#queer greek history

[kaliarda]

“Take the first step today and become the homosexual you want to be!”.

Thessaloniki, Greece, 1994.

[franciswhetsel]

🌿Leucippus of Crete 🌿

Antoninus Liberalis wrote in 'Metamorphoses' that Leucippus was born a girl but given a masculine name and raised as a boy in order to prevent his father from killing him. Once he got older, his mother, Galatea, prayed to the goddess Leto to make him biologically male.

Phaestus, the city Leuccipus was born, afterwards held a ceremony called Ecdysia in honor of Leto as a rite of passage for young boys. As a part of the ritual, they would wear a feminine peplos, the removal of which echoed Leucippus removing his own. . Something different than my usual work! Wanted to explore some interesting queer mythology. The plant at his feet is dittany of Crete

[alatismeni-theitsa]

This! The tweet references this tweet where foreigners proceeded to rejoice about their vacation in Greece as a first reaction after hearing about how the brutal reality of queer Greeks has been alleviated. Are you for FUCKING REAL people?? You make me wanna puke! Were we ever people to you? Or just a fancy destination and some vague ancient texts of a "dead" language, that you never cared to associate with the actual Greek culture and people??

I saw the majority of these comments came from USians and I implore you specifically to shut your fucking face. This shouldn't be your reaction to a foreign marginalized group (that is still in danger) gaining rights. The privilege of living in the country that controls Greece has gotten to your head, and unfortunately, I see this attitude from all US marginalised groups also.

You are clearly NOT ready to discuss how your country has been profiting from exploiting our culture, and that the way you see us for centuries now reeks of the neocolonialist attitudes.

Even when we are happy when for the first time in our history our existence is legal MUST WE cater to your voyeurism and "ancient Greek" fantasies? Not to mention the continuous eyerolls I had seeing people expressing they thought Greece is a gay paradise since antiquity... B R U H .... It was never legal or non-shameful for us to be gay! N E V E R . Check ancient texts and laws. It was never legal or pleasant for us here!

More from the tweet here:

[tragediambulante]

Sleeping Hermaphroditus, II century D.C

[doves-of-aphrodite]

Sappho - Queer History and what Lady Aphrodite had to do with it

As it’s currently pride month, I couldn’t think of anything better suited to talk about this month than Lady Aphrodite’s role as the Patron of Lesbians.

Sappho’s poetry was mostly lost, and only fragments remain, with the first of these fragments and the one which is considered to be the only completed one (as there are only two parts where it’s hard to understand it) is her Ode to Aphrodite, through which Aphrodite gets labelled the patron of lesbians.

This poem is written in Aeolic Greek and Sapphic stanzas, a meter where three long lines of the same length were followed by a fourth shorter line. It was written in first person and was one of the most important things which proved that Sappho was in fact queer, as the person mentioned to be the object of her desires was female . The poem was written in form of prayer to Lady Aphrodite, and was written how most Ancient Greek hymns are, in three parts.

The contents of the poem were the speaker asking for Lady Aphrodite’s help in her longing for an unnamed female who’s caught the speaker’s eye. The speaker (who it’s believed to simply be Sappho) asks for Aphrodite’s help in easing her pain from the unrequited love she’s experiencing. After being invoked, Aphrodite appears to Sappho and comforts her by saying that the woman who rejected her will someday pursue Sappho herself. The poem ends with the speaker asking the goddess to help her in all her future romantic struggles.

Overall, this poem showed Aphrodite as a kind and caring goddess and helped cement the idea that she is happy to help wherever she can, no matter if it’s homosexual relationships or heterosexual relationships you find yourself in, which would help a lot of people come to terms with their sexuality, and would help a lot of her queer worshippers nowadays.

[trans-androgyne]

Touching on the history of transmasculinity some more, here are some usually derogatory terms that have historically been used for people considered masculine women (due to gender presentation, sexuality, or both, as sapphism and transmasculinity are conflated):

Tribade: Comes from the Ancient Greek concept of "tribadism" (scissoring/rubbing genitals together), especially descriptive of masculine women who use a dildo to penetrate other women

Tom/Tommy (as early as 1773): "Tom" originally referring to masculine prostitutes and women who prefer to associate with only women; often used for women considered sexually aggressive or otherwise "loose"

(Female) Invert (from 1860s): Based on the pathologizing concept of "sexual inversion," which proposed that there was essentially a continuum of "perverts" with sexual/gender deviants from femmes who prefer women but would also have sex with men to "true inverts" who feel themselves to be men trapped in female bodies; often associated with sexual aggression

Bulldyke/Dyke (from 1920s): Especially describing lesbians considered more masculine in appearance, believed by some scholars to come from a word meaning hermaphrodite

Lezzie/Lesbo (from 1930s): Shortenings of lesbian often used in a derogatory manner and applied to people who "look like lesbians" regardless of their actual sexuality

And of course, slang terms like "carpet muncher," "muff diver," and "bean flicker" have been used to describe lesbian sex, and often applied to anyone seen as a woman who liked women

[flaroh]

Sappho with Violets 🌸✨💗

💗 Prints (and Valentines cards!) available here 💗

Yesterday I felt a bit burnt out with work so I turned to my ongoing series of MANN Roman fresco studies to get me out of the funk. This fresco of Sappho is quite popular, so I wanted to play with the colours and make it more of my own take if that makes sense. I based the palette on the Lesbian flag colours, and added her classic violets in a decorative border. I'm really pleased with how this came out - are there any other frescos you would like to see?

I haven't made a repeating pattern in like a year so this was super fun to create!

[chengchengj]

Ptolemy: Alexander, you need to- Alexander, tearing up: Hephaestion always used to call me Alexander. Ptolemy: Because it's your goddamn name.

[kaliarda]

Κοντροσόλ Στο Χάος (1986 - 1992)

[queeratlast]

IYKYK 👀👀👀

[revwack]

stop erasing intersex people and our bodies

[photoshopped by me]

[tragediambulante]

Apollo and the Shepherd Daphnis, Pietro Perugino, 1475-1500

[leonardoeatscarrots]

Transgenders your Dionysus

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 37: Ancient History XVII and Earlier

These Questions are the result of suggestions from the previous iteration.

This category may include suggestions made too late to fall into the correct earlier time grouping. Basically, I'd already moved on to human history, but I'd periodically get a pre-homin suggestion, hence the occasional random item waaay out of it's time period, rather than reopen the category.

In some cases a culture lasted a really long time and I grouped them by whether it was likely the later or earlier grouping made the most sense with the information I had. (Invention ofs tend to fall in an earlier grouping if it's still open. Ones that imply height of or just before something tend to get grouped later, but not always. Sometimes I'll split two different things from the same culture into different polls because they involve separate research goals or the like).

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration. All cultures and time periods welcome.

[itsybitsybatsyspider]

i would say one of the most neurodivergent moments in my life was in 7th grade history when we were taking a little quiz on Ancient Greece and an extra credit question our teacher gave us was 'Name 3 Greek gods'

and boi let me tell you

I took that instruction and ran with it and kept listing Greek gods until i had filled up the whole back space and we ran out of time in class. There was honestly like 30 names or something that i had listed. I was so excited for that test and that segment in our curriculum because i could finally talk about my hyperfixation and use it to get a good grade, like it was easy as fuck.

and then later i had found out that my teacher had came up to my mom one day and told her that i had listed some gods that even he didn't know about.

obviously i got the extra credit and the vindication was worth it

[mythos-madness]

Respecting the Divine: Why Modern Sexuality Labels Don't Belong on Ancient Gods

I've noticed a concerning trend where many people today try to fit modern sexuality labels onto ancient gods. However, this just doesn't seem appropriate to me.

Labeling a deity's sexuality can be seen as disrespectful. These gods aren't just characters; they hold deep spiritual significance for many. Trying to fit them into modern labels disregards their rich cultural and historical context.

Modern sexuality labels are, well, modern. The ancient world had its own take on love and gender, which often differs significantly from our contemporary understanding. It's like comparing apples and oranges.

We can't read minds, so making claims about these deities' orientations is presumptive at best. Just because there are hints of certain relationships doesn't mean we can definitively label their sexualities.

These are not characters in a storybook; they're deities! They've influenced cultures and belief systems throughout history. Treating them as characters dismisses their profound impact.

In exploring Greek mythology or any ancient lore, let's do so with respect and humility. Slapping modern sexuality labels on these gods doesn't respect their complexity or the diverse belief systems they've influenced throughout history. Let's honor their depth and the rich tapestry of human understanding they represent.

Whether you're a mythology enthusiast or just curious, let's approach this with respect for the gods and the people who hold them dear. Ancient deities can't be squeezed into modern boxes—they're far more significant than that.

Edit: nowhere am I saying deny their queerness. I myself am gay and find comfort in some gods being like me. I am just saying it’s not our place to put definitive modern labels on them, as we are not them.