“If it was thought that the junior partner was being forced into it, then that was not good, that was frowned upon. There was a voting age for males, an age of majority, 18 at Athens for example, but there was no ‘age of consent’ as we understand that legal concept. There were many, many different Greek societies, each with their own social and sexual norms and legal regulations. “Very rarely was pederasty criminalised, but there were rules and regulations, it was not a ‘free for all’. “It was extremely complicated, there were lots of shades of grey,” says Cartledge. The erastes might be what you and I would call ‘exclusively’ homosexual, but they might be married to a woman as well – and that is, of course, not unknown in our society today.” Was pederasty considered to be socially acceptable in ancient Greece? “The relationship was between an adult male over the age of 20 (the erastes) and a younger male (the eromenos). “But ‘pederasty’ ( paiderastia) refers specifically to boys. “In ancient Greece it could be of either sex – the word pais is unisex – it could involve an underage sub-adult, either male or female,” says Cartledge. An illegal and totally unacceptable practice today, the subject of pederasty is a highly sensitive one, he adds. “Pederasty literally means lust for, or love of, in a strong sexual sense, children,” says Professor Cartledge.
