On the Reception of Same-Sex Marriage in Classical Greece and Beyond

This chapter considers the reception of concept of same-sex unions in Classical Greece, based on evidence in the primary sources. It argues that the thought of such unions as a type of marriage existed, and therefore demonstrable ‘receptions’ of the concept may be observed, whether actual same-sex marriages existed in reality or not. The chapter undertakes this inquiry in the light of traditional, mixed-sex marriage, as it is understood, as largely defined by Xenophon in the Oikonomikos, along with other sources to be considered. The ancient Greek practice of paederasty is also considered. Same-sex unions that could be considered marriages, in the modern sense, would have been necessarily experienced only by a vanishingly small minority of individuals – and yet the concept, and its reception, is nevertheless present in the sources. These are examined here and considered in historical context alongside epistemological trends in ancient Greek thought. Marriage itself, qua marriage, was a loosely defined idea and sufficiently broad as to potentially include same-sex couples, albeit with notable differences from normative, mixed-sex equivalents. That there are receptions of same sex marriages strongly implies their actuality in some form

Sociology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Gender Studies