homosexuality....................... in sparta?? (1 Viewer)

[da_butterfree]

hey.. wud ne1 know how i cud talk abt homosexuality in the spartan society in an empathy form?? how wud u describe th homosxual relationships that spartan men had and what evidence can be seen abt it?

 

[The Bograt]

Well they liked to comb each others hair right before going into battle. They were real men.

 

[serenesorrow]

My avatar is Spartan.

 

[Ralph]

your question is concentrating on the wrong aspect of ancient history, the only reason the theories about homosexuality was because of a stupid rumour on homosexuality in the spartan society (and mind you there is no direct evidence about it) that the greek states joked that spartans were homosexual because of their way of life. They spent most of there time amongst men, they ran naked in the agoge as a form of training to harden them, they ate, slept, trained, spent spare time with, and pretty much lived with men. they only returned home under darkness (you probably know most of this) to hammer there misses and any other nice looking helot women. What you could use as reference to homosexuality would be the Spartan men that didn't get married, but then again they could have been 'butt ugly'.


Regards,
Ralph

 

[Serpentia]

They were encouraged to bond with eachother, to help them work together more efficiently in the army which required them to implicitely trust and rely upon one another, in order to form the phalanx (a formation).

 

[serenesorrow]

Dani Filth likes a bit of phalanx position every now and then

 

[<<lauren>>]

i dont know how u could make this relate but when the men married a woman they shaved the womans head so she was more masculine, to 'ease' the man into this unfamiliar relationship, apparently.

 

[veriante]

Ralph...
I don't agree with you. Though I have only done a small study of Sparta, homosexuality did exist within the society in order to promote bonding between the men. Any source you pick up about Sparta would discuss such a topic first. Also, the Spartan way of marriage was very different as the wives were taken from the women at night, but they were quite well off and it is told that there was a good married lief, with the women owning land with quite a status. About what <<lauren>> wrote, that is slightly incorrect as the shaving of the head was a way of claiming the women...kind of. It was a way to stop another from 'viewing' the woman you chose. Also, the theory would be incorrect as the men of Sparta all had long hair...that they brushed out before battle ^^

 

[<<lauren>>]

hey sorry for the misleadingness of what i said above ^ thank you veriante for pointing it out coz god only knows what i would have said in my exam coming up had i not known it was wrong. was it the mans tunic that she was dressed in after betrothal that made her more masculine ??

 

[babygirrl **HoOchie**]

okay...well u cant really judge them with a modern frame of mind... like things were diffrent bak then...they were all cooped up 2gether 4 ages n barely ever saw girls n like of course they wer gonna do stuf... but like wasnt it mostly the older men who developped sexual relationships with the younger boys? :S
not 2 say it was like homosexual paedophaelia but like...2 them it was normal...i dont no if u get wat i mean.. :S
but like it was normal 4 them u noe?

 

[glycerine]

"At 13 every Spartan teenager was expected to have a young adult warrior as his lover. While the relationship was usually sexual, se was not the only or even the major object. The young adult was responsible for the conduct of his boy and shared his honour or disgrace - this continued until the boy reached the age of 30"

taken straight from my notes

 

[Trigger189]

sick

 

[Symone]

I have a whole heap of quotes and info on what u r talking about, if u would like some stuff on this then just email me and i will get it for you. But yeah the Spartan men ahd to live togethter form the age of 7 and when they married their wives they had to sneak out to see them, this was seen as another technique of training them for battle as they had to be sneaky and have tactics when fighting. Everything they did was in order to prepare them for war.

But yeah i have heaps of stuff on this so just email me and i would be more then happy to get it for you

 

[smegger_em]

I wouldn't get to worked up about homosexuality as a particuarly Spartan issue, you only need to look at the mythology to see that what we would call homosexual relationships, and in many cases paedophilia, was a part of many Greek cultures, for example the story of Hyakinthus (sorry about spelling)
Personally i think there are a lot more interesting things to focus in on in this study (such as similarities between more modern communist states and Sparta) but i guess each to there own.
Just for the record, the Spartan women were considered to be some of the most beautiful in Greece (Helen for example, the most beautiful woman of all) so you'd think there'd have to be a few hetros around takin advantage of that

 

[stamos]

Originally posted by da_butterfree
hey.. wud ne1 know how i cud talk abt homosexuality in the spartan society in an empathy form?? how wud u describe th homosxual relationships that spartan men had and what evidence can be seen abt it?

unless they've changed the paper back to what it used to be- empathy questions aren't on the hsc...

 

[Enlightened_One]

In empathy form. That means, unless the definition of empathy has changed, that you have to be that person. So you have to write the account as if your a Spartan soldier.
If you wanted to stir up your teacher you could into a deep homosexual narration. Of course I'm not recommending that, but it's such a stupid question that I can't help it....

Just say, as if you are one of the soldiers. "I brushed his dirty hair as we prepared for battle. I had a deep affection for this man." or something like that. And don't complain to me if sounds a little audacious, that's how you made it sound at the top of the page....

 

[Enlightened_One]

Originally posted by stamos
unless they've changed the paper back to what it used to be- empathy questions aren't on the hsc...

As far as I know they can choose any text type they like to form the questions in. And empathy is a big technique used by some historians to understand ancient societies.
Or maybe that whole 'any text type' thing only applies in english.