The Plague of Lust, Vol. 1 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical AntiquityRosenbaum, Julius
History
The Plague of Lust, Vol. 1 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical Antiquity
Rosenbaum, Julius
Sexually transmitted diseases -- History
As to _Macedonia_ there is a passage in _Athenaeus_, quoted from
_Hermesianax_ to this effect: ἀλλὰ Μακεδονίης πάσας κατενίσατο λαύρας
(But he went through all the alleys of Macedonia), where _Dalechamp_
translates the word λαύρα by brothel, but _Casaubon_ even in his time
threw doubt on this rendering.[116] Possibly however this judgement
is connected with similar licentious practises among the Macedonians
to what we find among the Persians[117], who indulged in sexual
intercourse with their own mothers, daughters, etc., and begat children
upon them,—a practice which _Euripides_[118] makes the Barbarians
generally guilty of.
But if there _were_ actually brothels existing in Macedonia, this would
be the less surprising, as its inhabitants may well be reckoned amongst
Greeks in many respects.
The Greek knew perfectly the boundary between the physical and the
ethical, and sought ever to subordinate the former to the latter. His
whole life belonged in the first instance to the State, of it he
was bound to be a citizen, and for it to endeavour to produce good
citizens. Consequently polygamy early disappeared in Greece, and so
too community of wives, a custom which prevailed down to historical
times at Sparta only. Monogamy was the first law of marriage, and
marriage was the bounden duty of every true citizen[119], to save his
family from dying out. But while the Asiatic prided himself on the
number of his children, the Greek’s boast was of their excellence.
Only with the object of procreating offspring was the Greek husband
to rest in the arms of his spouse (ἐπ’ ἀρότῳ παίδων γνησίων—for the
sowing, procreation of lawful children), and not to desecrate the holy
Torus (marriage-couch) by mere lustfulness. Where this was stirred in
him, he ceased to be free; a slave of lust, he must consort only with
slave-women, and not with free citizenesses[120]. Nay! even this was
permitted solely to avoid greater evils; and illicit coition never
ceased to be held as something οὐ καλόν—unseemly[121], particularly
when it was indulged in by married men.
It has been shown how under the clearer skies of Greece the Asiatic
worship of Venus took on a form more worthy of mankind, how the Greek
distinguished his Venus Urania (Heavenly Venus) from the Venus of the
rest of the world, the Pandemian (Venus common to all), and so set up
a barrier to the flood of dissoluteness,—a barrier however that was
little by little broken down in later times. Foreigners, especially the
voluptuous inhabitants of Asia, when they saw that the Greek cult did
not like their native worship abet their carnal appetites, imported
slave-women. These were purchased by the Greeks, and handed over as
offerings to the temple of Aphrodité under the title of Temple-servants
or “Hieroduli”[122]; and acquainted as they were with the needs of
their fellow-countrymen, sought in every way to supply them,—as was in
particular the case at Corinth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account