Timothy J. McNiven

The Ohio State University

1465 Mt. Vernon Ave.

Marion, OH 43302

mcniven.1@osu.edu

There has been much debate about how to understand the relationship between an older man (erastes) and a younger man (eromenos) in ancient Greece. Because the relationship was temporary and both participants were not exclusively homosexual, some scholars have labeled the relationship as "bisexuality" (Cantarella), "ritualized pederasty" (Bremmer) and "pseudo-homosexuality" (Devereux). Other scholars have debated the existence of "homosexuality" in ancient times (Halperin, Richlin). A common image on Athenian pottery, the mixed symposion with both youths and men sharing their couches with prostitutes (hetairai), has something to contribute to this debate.

Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze raises the question of who in these images is the object of the intended viewer’s desire. An adult male viewer should have identified with the men in the pictures, while desiring both the hetairai and the youths. That ancient Athenian male viewers could be expected to have such a reaction can be documented by a passage in Aristophanes.

Such images suggest that the erotic desire of adult men in ancient Athens was more than the polarity suggested by our phrase "sexual orientation." Rather, these images were directed toward viewers whose desires fit better in the center of the Kinsey scale.