An Athenian Elite's Perspective

My name is Acrisius and I am an elite Athenian male. As you may know, I am known to the rest of the men with whom I interact as a pederast, meaning, that I have sexual intercourse with a young male on a regular basis. We here in Athens have gained this part of our culture from the Dorians, so they tell me. Some other people from Greece may disagree with me for partaking in this culture, but rest assured it is quite a common practice among my friends and I to engage in activities such as these. Pederasty is essentially an institution within the elite class of Athens. While I do not think I am wrong for being a pederast, there as some fine distinctions that must be made. As an erastes, I am the agressor and the master of this pederastic relationship. If I were to allow myself to be the submissive partner, I would be known as a kinaidoi and it would be a rather shameful experience. Also, it would be against the law because I am a free citizen and to be submissive would not be the action of a free citizen. As long as I have children with my wife and continue my lineage, I am really not engaging in an inappropriate relationship. Those who do not understand the position of my friends and I who engage in pederasty may think that all we are looking for immediate sexual gratification, but they are wrong. We are mentors to those whom are our eromenoses. We are seeking fulfillment of a deeper human need that we do not always find while having sexual intercourse with our wives.

My eromenos is named Acestes and I am his erastes. I am much older than him as he is merely school boy. I met him and the school for martial arts in Athens and he was truly a site to see. He had broad shoulders and large calves and I knew that he would be a good candidate to be my eromenos. I had to be careful though because many rules exist in Athens to protect the youth from pederastic relationships. They do not want the youth to lose their honor by being submissive to the elite males of society. However, as long as Acestes is only granting me favors in the eyes of society, then he has not lost his honor.  Despite the rules, Acestes agreed to be my eromenos for which I am lucky. You see, because he agreed to be my eromenos, I have gained honor. Had he not, I would have been shamed for the rest of my life. Though Acestes is submissive to me in our sexual practices and he may not enjoy it, he does receive some benefits from this relationship. I am somewhat of a father figure to Acestes and I give him life guidance. I am helping him to mature into strong Athenian man. Once Acestes becomes a man, this relationship will probably end and he will have to seek out his own eromenos while I will have find a new one for myself. Perhaps then I will find my new lover at a brothel or casino instead of the school of martial arts, but until then the pederastic relationship that I engage in with Acestes shall remain the same.

The Perspective of a Male Youth

My name is Siromos and I am a male youth in Athens. Though I have heard the elitist perspective towards pederasty, I am not sure that I am truly convinced. Though I see many other male youths at the school of martial arts talking to the older elite men, I think that there are too many rules implemented by society keeping use out of the relationships for a reason. For example, when we go to school, all contacts between boys and adult males have to be overseen by public officials to ensure that nothing bad happens. I cannot even have individual attention from my boxing coach at boxing practice because the Law of Solon says that it is bad for boys to get individual attention from their coaches. Along with that, schools cannot open before sunrise and cannot close after dusk and there are restrictions on who can even enter the school. The ruling officials even thought it was necessary to make rules that say that boys are not allowed to be hired out for sexual services by his father, brother, uncle, or guardian. If they do so both they and the person that hired the boy are subject to public actions. If there is a law about it, people must be doing it which is bad. My parents also have a lot of their own rules for me and I am in some ways treated like my sisters. I am not allowed to talk to anyone that I do not know and I have to always be modest and chaste. The last time that I talked to a man who wasn't a family member, my father punished me for it, but all the man said he wanted to do was mentor me and show me how to be a man. I don't think it is all that bad, but I suppose if there are rules, it must be important that I do not engage in pederastic activity.

Though I do not do it, I guess some of the less well-off boys who practice with me at the school of martial arts use it to get ahead. Apparently letting an older man have sex with you allows you to be acculturated and it sets you apart from the slave-boys. It must be important for them because letting an older man have sex with you brings great shame and takes away all of your honor as a citizen of Athens. I have heard that the boys do not even enjoy the sex. It is all for the pleasure of the older man who is called an erastes.

While Acrisius may think that he is right about this whole pederasty thing, but if there are so many rules regulating youth and adult male interactions to keep these relationships from happening, how could they possibly be appropriate? Also, my parents are usually right about things they tell me not to do so I have a feeling that they are right about not letting me have sex with older men. I guess people have other perspectives than me, but I think mine makes the most sense.

A Greek Wife's Perspective

Though Acrisius and Siromos are more fully involved in the discussion of these pederastic relationships, I don't think anyone ever thinks about us wives. My name is Helena and my husband currently has an eromenos so I know the system in Athens. My sister lives in Sparta and when she and her husband got married, she spent her first year dressing up as a man during sexual intercourse so that she could ease her husband's transition from sexual intercourse with boys to sexual intercourse with women. Now that is commitment if I have ever seen it. Even though my husband engages in sexual activity with boys on the side, it is not his sexual purity that matters, it is my purity, his sisters' purity, his mother's purity, and his daughters' purity that actually matter. I guess that makes sense since us women get married so young that we really don't have a chance to be impure. Also since men get married to such young women, they do not have a chance to fight over the women and since men always have to fight over something, they choose to fight over the boys at the casino. Sometimes I think that these men only get married to women to pass along the lineage and because they are required to, not because they actually want to. I have also heard that men prefer to have sex with boys to pass along knowledge and they do not want to pass it along to us women. We are only good for passing along their name to the future society. I just do not really understand why these relationships exist. If I were to find out that my son were some erastes' eromenos, I would find a way to end that so fast, but as a woman in Greece, I guess my choice does not really matter in this situation.

A Slave's Story

My name is Socus and I am a mere slave in Athens and I know that I do not really matter here, but when it comes to men having sex with boys or other men, I am definitely affected. Though I am a slave, I have a bit of a different story than the typical. As many of the others before me have said, it is against the law to be paid for sexual activity, but I was desperate to get out of my lower-class standing. I saw all of the other boys at the school of martial arts around me interacting with these older men and I knew that could be my one way out of my near servile life. I did not really understand what was happening at school when an older man approached me and said he would pay me to be his passive partner in sex and I thought it was my ticket to prosperity. Unfortunately, the public officials overheard what was happening and since I had already agreed and accepted the man's money, I was stripped of my citizen rights. Now I have been reduced to slave status and I have no control anymore. As a slave, I cannot participate in courting rituals and I cannot court free boys. Athenian men are able to have sex with me at will which shows that there truly is a link between your status in society and your control of your position in sexual activity. Because of the complicated system of pederasty in the city of Athens, I am now a slave and cannot get out of my social position. Other Greek cities are more cut and dry about their view on pederasty, but Athens is just so complicated. Because of that, I have lost my citizen rights and for that I will always disagree with pederasty as an institution of the Athenian elite. My opinion as a slave does not matter, but please do consider it.

The Thoughts of an Average Greek Guy

My name is Daetor and I am your typical Greek man. Technically I am a proletariat and I think the whole idea of elitist pederasty is just foolish. Acrisius, you may think that your relationship with Acestes has some sort of deeper meaning, but us proletariats know you are not telling the truth. We know that you elite men just use sex with boys for a physical sensation and we as proletariats think it a chance to share mind, body, and soul. These relationships are an elite privilege so you do not take it as seriously as we do. In your relationships there seems to be this sense of extravagance and we realize that we have a responsibility. I will not lie, we in the lower classes also participate in these pederastic relationships, but it is more serious for us because there is less of a distinction between who is of a higher class and who is of a lower class. Also, there is a lot more backlash out there against our relationships with boys than you seem to be recognizing. Honor is important in these roles for the boys are for us which is why these relationships are so complicated. It is more challenging than you make it out to be. Pederasty is part and parcel of Athenian life, but you do not treat with the care you should. We in the lower classes care about our eromenos, while you seem to do it for the mere physical pleasure. That I do not agree with.

Acrisius' Final Response

I see what you are all saying though I know that my opinion matters most. I do not even know why the woman and slave bothered posting since their opinions do not matter. I guess we will just have to say it is a difference of opinion and as we all know the elites run this city so no matter what you all think, I will continue to do what I am doing. Isn't life great as an Elite Greek?