QUOTE(Sayo Aisaka @ Jun 20 2010, 21:19)

Wikipedia is uncharacteristically coy on the subject of the male lovers of Zeus.
QUOTE('Cup-bearer')
Hêbê was then replaced by Ganymede, the handsome Prince and mortal hero. Ganymede was the son of Tros of Dardania and became the eromenos of Zeus after Zeus fell in love with him and took him away from his father. This position was in high demand in which only the deserving boys would get, much like the position of cup bearer. They were expected to be ruled by the principles of self-mastery and self-restraint. In Plato's Symposium, eromenoi are described as the "best" boys. According to the Iliad, Zeus sent Hermes to reassure Tros that Ganymede was now immortal and would be the cup-bearer for the gods, “a position of much distinction.”.
QUOTE('Pederasty in ancient Greece')
The word erômenos, or "beloved," is the masculine form of the present passive participle from ero (plural eromenoi), viewed by Dover as the passive or subordinate partner. An erômenos can also be called pais, "child."[18] The pais was regarded as a future citizen, not an "inferior object of sexual gratification," and was portrayed with respect in art.[19] The word can be understood as an endearment such as a parent might use, found also in the poetry of Sappho[20] and a designation of only relative age. Both art and other literary references show that the erômenos was at least a teen, with modern age estimates ranging from 13 to 20, or in some cases up to 30. Most evidence indicates that to be an eligible erômenos, a youth would be of an age when an aristocrat began his formal military training,[21] that is, from fifteen to seventeen.[22] As an indication of physical maturity, the erômenos was sometimes as tall as or taller than the older erastês, and may have his first facial hair.[23] Another word used by the Greeks for the younger partner was paidika, a neuter plural adjective ("things having to do with children") treated syntactically as masculine singular.[24]
This post has been edited by BlorgAlmighty: Jun 21 2010, 03:41