The Fascinating History of LGBTQ+ in the Ancient World
The dichotomy of “us” and “them” was non-existent until recently
The last month was celebrated as a “Pride Month” that was dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community to acknowledge their rights and accept them instead of stigmatizing them as “them”. Sexual orientation is not the same around the world. Our inclination differs when it comes to sexual relationships. It depends on your nature, love, inclination, or genetically you are geared so to do what you do. But, the fact is that we have different sexual orientations.
While the whole month, there were various challenges on writing platforms and other people were celebrating the month through their writings, I also thought to look at the matter historically. While researching LGBT+ history in ancient civilizations, I came across stunning facts that will even amaze you.
The ancient world was unaware of the stigma that is attached to same-sex relationships and didn’t consider it an abnormality. It doesn’t mean that they lacked values and traditions, but they had their own understanding of the matters of sexual relations. The dichotomy of “us” and “them” was non-existent, and they didn’t view differences in relationships such as “heterosexual” and “homosexual”. They left everyone free to choose their partners and they were accepted. However, they social often was considered between the pairs.
The distinctions concerning sexual identity were non-existent
Same-sex relations were no stigma in cultures like that of Greece and Rome. It was a common practice and no one even considered it to be something out of traditional values or immoral. They had different values and traditions and a sense of morality and immorality. Even the artwork and the literature of the “cradle of civilization” Mesopotamia depict sexual relations among the same genders were common. This can be supported through the comments of Bruce L. Gerig:
“Making love was a natural activity that should not be demeaned, they believed; and it could be practiced as one pleased as long as no third party was harmed, or prohibition broken (such as the banning of sexual activity on certain days and some women reserved for the gods). In fact, scholar William Naphy notes that a striking feature of the ancient Near East was “how few cultures seem to have any significant ‘moral’ concern about same-sex activities… most cultures seemed to accept that males might have sexual relations with other males.”
In ancient Mesopotamia, the priests and priestesses would practice same-sex relations and praised one of their goddesses for her ability and power of transformation to turn women into men and vice versa. According to their ancient religious belief, the third gender was created by their god Enki for the services of his daughter goddess Inanna. So, the third gender was greatly revered and considered as a divine being.
The same-sex relationship was condemned with the rise of Christianity
The ancient world was devoid of making such distinctions on ethical or religious bases. They didn’t regard it as a sin, rather considered it as a personal inclination. They didn’t identify same-sex relations as “Us” and “Them” rather they even had no word in their lexicon for “heterosexual” and “homosexual”. Thus, it suggests that they didn’t divide people based on sexual orientation.
However, with the spread of Christianity, same-sex relations came under attack. They regarded the people who indulged in homosexuality as sinful and destined to hell. But even then, they didn’t coin a word to call them with that. It was very recently that the Greek word “arsenokoites” which was used to refer to homosexual people was translated as “homosexual” in 1946 CE when Bible. The actual translation was done as “male beds” that was taken as when a man sleeps with a man. Christianity aimed to uproot that tradition. However, in the ancient world, it wasn’t condemned but accepted and respected.
Cultures where same-sex relations were practiced
LGBT+ is not a recent phenomenon. It existed almost throughout the evolution of human civilization. It was also not limited to Mesopotamia, Greeks, Egypt, or any other European or Middle Eastern countries. Rather, it was practiced worldwide in various civilizations.
China
China is yet another oldest civilization. They depicted their ancient civilization in various best Hollywood movies. In movies, we are very much familiar with their combative aspect of government and they too have focused more on their martial legends. Beyond practicing kung fu and clinging to their military prowess; they were humans and had spicy sec relationships. The ancient Chinese, whether kings or other nobles, had the same sec relationships that are depicted in their literature. Letters and poems from ancient China testify to it. The early records of the same-sex male relationship can be found as early as 600 BC. Han Dynasty was particularly famous for their homosexual relationships where the nobles would take on their lovers from the lower class and ennoble them with their associations. These relations were celebrated and respected. According to Louis Crompton:
“Clearly, these normative tales, if we may so call them, show an unselfconscious acceptance of same-sex relations, an acceptance that was to persist in China for twenty-four centuries. They contrast strikingly with the myth that dominated the imagination of Western Christendom — the story of Sodom with its supernatural terrors. But they are also quite distinct from the traditions of ancient Greece. Instead of legends of heroic self-sacrifice in a warrior society, we have piquant tales of delicate consideration and tenderness.”
Egypt
Who knows not of Egypt and about their mighty Pharaos? They had no boundaries on sexual relations. They even didn’t take incest as something unnatural or unacceptable in society. The Pharaohs married their sisters, daughters, and even mothers. Being said that, they also had male-to-male or female-to-female relationships. Transgender relationships were common and no one in history made it a controversial issue to rebuke it. The kings, the queens, and the nobles had homosexual relations, and they practiced it openly. But, they didn’t like passive weak such as if a man is showing weakening or looking or behaving overtly in a feminine way. Colin Spencer has aptly summed this up as:
“Bisexuality in the male was accepted as natural and never drew adverse comment, but passive homosexuality made the Egyptians feel uneasy. What if a king showed such a feminine disposition?”
Japan
Among the ancient civilization, Japan had developed a proper name for a male to male relationships as “nanshoku” which translates to (“love of males”). The Chinese traditions highly influenced the Japanese rulers and nobles to develop their same-sex relationships traditions. In the Pre-Meiji Period (800–1868 CE) a great Buddhist preacher Kukai encouraged these relations. Japanese still revere his teaching and his personality. The Japanese didn’t regard same-sex as unnatural or something new phenomena. They thought of it as a romantic relationship regardless of gender and it was legal to marry with the same gender. Their literature is fraught with such allusions and their panting depicts promiscuous homosexual pictures of the aristocracy. The Tale of Genji, one of the oldest famous novels by Lady Murasaki, narrates the story of the protagonist who seduces the brother of a woman he is suing in court.
Greece
The Classical Greeks had a romantic life and enjoyed it with their own wishes. They didn’t regard same-sex relations as immoral, and even their religious personalities such as the Phrygian goddess Cybele and her transgender company adopted the identity of a female. Even the Greek great philosopher Plato (428/427–348/347 BCE) celebrated male-to-male relations in his early dialogues, though he changed his stance on relations later on when he became old. Another prominent Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium (336–265 BCE) preferred male relations. But the Greek model of male relation was celebrated as that the old man (the erastes, “lover”) and his object of love would be a young man (the eromenos, “beloved”) and the relationship would lead to behavioral improvement of the beloved. The Spartans had a strong tradition of encouraging male-to-male relations in the Agoge — their education system. During the training or actual fighting in battles, they would protect their beloved and would fight valiantly to impress them with physical strength. The famous Sacred Band of Thebes remained undefeated in the Battle of Chaeronea from 371 to 338 BC.
Rome
The Romans and the Greeks were not different in the model of cultivating same-sex relationships. The Romans followed the Greek model where an old man courted a young man and their relationship would often climb the ladder of refinement and cultivations of the beloved’s behavior. The Romans didn’t see it as a stigma unless a man of high status played the passive role and allow a low-born to mount. The enemies Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE), blamed him for playing a passive role to a man of low status and thus attempts were made to assassinate his character. History bears witness the Caesar engaged in same-sex relationships, however, given his stature as a great warrior and shrewd state leader, he brushed off the blames easily to keep the integrity of his character intact. Historians have recorded yet another famous same-sex relationship of the Roman emperor Hadrian (117–138 CE) and his young and beautiful beloved Antinous (110–130 CE). Their relation was much celebrated in the annuls of history.
Other cultures such as India and Thailand had also such spicy stories of same-sex relationships. Since ancient times, but actually recorded since 14th CE, Kathoey (“ladyboys”) was very famous. In India, the third gender, or the ladyboy is known as Hijra as well as male-to-male relation was prevalent in ancient times as is mentioned in the famous ancient work Kama Sutra (c. 400 BCE). In both cultures, the practice is presently stigmatized and condemned, but it was a respectable relationship in ancient times.
The Native Americans have recognized the third gender or men who had feminine inclinations as Two-Spirit, signifying that the body has two spirits: male and female. They greatly revered the Two-Spirited and attached it to divinity and godliness as they thought that some deity visits these people or manifests through them. Such Tow-Spirited men would dress as women and would attend to women’s work.
The practice was also carried on throughout ancient Africa and they termed the third gender as Ashtime, who like Americans, would perform tasks related to women in that society. The Africans also associated them with divinity and called them names such as the “Kinnar and Kathoey” in the ancient past.
Conclusion
The ancient Roman world experienced a fundamental change in their thoughts about same-sex relations when the Roman Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity and declared it as a state religion. The rise of Christianity not only had impacts on the Romans but also on the surrounding regions that were practicing homosexuality or LGBTQ+ relationships. However, despite the admonition of Christianity and Islam, LGBTQ+ relations persisted. According to Spencer:
“Sexuality exists in all its depth and complexity regardless of how society tries to control or guide it. Some would say it is the greatest force within us and perhaps this is why we show such fear of it, continuing to subjugate and tame it, often when there is no need. “Uncontrolled sex” is linked in our minds to barbarism, to the decay of the fabric of civilization, perhaps to our own evolution. Perhaps this is why for so many centuries society has reserved its greatest moral censure for unorthodox sexual behavior. What a different history we might have had if “morals” had been exclusively concerned with how humane and tolerant a society was, instead of being obsessed with how we have an orgasm.”
The marginalization and stigmatization of the LGBTQ+ community remained for 2000 years but recently, in the last decades of the 20th century, the LGBTQ+ community protested for their rights of sexual identification. In this regard, the Stonewall Rebellion of 28 June 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, Greenwich Village, New York was one of the turning points in the USA that brought forth the problems of the LGBTQ+ community and discussed it openly. They demanded that the LGBTQ+ community be accepted and respected in line with the ancient world where there was no such discrimination based on sexual orientation.
