DOCTORAL THESIS Para-philias transgressive sex in Ancient Greece Malheiro Magalhães, José Award date: 2020 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 04. Oct. 2021 Para-philias Transgressive sex in Ancient Greece by José Malheiro Magalhães BA, MA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD Department of Humanities University of Roehampton 2019 2 Abstract The thesis explores sexual behaviour that the Greeks considered to transgress natural, social, legal and religious boundaries. The title, ‘para-philias’ - para (beside) + philia (love) - is a play on the modern psychological term ‘paraphilias’ used to categorize sexual activities deemed as mental disorders. I address four different examples of sexual behaviour that were considered transgressive, the act of looking at someone in a sexual, private situation, without being entitled to do so, ‘Sexual visual transgression’ (chapter 1); sexual contact between adults and prepubescent children, ‘Child sexual abuse’ (chapter 2); sexual intercourse between humans and animals, ‘Human-animal sex’ (chapter 3); and sexual intercourse between living humans and corpses, ‘Sex with corpses’ (chapter 4). I explore the above-mentioned activities and the transgressive aspects they share and provide an explanation for why the ancient Greeks considered these sexual activities to be beyond the scope of correct sexual behaviour. I analyse the sources that provide information on these practices, as well as the social context in which they were practised, exploring how these transgressions would have been perceived by people of different socio-economic backgrounds. By providing the points of view of citizens and non-citizens, rich and poor, men and women, free and slave, I show how the conception of normal and abnormal sexual practices was extremely flexible, changing according to the individual status of the intervenients and consequently provide a more accurate scope on sexual transgressions in ancient Greece. By shedding light on the sexual behaviours that the ancient Greeks deemed transgressive, a topic that has never been explored in detail before in classical scholarship, this thesis provides a new insight into the dynamics of the sexual life of the ancient Greeks, exploring the concept of ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ sex while framing these two concepts within the particular social contexts of ancient Greece. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 6 Translations and Abbreviations 9 INTRODUCTION 10 0.1 Transgressive sexual behaviours 14 0.2 Methodology 28 CHAPTER 1: SEXUAL VISUAL TRANSGRESSION 1.1. Introduction 35 1.2. Vision and the power of looking: Love and desire through the eyes 41 1.3. Looking at gods 49 1.3.1. Tiresias 49 1.3.2. Actaeon 52 1.3.3. Pentheus 61 1.4. Looking at Royalty: Candaules and Gyges 67 1.5. Looking among each other 76 1.6. Looking at prostitutes 87 1.7. Conclusion 92 CHAPTER 2: CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE 2.1. Introduction 95 2.2. Terminology 100 2.2.3. Pais/paides 100 2.2.2. Paidophileō, paidophilos and paidophthoreō 106 2.3. ‘Age’ of sexuality 108 2.3.1. Sexual age of boys 111 2.3.2. Sexual age of girls 118 2.3.3. Sexual age of slaves 121 2.4. Sexual desire for prepubescent paides 124 2.4.1. Sexual desire for prepubescent boys 124 2.4.2. Sexual desire for prepubescent girls 127 2.5. Law 134 2.5.1. Sexual abuse of prepubescent boys 134 2.5.2. Sexual abuse of prepubescent girls 148 4 2.5.3. Sexual abuse of prepubescent slaves 149 2.6. Psychological repercussions 151 2.7. Conclusion 162 CHAPTER 3: HUMAN ANIMAL SEX 3.1. Introduction 166 3.2. Animals in the Greek world 172 3.3. Myths 178 3.3.1. Animal-shaped gods 178 3.3.2. Pasiphae 181 3.4. Art 190 3.5. Non-mythological sources 194 3.6. Conclusion 206 CHAPTER 4: SEX WITH CORPSES 4.1. Introduction 209 4.2. Proper care of the corpse 210 4.3. Evidence 215 4.4. Conclusion 225 CONCLUSION 227 Bibliography 234 5 Acknowledgements From all the words that almost one decade of Higher Education led me to write, none gave me more satisfaction than these, my final contribution to this thesis. It has been a long, arduous learning process, and today I understand the numerous tales I was told by people that underwent the same process, of how personally demanding, exhausting but nevertheless intellectually rewarding writing a doctoral thesis is. Moreover, today I understand the sweet dichotomy of this entire process, being both a very lonely, self- involved endeavour and an achievement that benefits from the contribution of many, who I now have the opportunity to thank. Not even in my wildest dreams had I imagined that one day I would go through the experience of studying in London, and especially in an institution like Roehampton. Therefore, first I want to express my gratitude to the University of Roehampton for making undreamt dreams come true. This entire adventure was only possible due to the Vice-Chancellor’s scholarship that the University awarded me in 2015, when I was still in the process of writing my MA thesis. The past three years surpassed my greatest expectations and expanded my horizons to lengths never before imagined. I will always be grateful to Roehampton, which will always feel like home to me. No words can express my gratitude to my phenomenal supervisory team, Prof. Susan Deacy, Prof. Fiona McHardy and Prof. Mike Edwards, without whom these words would most definitely never been written. I will never forget the support that they offered me, from the very first email exchanged, months before we ever got the chance to actually meet, to this exact moment. I will never forget the thousands of emails, numerous meetings, informal conversations and overall relentless support that they offered me through all these years. Whenever I think about the possibility of playing their role to a young student in the future, I can only hope that I will be able to fill their shoes and live 6 up to the example they set for me, and this is, I believe, the greatest expression of the influence that they had on my personal path that I can put into writing. In the past three years I had the opportunity to be involved in a variety of activities in Roehampton that granted me a wider perception of the Higher Education world, of how a university works, providing me with an opportunity to benefit the most from my time as a doctoral student. I want to express my gratitude to the staff at the Graduate School and Humanities department of the University of Roehampton, for all the support and constant help in the past three years. From Prof. Ted Vallance, who was present in my PhD interview and has always been available to clarify all of my doubts concerning the doctoral process at Roehampton, to all of the classical civilization lecturers and Humanities departmental staff, a big thank you. Many thanks to Prof. Nuno Simões Rodrigues and Prof. Rodrigo Furtado, who have supported this doctoral project since the start, indeed being the writers of the original recommendation letters that were attached to my scholarship application. Their guidance and support ever since I started my academic journey, almost a decade ago, is invaluable and I can only hope to continue having it for years to come. Still today I cannot believe the luck that I had with my flatmates at Roehampton. Leaving your home and your loved ones and moving into a new country for the first time will always be a scary, challenging thing to do. Sharing a home with such outstanding people that became family from the first day I set foot in London was important beyond words. To Margaux, Soo, Mary, Mariel, Lloyd, Meret and Louisa thank you for all the fantastic times and treasured memories. An especial thank you also to my fellow PhD students at Roehampton. It has been an enormous pleasure to share this journey with you, and good luck on the path ahead of you. I am rooting for you all. There is no way of expressing my gratitude to my family. To Tia Fátima and Tio Berto, Bruno and Cátia, for making me feel that I will always be a part of their home. To 7 my sister, Carolina, for all the support and for starting every conversation in past few years with the question, “have you finished the thesis yet?” I am very glad to finally be able to say YES! And especially to Daniela, for the relentless, non-stop support, and for filling me with a sense of everlasting happiness, no matter what. However, despite all this mountain-moving support, none of these words would have been written without my mother, Conceição, and father, Alberto. Their capacity and willingness to support me in any situation, anyway, anytime, independently of agreeing or in fact understanding what I do, never ceases to amaze me.