This style of pederastic relationship is actually seen to have numerous characteristics; from the Symposium, Phaedrus suggests that new respect anywhere between men couples in addition to their antipathy in order to are shamed before each other by the serves away from cowardice offered him or her an alternative virtue in putting a society, claiming you to “the finest company [to own a great] battalion would be because of it so you can incorporate couples as well as their men…Some instance guys, attacking alongside, you will overcome the whole world.” In reality, such as for example an effective battalion performed can be found in the city-condition away from Thebes.
The latest Sacred Band of Thebes was an army unit made of 150 pairs of male partners and you may was considered to be brand new most elite tool about Theban military, their soldiers being off strange courage and moral reputation
Have a tendency to, sexual dating between guys related to things up the bum had been looked down up on, because anal intercourse is actually close to dick-in-pussy sex. This would improve responsive mate when you look at the anal intercourse something such as a woman otherwise an excellent prostitute, since the classical beginner Kenneth Dover writes that in a lot of things “gay rectal penetration [was] treated none given that an expression of love neither once the a reply on the stimulus out-of charm, but while the an aggressive act indicating the newest excellence of your own energetic into the passive lover,” a fall into the standing also humiliating are approved.
Become the brand new receptive partner inside the anal intercourse is regarded as getting kinaidos, otherwise effeminate: there’s no escaping it, bottom-shaming is really as dated once the Western european society alone, baked towards the strong misogyny regarding patriarchal communities. So it ban for the rectal failed to apply to guys seeing men gender specialists otherwise men having sex having enslaved people, so long as the person of large standing is the only carrying out the acute-a exemplory case of how, inside Greek area, reputation is actually an important determinant of the nature away from intercourse.
That’s because to possess a totally free guy, a resident out of Rome, to-be the fresh permeated lover into the an exact same-intercourse work is actually, somehow, a ticket of one’s stability off their muscles
This new philhellenic Romans used certain same axioms and perceptions to the homosexuality, however with an essential change. If you are into the Greeks the brand new pederastic relationship had a pedagogical and you will philosophical basis-to be sure the induction regarding commendable boys for the mental and you can political people they certainly were so you can take over-toward Romans the main focus try as an alternative into sexual. Roman community is publicly celebratory out-of men dominance and you can stamina. There aren’t any Western european cultures having who the tough penis is for example symbolic of worship; in reality this new Vestal Virgins, the fresh new priestesses off Vesta, the latest goddess of one’s hearth, practically dealt with the fresh new cult out-of Fascinus, an excellent deity depicted just like the a great disembodied upright manhood, constantly which have wings. The character was to often the new holy flame within center of Rome, of which any Roman resident could light their particular fire. As a result, this new flames displayed new continuance out of Rome and also the integrity out of the state. You to a painful penis was among sufferers of Vestal’s adoration is not any happenstance, while the integrity of the men looks try a symbol of a totally free Roman’s governmental updates. Getting a free of charge Roman created you cannot getting broken. Throughout the words off historian Amy Richlin, “To get penetrated, to have a good Roman, is degrading both in an 
actual physical sense of attack, rupture, and you may toxic contamination, along with a class feel: the new permeated person’s body is likened towards muscles from a good servant.” It emphasis on fertility and you will conquest is actually a little dissimilar to this new Greeks’ addiction to pederasty and pedagogy, however, so you can very similar finishes.