was impressed by their devotion, pardoned him and asked to be included in their brotherhood.

Epaminondas and Pelopidas:

Pelopidas, was born into a rich family of Thebes. He could never persuade Epaminondas to accept his charity, so Pelopidas stepped down to join him in his simple way of life. Pelopidas was interested in athletics, while Epaminondas preferred learning. They remained friends throughout their lives. Their affection started at a battle near Mantinea [384 B.C.], where Pelopidas was wounded seven times and fainted on a heap of dead men. Epaminondas stepped up to save him and his amor from the enemy, and alone, Epaminondas held off a crowd until help arrived to save them both. Pelopidas became the commander of  the Sacred Band, and Epaminondas was the commander-in-chief of the army.

Julius Caesar & Nicomedes:

When he was around 20 Julius was sent to Bithynia which was conquered by Alexander the Great, became an independent country and was given to Rome in 74 BCE. Bithynia was also the land where Antinous (lover of Emperor Hadrian) was born. Julius became the young lover of the King of Bithynia, Nicomedes IV -  94 BCE to 74 BCE. Later Julius also had a relationship with his young ambitious nephew Octavius later to become Emperor Augustus.

Euryalus & Nisus:

“These had one heart between them” Euryalus and “his heart’s love” Nisus, appear only in Virgil’s Aeneid, firstly as friends  in a footrace, leaders amongst all the contestants: “Euryalus famed for beauty and fresh youth, Nisus for the fair love he bore the boy. “Euryalus was modelled on Virgil’s own Alexis: “no comelier youth / Clave to Aeneus, or donned Trojan arms -  Whose smooth boy-face showed faint the budding man.” Nisus was a warrior, and both died in battle. Nisus threw himself upon the body of his lover.

Hercules & Hylas:

Hercules and his squire Hylas were members of the band of bold youths, the Argonauts, who with Jason  went in search of  the Golden Fleece. He had kidnapped the boy after killing his father and had loved him. At Mysia the beautiful youth went in search of water and the nymphs lured him into the pool, and he was never seen again. Hercules searched the woods for his lost love, crying his name and in some versions he left the Argo at this point.

Hercules & Iolaus:

Ioläus was the sixteen year old nephew and charioteer of Hercules, and his faithful companion. As the comrade of Hercules he was worshipped beside him  in Thebes, where the gymnasium was named after him.

“ And as to the loves of Hercules, it is difficult to record them because of their number; but those who think that Ioläus was one of them do to this day worship and honour him, and make their loved ones swear fidelity at his tomb”.…Plutarch.

Cleomachus & his lover

“ And you know of course how it was that Cleomachus, the Pharsalian, fell in battle.... When the war between the Eretrians and Chalcidians was at its height, Cleomachus had come to aid the latter with a Thessalian force; and the Chalcidian infantry seemed strong enough, but they had great difficulty in repelling the enemy’s cavalry. So they begged that high-souled hero, Cleomachus, to charge the Eretrian cavalry first. And he asked the youth he loved, who was by, if he would be a spectator of the fight, and he saying he would, and affectionately kissing him and putting his helmet on his head, Cleomachus, wlth a proud joy, put himself at the head of the bravest of the Thessalians, and charged the enemy’s cavalry with such impetuosity that he threw them into disorder and routed them; and the Eretrian infantry also fleeing in consequence, the Chalcidians won a splendid victory. However, Cleomachus got killed, and they show his tomb in the market place at Chalcis, over which a huge pillar stands to this day.” Plutarch

Chariton and Melanippus

“ But Hieronymus the peripatetic says that the loves of youths used to be much encouraged, for this reason, that the vigor of the young and their close agreement in comradeship have led to the overthrow of many a tyranny. For in the presence of his favorite a lover would rather endure anything than earn the name of coward; a thing which was proved in practice by the Sacred Band, established at Thebes under Epaminondas; as well as by the death of the Pisistratid, which was brought about  by Harmodius and Aristogeiton.” And at Agrigentum in Sicily the same was shown by the mutual love of Chariton and Melanippus-of whom Melanippus was the younger beloved, as Heraclides of Pontus tells in his Treatise on Love. For these two having been accused of plotting against Phalaris, and being put to torture in order to force them to betray their accomplices, not only did not tell, but even compelled Phalaris to such pity of their tortures that he released them with many words of praise. Whereupon Apollo, pleased at his conduct, granted to Phalaris a respite from death; and declared the same to the men who inquired of the Pythian priestess how they might best attack him. He also gave an oracular saying concerning Chariton. ‘ Blessed indeed was Chariton and Melanippus, Pioneers of Godhead, and of mortals the one most beloved.’ Deipnosophists of Athenaus

Orestes and Pylades:

Orestes and Pylades were bywords for faithful and life-long love in Greek culture. Their story is the purest of  friendships with  no existing evidence of how they relate to one another as separate persons rather than Pylades, the younger of the two,  being Orestes alter ego or brother. They were friends since childhood, and did much together, such as  killing  Clytemnestra,  mother of Orestes and Elektra. “ Phocis preserves from early times the memory of the union between Orestes and Pylades, who taking a god as witness of the passion between them, sailed through life together as though in one boat........ Lucian

Pausanias and Agathon:

Agathon was an Athenian dramatist (c. 450-400 BCE). He was famous as an effeminate homosexual. It was in his house that the Dinner Party of Plato’s Symposium took place. He was around 30 and Pausanias around 40 and were still lovers at the time of the Symposium.

Epaminondas and his comrades:

Epaminondas, the great Theban general and statesman, loved his young comrades Asopichus and Cephisodorus

Parmenides & Zeno:

Parmenides, the philosopher, whose life was held peculiarly holy, loved his pupil Zeno. “ Parmenides and Zeno came to Athens, he said, at the great Panathenaean festival; the former was, at the time of his visit, about 65 years old, very white with age, but well-favored. Zeno was nearly 40 years of age, of a noble figure and fair aspect; and in the days of his youth he was reported to have been beloved of Parmenides.”

Pheidias & Pantarkes:

Pheidias, the great sculptor, loved Pantarkes, a youth of Elis and winner of the boy's wrestling match and carved his portrait at the foot of the Olympian Zeus

Corydon & Alexis:

“ Corydon, keeper of cattle, once loved the fair lad Alexis;

But he, the delight of his master, permitted no hope to the shepherd.
Corydon, lovesick swain, went into the forest of beeches,
And there to the mountains and woods-the one relief of his passion
With useless effort outpoured the following art less complainings:
Alexis, barbarous youth, say, do not my mournful lays move thee ?

Showing me no compassion, thou’lt surely compel me to perish.
Even the cattle now seek after places both cool and shady;
Even the lizards green conceal themselves in the thorn-bush.

Thestylis, taking sweet herbs, such as garlic and thyme, for the reapers
Faint with the scorching noon, doth mash them and bray in a mortar.
Alone in the heat of the day am I left with the screaming cicalas,
While patients in tracking thy path, I ever pur sue thee, Beloved.”   Virgil

Philolaus & Diocles:

Philolaus was a lawgiver at Thebes and his lover Diocles was an Olympic Athlete. Aristotle relates the  story of how they were buried together, and says that the inhabitants point out the tomb. Contrary to many opinions, male homosexual relationships in Ancient Greece were not just a older Athenian aristocrats having crushes on boys in the gymnasia, but included lifelong partnerships.

Polemon & Krates:

They were followers of Plato about 300 B. C “ Krates and Polemon loved each other so well that they not only were occupied in life with the same work, but they almost drew breath simultaneously; and in death they shared the same grave. On account of which, Archesilaus, who visited them in company with Theophrastus (a pupil of Aristotle), spoke of them as gods, or survivors from the Golden Age.”

Socrates & Alcibiades:

“I am far more certain about it than you or anyone else can be that Alcibiades always got up from Socrates’ bed like a child leaving the bed of its parents. And indeed it was a strange place and time - in bed and by night - to contemplate that pure beauty which Socrates is said to have loved without any improper desire, especially since he loved the soul’s beauty rather than the body’s, though in boys and not in grown men, who happen to be wiser.”   Castiglione’s Book of the Courier

Socrates & Phaedo:

Socrates first met Phaedo in a house of ill-fame, according to Diogenes Laertius. Phaedo when a youth was taken prisoner in war, and sold to a slave dealer who earned money from him. A friend of Socrates bought him from his master, and he became one of the chief members of the Socratic circle. Socrates on the eve of his death stroked the beautiful long hair of Phaedo, and prophesied that he would soon have to cut it short in mourning for his teacher.”

Theseus & Pirithous:

Hercules attempted to free them from the rock to which they had been bound together in the underworld, but succeeded in  freeing only Theseus, and left behind his buttocks attached to the rocks. Theseus was referred to as hypolispos, meaning “with hinder parts rubbed smooth.” Theseus and Pirithous, swore oaths on their friendship, entering into a formal bond like heterosexual marriage. One of the oldest ways of taking this oath was to place their hands upon each other’s testicles, the origin of the terms testify and testimony. Another method of swearing friendship, (blood brothers) was wrestling followed by pressing together two thumbs which have been cut with a knife.

Anacreon & Bathyllus:

Several odes of Anacreon (B.C. 5 20) are addressed to his young friend Bathyllus.

“O boy, with virgin-glancing eye,
I call thee, but thou dost not hear;
Thou know’st not how my soul doth cry
For thee, its charioteer.”
Anacreon also wrote a poem about how he on a rainy night lets in a freezing boy and allows him to get warm by the fire. The boy, however, reveals himself to be Cupid and shoots an arrow into the heart of the old man. The poem and the relief are about how old people also know love and can fall in love.
The Sacred Band of Thebes:

The Sacred Band of three hundred  young lovers from Thebes. As a group cemented by friendship and love it was invincible. The lovers, ashamed to be base in sight of their beloved, would willingly rush into danger to help one another. The Theban lawgivers  deliberately gave great encouragement to these friendships  to soften the wildness of character of their youth. According to Aristotle lovers plighted their faith at Iolaus’s (Hercules lover) tomb thus leading to the reference to the Sacred Band.

“The beloved, when he is found in any disgraceful situation, will be pained at being detected by his lover. If there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour . . . For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms. . . . Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of danger?”   Plato

“ And among you Thebans, Pemptides, is it not usual for the lover to give his boylove a complete suit of armour when he is  enrolled among the men ? And did not the erotic Pammenes change the disposition of the heavy-armed infantry, censuring Homer as knowing nothing about love, because he drew up the Achaeans in order of battle in tribes and clans, and did not put lover and love together, that so ‘ spear should be next to spear and helmet to helmet’, seeing that love is the only invincible general. For men in battle will leave in the lurch clansmen and friends, aye, and parents and sons, but what warrior ever broke through or charged through lover and love, seeing that when there is no necessity lovers frequently display their bravery and contempt of life.” Plutarch

The Lion of Chaironeia

They were finally beaten at the battle at Chaeronea: and when Philip, saw the band  lay dead together, he wondered, and understanding that it was the band of lovers, he shed tears and said, “Perish any man who suspects that these men either did or suffered anything that was base.”  The marble funerary monument which marked the communal grave of the Sacred Band of Thebans that was crushed (338 B.C.) in the battle with Philip B´ of Macedonia. It was discovered in 1818 in pieces and was restored on a plinth 3 m. high.

David & Jonathan:

“After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his  face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most. Jonathan said to David, ‘Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD.”

David’s Lament for Jonathan - Peter Abelard 1079 -1142

“Low in thy grave with thee
Happy to lie,
Since there’s no greater thing left Love to do;
And to live after thee
Is but to die,
For with but half a soul what can Life do?

So share thy victory,
Or else thy grave,
Either to rescue thee, or with thee lie:
Ending that life for thee,
That thou didst save,
So Death that sundereth might bring more nigh.

Peace, O my stricken lute!
Thy strings are sleeping.
Would that my heart could still
Its bitter weeping! “

See elsewhere on this site for pages with famous love including
 Alexander the Great & Hephaestion:
  Antinous & Hadrian:
  Akhenaten & Smenkhare: 
Achilles $ Patroclus

The Gods of Man

Ancient Gods

For millennia the culture of many civilisations has been defined by their gods and the rituals surrounding the power that emanated from these beliefs. Nature in the guise of various fertility gods and mother goddesses sustain the richness of the earth. War and death have been under the control of the dark gods and to appease or sustain them, many have required sacrifice and offerings. Some gods need only to be remembered, others require food or drink and some took the ultimate offering of life either of animals or that of the conquered, youths, virgins or children. Offerings could be left, sanctified and then distributed to the priesthood and others were sent directly to heaven via the pillars of smoke from the fires of the alter. There are so many different approaches, but a remarkable number of similar rituals have grown in what appears to be disconnected lands. Was there a common memory of rituals that spread with each migration or does the observation of nature dictate a common evolution in belief systems? The Aborigines of Australia who had been isolated from the rest of the world for forty to sixty thousand years had the creators and other spirits that can be seen in other cultures, so did they have memories from further back in time or as I said do we all seek the same explanations and follow similar themes?

Creation

Paleolithic man pondered the appearance of life through birth and from this, creation ideas began to arise. The Dreamtime of the Aborigines of Australia explain creation in each of their various nations as beings who came to and passed across the land creating the landscape, the animals and men. They marked their points of arrival and departure to the heavens or the sea with rivers or rocks or remained in sacred spots and some were evident in the animals of the lands. Similarly in many cultures the gods and spirits vary from one centre to another and are not as unified as we like to believe in a simple fashion. We conveniently like to group various tribes and areas into a single country as we now 'understand' them to be but each separate group often developed separately. Egypt 's gods grew differently in each centre before the unification of the land when gods became associated with each other, such as Ra from Heliopolis and Amun from Thebes who became Amun-Ra, or in Heliopolis Ra grew to be Atum Ra. In Egypt the world grew from the primordial mound which arose from the sea of chaos (Nun). From this mound at Heliopolis the self generated Atum brought forth from his mouth or penis the beginnings of all creation. In Memphis Ptah evolved to be the creator. The gods of Mesopotamia were less concerned with creating the cosmos, but Nammu (the mother) gave birth to the gods. However later the Babylonian god Marduk had a promotion and became the chief god and creator by subduing the terrifying Tiamut and from the pieces of her body he creates the universe. Prior to that existed the watery chaos which predates the Hebrew Genesis story of the universe beginning when 'the earth was waste and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep'. The Greeks did not credit Zeus with creation, Zoroastrian belief later credited Ahura Mazdah with the good and Ahriman with the evil sides of creation and Indian and Chinese cultures paid little attention to creation of the world.

The Arrival of Man

The earth may have appeared eternal, but as ancient man saw the birth of a child or an animal his thoughts turned to the creation of the first of mankind. When pottery developed in the Neolithic period, the early images were of god as fashioning man from clay or as in Genesis he was 'formed from the dust of the earth'. Egypt seems to have mostly ignored the creation of Man except for some references to the fertility god Khnum fashioning a king and his Ka (spirit double) on a potters wheel out of clay. In Sumer, Enki creates mankind to out of clay to be servants of the gods and relieve them of the need to toil and provide food. He even found a position in society for eunuchs and barren women. In Greece man was also fashioned from clay by Prometheus. In Scandinavian stories the first living being was Ymir, a giant born out of ice and suckled by a cow. With so many things that have been created the overwhelming image of the creator is that of a man. Certain elements of strength and power have been associated with a god in the form of an animal who posses greater abilities than mankind, but we choose to see the gods as men. Often the imagination can not conceive of the great force without form. We treat the gods as parents so they must look as we do.

Out of the dust of the earth we have risen with passions, creativity, destruction and most of all wonder, for after all we are made of star dust.

Fertility of the Land, Life and Love

Apart from the act of creation the gods have also a sustaining role in the continuity of life be it either rainfall for a harvest or the birth of a son etc. In Sumer Enki impregnated Nininhursag to produce plants, the axe and the brick mould to sustain life. Isis was the mother and the Christian Virgin is mother to us all. The great god is father to mankind. In Egyptian philosophy no great role is mentioned for the creation of mankind, The fertility aspects of the gods were there for influence, but not direct control. In Greek mythology Zeus was a second generation god who fathered many gods and mortals, although not out of benign consideration, but usually by seducing just about anything that moved. In many societies the earth/mother goddess (sometimes with an overabundance of breasts) was responsible for the growth of life sustaining food, the richness of the soil and the newborn. The other aspect of the 'good' gods was that of romance and love. Often what would find no acceptance today was the genesis of the so called gods and goddesses of love. Deception, necrophilia and rape were often the source of their right to be called a god of love. Perhaps we should call them gods of sex. Often in what we know about these legends is the simple pattern of sex and incidental growth of life. Those who had passions and wept for love and loneliness are usually associated with other aspects of the human condition like poetry, music, warfare and their melancholy, their romances and their sadness are but byproducts of their grand adventures.

War, Sickness and Death

To explain the terrors of  death from battle or sickness there arose supernatural explanations and rituals to attempt to ward off or prevent what appeared to be beyond the control of man. In Sumerian times Enki made the diseased and the aged, but Ninmah could find no place for them in society because 'what was made can not be unmade'. Yahweh gave the knowledge of good and evil when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of life and lost immortality and having been evicted from Eden they now had to toil and suffer hardships. From any nation at war we can hear that 'God is on our side'. It must be a very special person who knows the thoughts of the gods. There have been gods of war, but today we all appear to have a god of love, peace and charity whom apparently is on both sides as the self proclaimed righteous seek vengeance in the killing of each other. Can a god be on two sides at once. Perhaps he can. Perhaps he is not accountable for the qualities which we like to give him. Perhaps he is - or not? What ever you believe it has always seemed to be the case that over the centuries the gods are linked to justifications for our sicknesses, our retributions, our justice systems, our wars and hatreds. Seldom is there an outbreak of love or compassion as wide spread as we see outbreaks of widespread sadness.

Life After Death

The Elysian Fields  -  Pindar 518 - 438 BC

'For them the sun shines at full strength - while we here walk in night.

The plains around their city are red with roses and shaded by incense trees heavy with golden fruit.

And some enjoy horses and wrestling, or table games and the lyre, and near them blossoms a flower of perfect joy.

Perfumes always hover above the land from the frankincense strewn in deep-shining fire of the gods' altars.

And across from them the sluggish rivers of black night vomit forth a boundless gloom.'

Often the thought of life ceasing when the world appeared to go on for eternity posed the question  'Is that all there is?' Freud saw man's creation of the gods as wish fulfillment, but this does not of necessity deny the existence of the gods, but perhaps merely reveals an instinct for what might be. Belief is personal and appears to be a need to cope with the many questions and stresses thrown at the thinking being. Death, being apparently so final, has been the most influential element in the understanding of spirituality. The rituals surrounding death and what may follow are the most complex and stylised, the most written about and the most important part of a belief in a god. He is the lord of what we can not see as well as the creator of what is. Some had a unique description of he, who ruled the underworld, the other world or heaven above. Many saw other deities involved in the passage from one world to the next. Some good, some bad. Some saw two worlds to come: that of the righteous and that of the damned. The Egyptians saw Osiris who was king of the earth murdered and swept below to be lord of the underworld, while Ra ruled the heavens. The distinction was not as we would describe as heaven and hell. The underworld had trials, but it had fields of peace and plenty. Hades was lord of the underworld in Greek mythology and he became synonymous with the lost world of the dead which was guarded by vicious dogs. The gods alone sat on Mt Olympus. To a Christian, Satan fell from heaven to rule in hell while God alone rules in heaven. Whatever the belief and our limited understanding of the beliefs of others the imagery is often similar. An evil lord is often an ugly fierce being, a creature of caves or deserts or flames, shown with sharp teeth, horns, a beasts tail or features of a snake, while the good and happy lords are attractive (sometimes old, wise and stern, but benign) bathed in light and gold or mysteriously lives within the realm of the light or the sky above or flower filled green pastures.
Into Paradise
This is a video worth a look.

INPARADISUM IRIS Brosch from Souvenirs from Earth

Iris Brosch is an international photographer and director is mostly known for her ethereal, modern, Raphaelian and powerful images of women, but this glimpse of Paradise or the Elysian Fields has some powerful and beautiful men as well.

Iris Brosch Web.

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'Man made his gods, and furnished them

With his own body, voice and garments...

If a horse or lion or a slow ox

INPARADISUM IRIS Brosch 7 from Souvenirs from Earth on Vimeo.
had agile hands for paint and sculpture,

the horse would make his god a horse,

the ox would sculpt an ox...

Our gods have flat noses and black skins

say the Ethiopians. The Thracians say

our gods have red hair and hazel eyes.'

Xenophanes - philosopher poet c. 570 - 503 BCE

New Novel on Hadrian and Antinous

A book recommended to me and receiving great reviews. The novel recently shared first place in the 2010 Rainbow Awards Best Historical Fiction category. Available at Amazon.com and Lulu.com

click to enlarge

THE HADRIAN ENIGMA: A Forbidden History   A novel - (C) George Gardiner 

ISBN13: 978-0-9807469-0-7 (Lulu)     ISBN13: 978-0-9807469-1-4 (Amazon) 

as a 498-page paperback, also in Kindle & iPad ebook formats 

The scene: ancient Rome, 130 years after Christ yet still two centuries before Christian belief is legal. Caesar Hadrian is the popular ruler of a vast pagan Empire at the height of its power and wealth. 

Hadrian, one of Rome's "five good emperors", is married yet searches widely for, & eventually finds, the love of his life ... Antinous, an elite Greek athlete, huntsman, & cavalry cadet. They become 'companions' under the ancient Greco-Roman mentoring custom of anerastes & his eromenos. 

Later, during an Imperial pleasure tour of Egypt, Antinous is discovered dead in the River Nile. Hadrian is distraught. Is it a drunken prank gone wrong, suicide, murder, or something more sinister? 

Hadrian commands the ageing playboy historian Suetonius Tranquillus to investigate. Suetonius is allowed three days to make his report, so he hires a beautiful Syrian courtesan, Surisca of Antioch, to join his investigation as an interpreter & paramour. Their mutual detective work reveals more than Hadrian may want to know, or wants others to know. In the sexually-charged hothouse of court life Hadrian learns how love denied may possess fatal consequences .. for others. 

Related Links
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George Gardiner's 'M/M Romance Novels' blog

Antinous Poetry Videos by Charles Bryant

My post on Antinous

Poet Charles Bryant.

Antinous & Hadrian: First & Second Meetings (Part One and Two) by Charles Bryant

Explore more videos of extraordinary poetry and readings by the beautiful Charles Bryant.
  on -  http://www.youtube.com/user/brychar66
and - http://www.youtube.com/user/cavafyinenglish


Click this for my Post here on Antinous - Lover and God

Zeus

Jupiter ( Jove or Zeus)
Click images for larger view

The Greatest of the Gods or the sex crazed, cheating, self-centred, childish, bad tempered leader of an unruly family of Deities. If Zeus wasn’t overthrowing his parents and uncles, he was cheating on his wife or punishing his relatives while playing thoughtlessly with anyone he fancied. However he was not the first nor the last in this confused collection of Deities who impacted on humanity from the top of Mount Olympus.  Neither totally good nor bad, their stories merely  reflected the journeys, frailties and troubles of mankind.

As in Genesis and in Egypt, there was first Chaos (Night) who split light and day, who in turn produced Eros (Love). The eventual offspring  were the old gods Saturn, Rhea and others who in turn led to such gods as Atlas and Prometheus. The Titans,  Saturn (Cronos) and Rhea (Ops),  were the parents of Jupiter (Jove or Zeus), Ceres (Demeter), Juno (Hera), Pluto (Dis), Neptune (Poseidon) and Vesta.

THE KING OF GODS

The Greek ‘Zeus’ or Roman ‘Jupiter’ was the supreme god of both Greece and  Rome, He was a god of light and sky, and was protector of Rome and its laws.

He is a son of Saturn and brother of Neptune and Juno/Hera (who is also his wife). He had ultimate rulership over the universe.

He had a great temple at Olympia and also on the Capitol in Rome together with Juno and Minerva, but there he was the most prominent. His temple was not only the most important sanctuary in Rome; it was also the centre of political life. It was there that official offerings were made, treaties were signed, wars were declared, and the triumphant generals of the Roman army went there to give their thanks.

Other titles were Caelestis, Lucetius , Totans and Fulgurator.  Jupiter was also the protector of the ancient league of Latin cities.

His attribute is the lightning bolt, and the eagle is both his symbol and his messenger.  

The Jupiter (Jove or Zeus)  family.

His Relationships	Offspring
Himself	Minerva (Athena)  sprung fully armed from his head.
Juno (Hera) his wife	Hebe,  Mars (Ares),   Vulcan (Haephaestos)
Leto	Apollo,   Artemis
Dione	Venus (Aphrodite)      ( mother of Cupid )
Maia	Mercury (Hermes)
Themis	The Hours,   Astraea,  The Fates
Mnemosyne	Nine Muses
Eurynome	Three Graces
Demeter (Ceres)	Proserpine (Persephone)
Alemena	Hercules (Alcides)

Jupiter also had sex with just about everyone else on earth.

His Lovers	Offspring
Ganymede
Io	Epaghus
Callisto	Arcas
Europa	Minos, Rhadamanthys, Iasius
Echo
Danae	Perseus
Antiope	Amphion, Zethus
Alcmene	Heracles
Aegina	Aeacus
Electra	Dardanus, Harmonia, Iasius
Laodamia	Sarpedon
Leda	Polydeuces (Pollux),Castor, Helen
Niobe	Argos, Pelasgus
Nymph	Tamtalus
Semele	Dionysus
Taygete	Lacadaemon

Jupiter and Ganymede 

Jupiter cast his appreciative eye upon Ganymede, this youth of Troy, whose beauty outshone all others. On the guise of an eagle, Zeus swooped down, kidnapped, raped and carried him up to the kingdom of Mt Olympus where the youth became cup bearer to the gods. Hera, the wife of Zeus, being jealous of the kisses of the boy, about which Zeus gloated, was unable to challenge he husband so she cursed the land of Troy and its inhabitants and the subsequent strife led to the great war. Ganymede was later claimed as the spirit of the source of the Nile and he was placed among the stars as the sign of Aquarius, the cup bearer.. 

The King of Gods once felt the burning joy,

And sigh’d for lovely Ganymede of Troy:

Long was he puzzled to assume a shape

Most fit, and expeditious for the rape;

A bird’s was proper, yet he scorns to wear

Any but that which might his thunder bear.

Down with his masquerading wings he flies,

And bears the little Trojan to the skies;

Where now, in robes of heav’nly purple drest,

He serves the nectar at th’ Almighty’s feast,

To slighted Juno an unwelcome guest.  -  Ovid

The Dialogue   Thomas Heywood (1574-1641)

Jupiter. Now kiss me, lovely Ganymede, for see,

We are at length arriv’d where we would be:

I have no crooked beak, no tallons keen,

No wings or feathers are about me seen;

I am not such as I but late appear’d.

Ganymede. But were you not that Eagle who late fear’d

And snatcht me from my flock? where is become

That shape? you speak now, who but late were dumb.

Jupiter. I am no man, faire Youth, as I appear

Nor Eagle, to astonish thee with fear:

But King of all the gods, who for some reason

Have by my power transhap’t me for a season.

Ganymede. What’s that you say? you are not Pan, I know:

Where’s then your pipe? or where your horns, should grow

Upon your temples? where your hairy thighs?

Jupiter. Thinks Ganymede that godhood only lies

In rural Pan?

Ganymede. Why not? I know him one:

We shepheards sacrifice to him alone.

A spotted Goat into some cave we drive,

And then he seiseth on the beast alive.

Thou art but some Childe-stealer, that’s thy best.

Jupiter. Hast thou not heard of any man contest

By love’s great Narne? nor his rich Altar view’d

In Gargarus, with plenteous showers bedew’d?

There seen his fire and thunder?

Ganymede.  Do you then

Affirm your self the same who on us men

Of late pour’d hail-stones? he that dwells above us,

And there makes noise; yet some will say doth love us?

To whom my Father did observance yield,

And sacrific’d the best Ram in the field.

Why then (if you of all the gods be chief)

Have you, by stealing me, thus play’d the thief;

When in my absence the poor sheep may stray,

Or the wild ravenous Wolves snatch them away?

Jupiter. Yet hast thou care of Lambs, of Folds, of sheep;

That now art made immortal, and must keep

Society with Us.

Ganymede. I no way can

Conceive you. Will you play the honest man,

And bear me back to Ida?

Jupiter. So in vain

I shap’d me like an Eagle, if again

I should return thee back.

Ganymede. My father, he

By this hath made inquiry after me;

And if the least of all the flocke be eaten

I in his rage am most sure to be beaten.

Jupiter. Where shall he find thee?

Ganymede. That’s the thing I fear,

He never can clime up to meet me here,

But if thou beest a good god, let me pass

Into the mount of Ida where I was:

And then I’ll offer, in my thankful piety,

Another well fed Goat unto thy deity,

(As price of my redemption) three years old,

And now the chief and prime in all the fold.

Jupiter. How simple is this innocent Lad? a mere

Innocuous child. But Ganymede now hear:

Bury the thoughts of all such terren dross,

Think Ida and thy fathers flocks no loss:

Thou now art heavenly, and much grace mayst do

Unto thy father and thy country too.

No more of cheese and milk from henceforth think

Ambrosia thou shalt eat, and Nectar drink,

Which thy faire hands in flowing cups shalt fill

To me and others, but attend us still;

And (that which most should move thee) make thy abode

Where thou art now, thou shalt be made a god,

No more be mortal, and thy glorious star

Shine with refulgence, and be seen from far.

Here thou art ever happy.

Ganymede. But I pray,

When I would sport me; who is here to play?

For when in Ida I did call for any,

Both of my age and growth it yielded many.

Jupiter. Play-fellows for thee I will likewise find

Cupid. with divers others to thy mind,

And such as are of both thy years and size

To sport with thee all what thou canst devise:

Only be bold and pleasant, and then know

Thou shalt have need of nothing that’s below.

Ganymede.  But here no service I can do indeed

Unless in heaven you had some flocks to feed.

Jupiter. Yes, thou to me shalt fill celestial wine,

And wait upon me when in state I dine:

Then learn to serve in banquets.

Ganymede. That I can

Already, without help of any man:

For I use ever when we dine or sup,

To pour out milk, and crown the pastoral cup.

Jupiter. Fie, how thou still remember’st milk and beasts,

As if thou wert to serve at mortal Feasts:

Know, this is heaven, be merry then and laugh;

When thou art thirsty thou shalt Nectar quaff.

Ganymede.Is it so sweet as milk?

Jupiter. prised far before,

Which tasted once, milk thou wilt ask no more.

Ganymede.  Where shall I sleep a nights? what, must I lie

With my companion Cupid?

Jupiter. So then I

In vain had raped thee: but I from thy sheep

Of purpose stole thee, by my side to sleep.

Ganymede.Can you not lie alone? but will your rest

Seem sweeter, if I nuzzle on your breast?

Jupiter. Yes, being a child so fair:

Ganymede.  How can you think

Of beauty, whil’st you close your eyes and wink?-

Jupiter. It is a sweet enticement, to increase

Contented rest, when our desire’s at peace.

Ganymede. I, but my father every morn would chide,

And say, those nights he lodged me by his side

I much disturbed his rest; tumbling and tossing

Athwart the bed, my little legs still crossing

His: either kicking this way, that way sprawling,

Or if he but removed me, straightaways yawling:

Then grumbling in my dreams, (for so he said)

And oft times sent me to my mothers bed:

And then would she complain upon me worse.

Then if for that you stole me, the best course

Is even to send me back again; for I

Am ever so unruly where I lie,

Wallowing and tumbling, and such coil I keep,

That I shall but disturb you in your sleep.

Jupiter. In that the greater pleasure I shall take,

Because I love still to be kept awake.

I shall embrace and kiss thee then the ofter,

and by that means my bed seem much the softer.

Ganymede. But whilst you wake I’ll sleep.

Jupiter. Mercury, see .

This lad straight taste of immortality

And making him of service capable,

Let him be brought to wait on us at table.