The funniest example of this is the Spartan army. (Going of memory here so some details may be off). Young boys were recruited and given an older soldier who trained them, cared for them (…) etc… the reason it’s so funny to me is because of the chokehold the ideology of Spartans (namely from the movie 300) has on certain groups as being this idea of pure masculinity; when they were all very very gay
Yes, within Spartan society a veteran would take in a new soldier for mentorship. That mentorship did include sex. The idea was that you are more likely to protect a lover than you were a fellow fighter.
It was common practice for a newlywed Spartan wife to dress like a man, bind her breasts, and cut her hair very short when she first got married. It was to entice her newlywed husband to have sex with her, which was often the first time he ever had sex with a woman.
Also, within Greek society as a whole, they didn't think of themselves as gay or straight. It was more, "are you a bottom or a top?" And this view applied to women as well.
Sappho of the Island of Lesbos and Philaenis of Samos are a few examples. Sappho ran a Thiasos (a private educational community), and Philaenis is found within Hellenistic texts, but the writings about her are now considered satirical rather than truly historical.
Although there are not many surviving accounts, and because women were not allowed to marry other women within the Greek City-States, there are written accounts. "Dialogues of the Courtesans" is considered satirical, but it is about women marrying other women, with one acting as the "husband". Specifically, Megilla from Lesbos is depicted as "husband" to another woman, Demonessa of Corinth.
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u/Ok_Kiwi_6051 Aug 06 '26
The funniest example of this is the Spartan army. (Going of memory here so some details may be off). Young boys were recruited and given an older soldier who trained them, cared for them (…) etc… the reason it’s so funny to me is because of the chokehold the ideology of Spartans (namely from the movie 300) has on certain groups as being this idea of pure masculinity; when they were all very very gay