Wealthy Greek men of leisure had the best of what life could offer in ancient Greece: slaves to work their country property while they lived in town; wives to run their household; children to look after them in old age and ensure a fitting funeral; friends to meet at the agora, the barbershop, or the gymnasium to discuss politics or gossip; an education that enabled them to enjoy the newest literature and drama; and few social restrictions placed on their time and mobility. They had the most time to devote to politics, which was the only fitting “occupation” (though unpaid) for their status level.
Aristocratic men spent hours at the gymnasium, keeping fit between stints in the military (they were eligible until age 60). Gymnasiums also served as important social centers where men discussed politics and made business deals. A good father would arrange for his son’s membership in the best gymnasium, so he would have a better chance of making influential friends. Sometimes the gymnasiums also developed into philosophical or intellectual centers, since, after all, it was where the educated elite gathered. Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum both sprang from athletic centers.
A regular outing for elite Greek males was the symposium, an evening drinking party held at one another’s homes. It was a men-only
Affair, although female musicians or dancers, most likely slaves, often provided entertainment. Some of these women might also carry on sexual activities with some of the men. The symposium could be a wild evening, or it could offer opportunities to socialize, philosophize, and further one’s social standing. Men rarely, if ever, socialized with women in the way they did their with male friends, but one exception to that rule was Pericles’ witty, intelligent mistress (not his wife) Aspasia (c. 470-410 b. c.e.). She often accompanied him to symposia. Today, symposia are still held, though they have evolved from private drinking parties into public events focused on discussing important issues.
A Night at the Symposium
Scenes from a symposium were popular subjects for painted drinking cups like this one from c. 490-480 B. C.E. Athens. Here, a young man reclines on a couch while a girl dances to entertain him.
Ideally, an older, married man formed a close friendship with a young, unmarried man to serve as a mentor. Sometimes this relationship was also sexual. In general, the Greeks tolerated homosexuality, at least in certain circumstances. Pederasty (a sexual relationship between an older and a younger man) was widely accepted, although in Athens young male students were somewhat protected by laws against men loitering about a school. (In the United States today, pederasty is a crime.) Pederasty was especially common, even expected, in Sparta and at times in Thebes as a way to bolster camaraderie in the military. A typical Athenian teen, as he entered manhood, would usually end his sexual relations with his mentor and get married. But some men continued to have homosexual relations while married, and two men might form a lifelong partnership.
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