Very often homosexuality is seen as a quite recent phenomenon, that the ancients would be absolutely baffled or even disgusted by. However a cursory glance at classical culture in particular Ancient Greece and Rome gives the lie to the idea. Even the manliest of heroes in Ancient Greek and Rome seems to have had homoerotic tendencies. We hear of Achilles tender love of Patroclus. There is also the great warrior Alexander the Great (who modelled himself after Achilles) and his famous man-boy lovers. There are also famous stories of a young Augustus prostituting himself shamelesly to his uncle Julius Caesar for the sake of political profit. And not just Classical Rome and Greece, even in more unlikely heroes and cultures we find possible evidence of similar things. The bloodiest warrior of them all the Great and inimitable Genghis Khan (not withstanding his later anti-gay laws) may have had a homoerotic relationship with a fellow warrior who turned out to be his most dangerous rival and challenge to his destiny: Jamuka. But i believe the most stunning example of all would be the possibilty of a homo-erotic relationship between the Prince Jonathan and the young warrior David recorded in the old testament.
The striking thing about the last example would be the unlikeliness of it. After all the old testament with its hundreds of laws and culture of strict tradition is the source of much anti-gay sentiment and justification. Ancient Egypt or Kemet as its natives referred to it may not be a model for the monotheism that we find in the old testament, however we still get that same sense of conservatism and strict tradition in that society. After all we are speaking of a culture which showed amazing cultural continuity from 4000 BC to 342 BC when the last native pharaoh Nectanebo fled ultimately to Merowe in modern day Sudan. And ofcourse in Kemet the social and political order was based on the idea and concept of Maat, which meant order over chaos or balance in all things. This idea was integrated into a religion which seemed keen on matching every male God to a female counterpart. Now this on the surface would seem incompatible with the idea of Homosexuality and yet remarkably we find examples both in myth and history of such.
Bruce L. Gerighttp://epistle.us/hbarticles/ancientegypt1.html makes references to these examples beginning with 'The Contendings of Horus and Seth' a story of rivalry between Horus and Seth, two major Egyptian Gods. It seems to be a fight between two lovers of who should be on top-- or rather who should play the role of man, (at least in the eyes of the world outside the private bedroom) with Horus with help from his mom eventually winning Seth:
The divine person of Seth said to the divine person of Horus: ‘How beautiful are your buttocks, how vital! […] Stretch out your legs …’13 And the Person of Horus said: ‘Watch out; I shall tell [this]!’” Then he ran and told his mother Isis, that Seth desired to sodomize him. “And she said to him: ‘Beware! Do not approach him about it! When he mentions it to you another time, then you shall say to him: “It is too painful for me entirely, as you are heavier than me. My strength [backside] shall not support your strength [erection]…”’14 Then when he gives you his strength, place your fingers between your buttocks. … Lo, he will enjoy it exceedingly (?). [Keep] this seed which has come forth … without letting the sun see it…”15 Later, Isis threw Seth’s semen into a nearby stream, then spread some of Horus’ semen on lettuce and gave it to Seth to eat. Later, when Seth boasted to the gods that he had sexually taken Horus, the youth denied it. To settle the argument, the gods called forth the seed of both. The seed of Seth answered from the water into which Isis had thrown it, while the seed of Horus came forth from Seth’s forehead in the form of a golden disk, which was grabbed by the moon god Thoth to become his symbol.16
The same author also makes reference to at least four laws in the Egyptian Book of the Dead which make reference to homosexual activity, but only two in my mind turn out to be unambiguous evidence of reference to homosexuality and deserve to be quoted.:
“I have not had sexual relations with a boy.
O His-Face-Behind-Him, who comes forth from Tep-het-djat, I have not been perverted; I have not had sexual relations with a boy.
There is also Teaching of Vizier Ptahhotep ---12th Dynasty (1991-1785 B.C.) , which includes the warning:
Do not copulate [nk] with a woman-boy [hmt], for you know that / what is (generally) opposed will be a [necessity] to his heart, and that which is in his body will not be calmed. Let him not spend the night doing what is opposed in order that he may be calm after he has [quenched] his desire...
The author seems to be talking about having relations with a tranvestite. Peculiarly he speaks about Tranvestite as if they suffered from some kind of disease which should not be encouraged or made worse. This attitude seems similar to the previous two commandments where just as in the case of the old testament, homosexuality is frowned upon. Nobody is asking for gays to be stoned like in the bible, (the author seems actually concerned about the 'wretched' woman-boy with the strange desires which can never be fully quenced) but nonetheless the activity is still frowned upon.
But a closer similarity to the Old Testament would be Neferkare’s Affair with General Sisene :
Pharaoh Neferkare (Pepi II) and Sisene (or Sasenet), a military commander, lived during the 6th Dynasty (2460-2200 B.C.) in the Old Kingdom. Known from three fragmentary copies, from the 19th–25th Dynasties (1295-656 B.C.), this text also probably originated earlier and had a long reading history.45 Although the beginning of the text is damaged, there is a reference to Sisene amusing the king “because there was no woman [or wife] there with him”; and the word “love [desire]” is mentioned in the line above.46 A little later we read that Teti, a commoner, saw “the divine person of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferkare, going out during the night to walk on his own… [Remaining hidden,] Teti said to himself, ‘if this is the case, then it is true what is said about him, that he goes forth during the night.’ … [Then Teti followed the king, who] arrived at the house of the general Sasenet. He threw up a stone and stamped his foot, at which a [ladder] was lowered down for him. He climbed up, and Teti son of Henet waited... When his divine person had done what he wanted to with [the general], he returned to the palace, and Teti son of Henet followed him...”
This relationship ofcourse mirrors the affair between the Prince Jonathan and the future King David. Just like in the bible the author does not frown on the affair. However its clandestine nature show there is something awry going on there. It would not be altogether wrong to conclude that the Kemetian attitude towards homo-eroticism was complex and varied and could be quite similar to our own modern socitey, ranging from the tolerance of woman-boys or transvestites mentioned in the Book of the Dead, whose sexuality was obvious to everyone to more clandestine affairs like the one between Neferkare and the general Sisene. Surprisingly we find no evidence of the more negative extremes where homosexuals are jailed, banned or killed for being different, as is the case today!
The striking thing about the last example would be the unlikeliness of it. After all the old testament with its hundreds of laws and culture of strict tradition is the source of much anti-gay sentiment and justification. Ancient Egypt or Kemet as its natives referred to it may not be a model for the monotheism that we find in the old testament, however we still get that same sense of conservatism and strict tradition in that society. After all we are speaking of a culture which showed amazing cultural continuity from 4000 BC to 342 BC when the last native pharaoh Nectanebo fled ultimately to Merowe in modern day Sudan. And ofcourse in Kemet the social and political order was based on the idea and concept of Maat, which meant order over chaos or balance in all things. This idea was integrated into a religion which seemed keen on matching every male God to a female counterpart. Now this on the surface would seem incompatible with the idea of Homosexuality and yet remarkably we find examples both in myth and history of such.
Bruce L. Gerighttp://epistle.us/hbarticles/ancientegypt1.html makes references to these examples beginning with 'The Contendings of Horus and Seth' a story of rivalry between Horus and Seth, two major Egyptian Gods. It seems to be a fight between two lovers of who should be on top-- or rather who should play the role of man, (at least in the eyes of the world outside the private bedroom) with Horus with help from his mom eventually winning Seth:
The divine person of Seth said to the divine person of Horus: ‘How beautiful are your buttocks, how vital! […] Stretch out your legs …’13 And the Person of Horus said: ‘Watch out; I shall tell [this]!’” Then he ran and told his mother Isis, that Seth desired to sodomize him. “And she said to him: ‘Beware! Do not approach him about it! When he mentions it to you another time, then you shall say to him: “It is too painful for me entirely, as you are heavier than me. My strength [backside] shall not support your strength [erection]…”’14 Then when he gives you his strength, place your fingers between your buttocks. … Lo, he will enjoy it exceedingly (?). [Keep] this seed which has come forth … without letting the sun see it…”15 Later, Isis threw Seth’s semen into a nearby stream, then spread some of Horus’ semen on lettuce and gave it to Seth to eat. Later, when Seth boasted to the gods that he had sexually taken Horus, the youth denied it. To settle the argument, the gods called forth the seed of both. The seed of Seth answered from the water into which Isis had thrown it, while the seed of Horus came forth from Seth’s forehead in the form of a golden disk, which was grabbed by the moon god Thoth to become his symbol.16
The same author also makes reference to at least four laws in the Egyptian Book of the Dead which make reference to homosexual activity, but only two in my mind turn out to be unambiguous evidence of reference to homosexuality and deserve to be quoted.:
“I have not had sexual relations with a boy.
O His-Face-Behind-Him, who comes forth from Tep-het-djat, I have not been perverted; I have not had sexual relations with a boy.
There is also Teaching of Vizier Ptahhotep ---12th Dynasty (1991-1785 B.C.) , which includes the warning:
Do not copulate [nk] with a woman-boy [hmt], for you know that / what is (generally) opposed will be a [necessity] to his heart, and that which is in his body will not be calmed. Let him not spend the night doing what is opposed in order that he may be calm after he has [quenched] his desire...
The author seems to be talking about having relations with a tranvestite. Peculiarly he speaks about Tranvestite as if they suffered from some kind of disease which should not be encouraged or made worse. This attitude seems similar to the previous two commandments where just as in the case of the old testament, homosexuality is frowned upon. Nobody is asking for gays to be stoned like in the bible, (the author seems actually concerned about the 'wretched' woman-boy with the strange desires which can never be fully quenced) but nonetheless the activity is still frowned upon.
But a closer similarity to the Old Testament would be Neferkare’s Affair with General Sisene :
Pharaoh Neferkare (Pepi II) and Sisene (or Sasenet), a military commander, lived during the 6th Dynasty (2460-2200 B.C.) in the Old Kingdom. Known from three fragmentary copies, from the 19th–25th Dynasties (1295-656 B.C.), this text also probably originated earlier and had a long reading history.45 Although the beginning of the text is damaged, there is a reference to Sisene amusing the king “because there was no woman [or wife] there with him”; and the word “love [desire]” is mentioned in the line above.46 A little later we read that Teti, a commoner, saw “the divine person of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferkare, going out during the night to walk on his own… [Remaining hidden,] Teti said to himself, ‘if this is the case, then it is true what is said about him, that he goes forth during the night.’ … [Then Teti followed the king, who] arrived at the house of the general Sasenet. He threw up a stone and stamped his foot, at which a [ladder] was lowered down for him. He climbed up, and Teti son of Henet waited... When his divine person had done what he wanted to with [the general], he returned to the palace, and Teti son of Henet followed him...”
This relationship ofcourse mirrors the affair between the Prince Jonathan and the future King David. Just like in the bible the author does not frown on the affair. However its clandestine nature show there is something awry going on there. It would not be altogether wrong to conclude that the Kemetian attitude towards homo-eroticism was complex and varied and could be quite similar to our own modern socitey, ranging from the tolerance of woman-boys or transvestites mentioned in the Book of the Dead, whose sexuality was obvious to everyone to more clandestine affairs like the one between Neferkare and the general Sisene. Surprisingly we find no evidence of the more negative extremes where homosexuals are jailed, banned or killed for being different, as is the case today!