Ganymedes
3 posters
Page 1 of 1
Ganymedes
According to some Ganymedes was the god of homosexual love and desire. But I begin to wonder if here in this modern age, where we have a slightly better opinion of lesbians than our spiritual ancestors back in Hellas did, would we consider his reign over all forms of homosexuality or strictly to the masculine form of it? If so, then who would be the divinity of love for lesbians? Aphrodite? Perhaps Sappho when worshiped as a hero?
spokane89- Full Member
- Posts : 106
Join date : 2013-03-23
Age : 35
Location : Spokane WA
Re: Ganymedes
Venus/Ἁφροδίτη, and the god Love himself (often her child), are the divinities of all love, and Sappho invoked her often in poetic verse.
There would have been shrines though, certainly, to Ganymede and to deified Sappho, with her being among the exalted 'old classic' poets of Antiquity, whose work was seen as inspired even in Classical times.
There would have been shrines though, certainly, to Ganymede and to deified Sappho, with her being among the exalted 'old classic' poets of Antiquity, whose work was seen as inspired even in Classical times.
Re: Ganymedes
It should be mentioned that Psapfo (her name starts with a psi in her native Aeolic dialect) was probably not a "lesbian" in the meaning of homosexual, but only a Lesbian as in a women from Lesbos. There's lots of ideas about her going around that are not really supported by the facts be have available of her life.
I believe theoi.com says Ganymidis is a God of homosexual love, and I think it can indeed be argued. But that does raise the question of his female counterpart then. We should also consider Antinoos, the beloved of Hadrianus, who became divine upon drowning in the Nile according to some accounts, and can also be argued to be "gay God". I'm not sure what I think about Antinoos divine or non-divine status, but he had a popular cult in antiquity, and today there are also Antinoos-devotees, e.g. in the form of the Ecclesia Antinoi. Then there's Hermaphroditos, who could be considered a deity of transgender people, or people born with certain atypical bodies that include female and male traits, or hyper-masculine traits (like diphallia, a man born with two functioning penises), or hyper-feminine traits. One could perhaps argue that he can also be considered a patron of all who do not fit in the heteronormativity of our societies, and thus also be a patron of male and female homosexuality.
I believe theoi.com says Ganymidis is a God of homosexual love, and I think it can indeed be argued. But that does raise the question of his female counterpart then. We should also consider Antinoos, the beloved of Hadrianus, who became divine upon drowning in the Nile according to some accounts, and can also be argued to be "gay God". I'm not sure what I think about Antinoos divine or non-divine status, but he had a popular cult in antiquity, and today there are also Antinoos-devotees, e.g. in the form of the Ecclesia Antinoi. Then there's Hermaphroditos, who could be considered a deity of transgender people, or people born with certain atypical bodies that include female and male traits, or hyper-masculine traits (like diphallia, a man born with two functioning penises), or hyper-feminine traits. One could perhaps argue that he can also be considered a patron of all who do not fit in the heteronormativity of our societies, and thus also be a patron of male and female homosexuality.
J_Agathokles- Moderator
- Posts : 172
Join date : 2013-03-19
Age : 34
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum