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The ‘Greek custom’ has been a euphemism for homosexuality since Roman times. In Bed With the Ancient Greeks is out now from Amberley The one word ‘love’, a Middle English/Germanic word, on the other hand, has to describe all the types of love on its own, and, stereotype as it is, belies a degree of bluntness, lack of emotion, taciturnity all consonant with northern Europeans temperament. These words cover the whole gamut of love. A bitter and twisted Hippolytus will trample women underfoot if they cannot learn sophrosyne. Akrateia or akolasia was unbridled passion however, ‘self control’ was the aim, enkrateia or sophrosyne, ‘moderation’ this is what the Spartan soldiery exercised when it was separated from their wives and had to sneak home to have sex. Pathos can mean ‘passion’ in a damaging or deviant context while one of the meanings of hubris is ‘uncontrolled, violent sex’. Pothos and himeros are ‘desire’, ‘longing’ and ‘yearning’ epithumia is another word for ‘lustful desire’. It is rarely used in ancient Greek and then almost always as love within a family within the family. Storge (στοργή ) is love and affection particularly of parents and children. The verb ‘to kiss’ is related: kataphilein, as used by Plutarch when he tells us that Pericles kissed Aspasia everyday before he left the house, and again when he returned. Philotes can be sexual love, as used by Hera when Zeus proposes they have sex out in the open on Mount Ida ‘where everything can be seen by anyone’. Xenophon uses philia to describe the love between Ariadne and Dionysus, denoting mutual care and affection. It can describe camaraderie between brothers in arms.
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Philos denotes love between family or friends, enjoyment of an activity or between lovers. In his Nicomachean Ethics, philia is loyalty to friends, family, and community’. Philia (φιλία) can be sexual and non-sexual it means affection, friendship – a dispassionate, virtuous love, as conceived by Aristotle. Eros can be destructive, ‘limb loosening’ at the highest level, Zeus was overwhelmed by eros for Hera. Plato does not see physical attraction as necessary for love to exist, hence the modern phrase ‘platonic love’ which means cerebral love, love without physical attraction. To Plato, eros is love felt for a person which can graduate into an appreciation of a person’s inner beauty, or even an appreciation of beauty itself. Éros (ἔρως) means sexual love and passion, falling in love. Agape can be love for one’s children and for a husband or wife, or partner, or for other family members. There are four distinct words for love in ancient Greek: agápe, éros, philía, and storgē.Īgápe (ἀγάπη) is brotherly love the love of God for man and of man for God. While the Pre-Socratics (6th and 5th centuries) and their successors were exercised by the very meaning of life – and love – the Celts, for example, were consumed by matters much less cerebral.įor most ‘barbarians’, society was far less developed or sophisticated so one word (love) fits all while the Greeks, not least with Plato (427 bce – 347),and Aristotle (384 BCE – 322), needed a lexicon of love, an ABC of love, to describe the many aspects and shades of love they ‘discovered’: The Greeks were particular about what sort of love they were giving and getting. What do you think this says about the Greeks – and about our own society for relying on just one word?Īncient Greeks were patently much more philosophically and psychologically nuanced than their contemporary counterparts to the north and west. The Ancient Greeks are known for having a more nuanced view of ‘love,’ with different words for different types, such as eros, storge, and agape. It’s pretty NSFW, this is your final warning. Paul Chrystal, author of new book In Bed With the Ancient Greeks (out now from Amberley), shines a light on sex and sexuality in the ancient world. Though widely remembered for their practice of homosexuality, their legacy today is definitely much more than that of a sex-mad civilisation, with depraved practices to make any reader with 21st century sensibilities cringe. Known for their adventurous and seemingly unconventional attitudes to love, sex and gender, the Ancient Greeks have long appealed to our most basic instincts, satisfying our curiosity with lurid tales.