Audio only
Length3h 20m
About this audiobook
Originally published in 1883, "A Problem in Greek Ethics" by John Addington Symonds is a ground-breaking study of the Greek institution of paiderastia. This was a custom by which adolescent men made alliances with older men of a romantic and sexual nature. The young men in question were the same age as contemporary teen pop stars (approximately from puberty to the Athenian age of majority, 21). And they were treated similarly, as celebrities, showered with gifts and attention, and fought over by lovers. Philosophers such as Plato considered these same-sex unions as a remedy for tyranny, the bedrock of a cultured society, and the purest form of love.
The point of this essay is never made explicit, but it is still very relevant. The ancient Greek civilization lasted for hundreds of years, invented democracy, built amazing monumental buildings, developed advanced philosophy, drama and literature, and defeated the Persian empire. And no small part of this success was due to the openly acknowledged contribution of gay people. This proves specious the argument that homosexuals achieving parity in a society means the end of civilization "as we know it".
Symonds, who also wrote "A Problem in Modern Ethics", was an accomplished classicist, and a pioneering (if closeted) self-realized gay person. This book was originally published privately for the use of 'Medical Psychologists and Jurists'; this figleaf was necessary in the repressive climate of Victorian England.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.6 (54)
Includes Goodreads
GenrePsychology, Education and Learning, Health and Wellness
Length3 hrs 20 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateOct 26, 2020
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Preface
21. Introduction: Method Of Treating The Subject
32. Homer Had No Knowledge Of Paiderastia--Achilles--Treatment Of Homer By The Later Greeks
43. The Romance Of Achilles And Patroclus
54. The Heroic Ideal Of Masculine Love
Show all chaptersShow less
65. Vulgar Paiderastia--How Introduced Into Hellas--Crete--Laius--The Myth Of Ganymede
76. Discrimination Of Two Loves, Heroic And Vulgar
87. The Intensity Of Paiderastia As An Emotion, And Its Quality
98. Myths Of Paiderastia
109. Semi-Legendary Tales Of Love--Harmodius And Aristogeiton
1110. Dorian Customs--Sparta And Crete--The Sacred Band--Alexander The Great
1211. Paiderastia In Poetry Of The Lyric Age
1312. Paiderastia Upon The Attic Stage
1413. Recapitulation Of Points--The Palæstra
1514. Distinctions Drawn By Attic Law And Custom
1615. Platonic Doctrine On Greek Love
1716. Greek Liberty And Greek Love Extinguished
1817. The Deep Root Struck By Paiderastia In Greece--Position Of Women
1918. Relation Of Paiderastia To The Fine Arts
2019. Homosexuality Among Greek Women
2120. Greek Love Did Not Exist At Rome--Christianity--Chivalry
More from John Addington Symonds
What to Make of a LifeJim Collins13h 31m4.4 (793)$33 · $0.00
Black AF HistoryMichael Harriot15h 43m4.7 (14.6K)$33 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h4.6 (1.5K)$8 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
TerraformPropaganda5h 39m4.7 (594)$24 · $0.00
Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (Annotated)Ida B. Wells-Barnett2h 44m4.6 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
Hour of the HeartIrvin D. Yalom, Benjamin Yalom8h 19m4.6 (2.3K)$26 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m4.6 (3.3K)$26 · $0.00
As a JewSarah Hurwitz8h 36m4.6 (1.2K)$26 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m4.6 (543)$29 · $0.00
Woman and the New Race (Annotated)Margaret Sanger6h 30m4.6 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m4.5 (59.3K)$29 · $0.00
Du Bois: EssaysW.E.B. Du Bois6h 22m4.6 (1.5K)$1 · $0.00
The North American Indian (Illustrated Edition)Edward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge5h 59m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Valley of the BirdtailAndrew Stobo Sniderman, Douglas Sanderson10h 1m4.6 (2.4K)$29 · $0.00
Lies My Therapist Told MeGreg E. Gifford9h 3m4.6 (503)$29 · $0.00
Disturbed in Their NestsAlephonsion Deng, Judy A. Bernstein11h 22m4.6 (595)$23 · $0.00
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
HomeschooledStefan Merrill Block7h 10m3.6 (18.5K)$28 · $0.00
How We ThinkJohn Dewey7h 6m4.0 (1.1K)Free
Life on the BridgeKaelynn Partlow5h 40m4.6 (1.1K)$24 · $0.00
EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION – Premium Edition (Including Democracy & Education) (Annotated)John Dewey19h 17m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
WitnessAriel Burger8h 1m4.6 (1.3K)$20 · $0.00
EducationEllen G. White9h 41m4.6 (1.5K)$2 · $0.00
Parents and Children (Annotated)Charlotte Mason9h 23m4.6 (988)$2 · $0.00
Children Under FireJohn Woodrow Cox10h 17m4.5 (1.6K)$29 · $0.00
The State Must ProvideAdam Harris7h 15m4.5 (775)$24 · $0.00
The Call of the Wild and FreeAinsley Arment9h 7m4.4 (21.2K)$29 · $0.00
The Freelance WayRobert Vlach19h 48m4.5 (528)$40 · $0.00
Race to the BottomLuke Rosiak9h 20m4.5 (600)$29 · $0.00
They Came for the SchoolsMike Hixenbaugh9h 5m4.5 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
Find Me UnafraidKennedy Odede, Jessica Posner11h 11m4.5 (2.7K)$29 · $0.00
Asking for ItKate Harding8h 55m4.4 (5.3K)$20 · $0.00
Defining Moments in Black HistoryDick Gregory7h 37m4.4 (6K)$26 · $0.00
The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the AtlanteanMaurice Doreal3h 4m4.4 (8.8K)$6 · $0.00
Learning AmericaLuma Mufleh6h 37m4.4 (564)$24 · $0.00
Math-ishJo Boaler7h 21m4.4 (588)$24 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (384)$20 · $0.00
Hour of the HeartIrvin D. Yalom, Benjamin Yalom8h 19m4.6 (2.3K)$26 · $0.00
The Yoga Sutras of PatanjaliPatanjali4h 8m4.5 (18.5K)$6 · $0.00
The Lost VoiceGreta Morgan8h 30m4.7 (285)$26 · $0.00
Healthy Kids, Happy KidsElisa Song14h 18m4.6 (760)$33 · $0.00
Eat It!Jordan Syatt, Michael Vacanti4h 40m4.6 (1.5K)$20 · $0.00
Consent Laid BareChanel Contos7h 11m4.5 (1.7K)$24 · $0.00
How to Make Disease DisappearRangan Chatterjee5h 26m4.5 (3.5K)$24 · $0.00
The Complete Herbal (Annotated)Nicholas Culpeper29h 8m4.5 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
A Plague Upon Our HouseScott W. Atlas MD10h 37m4.5 (3.4K)$20 · $0.00
The Cancer CodeDr. Jason Fung10h 48m4.5 (5.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Gift of TherapyIrvin Yalom7h 39m4.5 (38.8K)$26 · $0.00
EarlySarah DiGregorio9h 47m4.5 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
Bottle of LiesKatherine Eban14h 25m4.4 (12K)$33 · $0.00
The 36-Hour DayNancy L. Mace, Peter V. Rabins17h 13m4.4 (9.2K)$28 · $0.00
FlooredSara Reardon10h 36m4.5 (1K)$29 · $0.00
Radical RemissionKelly A. Turner9h 26m4.4 (8.1K)$29 · $0.00
The Sinatra SolutionStephen T. Sinatra MD9h4.5 (899)$20 · $0.00
The Songaminute ManSimon McDermott6h 12m4.5 (280)$24 · $0.00
Sometimes BrilliantLarry Brilliant12h 27m4.5 (954)$29 · $0.00
You may also like
John Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn (Unabridged) (Annotated)John Keats22h 8m3.9 (1.2K)$2 · $0.00
The SuppliantsAeschylus2h 40m3.8 (2.9K)$1 · $0.00
The Triumph of ChristianityRodney Stark13h 26m4.2 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
The History of the Jews (All Six Volumes)Heinrich Graetz118h 6m4.5 (343)$1 · $0.00
FeminaJanina Ramirez11h 56m4.2 (9.1K)$8 · $0.00
An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox FaithJohn of Damascus10h 13m4.6 (487)$1 · $0.00
Woman in the Nineteenth CenturySarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli12h 38m3.8 (1.3K)$1 · $0.00
Our Lady of the NileScholastique Mukasonga6h 36m3.9 (4.7K)$17
Harvard Classics: Complete 51-Volume AnthologyJohann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Carlyle, Plato, René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Charles Darwin, Martin Luther, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, Euripides, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Charles Lamb, Henry David Thoreau, Samuel Johnson, John Stuart Mill, David Hume, Joseph Addison, John Locke, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, Leigh Hunt, Epictetus, Thomas De Quincey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jonathan Swift, Christopher Marlowe, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, William Hazlitt, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Daniel Defoe, Aesop, Richard Henry Dana, John Dryden, Philip Massinger, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, John Ruskin, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ernest Renan, Robert Burns, David Garrick, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Webster, Izaak Walton, John Bunyan, James Russell Lowell, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Homer, Edmund Burke, Plutarch, Molière, Aeschylus, Michael Faraday, Sophocles, William Makepeace Thackeray, Benjamin Franklin, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Voltaire, Robert Browning, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Dekker, John Milton, Aristophanes, Blaise Pascal, Virgil, Simon Newcomb, William Penn, Walter Bigges, Philip Sidney, Herodotus, Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon, Giuseppe Mazzini, Francis Pretty, George Berkeley, Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Alessandro Manzoni, Abraham Cowley, Michel de Montaigne, Ben Jonson, John Woolman, Benvenuto Cellini, Sydney Smith, Jean Froissart, William Henry Harrison, William Harvey, Marcus Aurelius, Hans Christian Andersen, Thomas Malory, George Gordon Byron, Thomas à Kempis, Richard Steele, Thomas Browne, Archibald Geikie, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Tacitus, William Roper, Hippocrates, Miguel de Cervantes, Thomas More, Friedrich von Schiller, Philip Nichols, Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Pliny the Younger, Edgar Alan Poe, Saint Augustine, Brinsley Sheridan, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, Francis Drake, Edward Haies, Niccolo Machiavelli, Ambroise Paré, William A. Neilson986h 17m4.4 (1.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Taliessin through LogresCharles Williams3h 20m4.3 (544)$1 · $0.00
Greek artElie Faure, Klaus H. Carl1h 50m4.2 (27)$13 · $0.00
Icons 120 illustrationsLyudmila Milyayeva1h 36m4.7 (12)$15 · $0.00
Latin LiteratureJ. W. Mackail10h 34m4.0 (175)$3 · $0.00
Constantion Brumidi Michelangelo of the United StatesMyrtle Cheney Murdock4h 14m$2.30
Lilith (Annotated)Ada Langworthy Collier1h 43m$2 · $0.00
The Poems of Emma Lazarus (Vol. 1&2) (Annotated)Emma Lazarus12h 44m3.5 (24)$1.99 · $0.00
The Valiant WomanElizabeth Hayes Alvarez9h 22m$20
Yale Required Reading - Collected Works (Vol. 1) (Annotated)Aristotle, Plato, Euripides, Gilbert Murray, Epictetus, Pindar, Theocritus, Homer, Plutarch, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Herodotus, Anacreon, Sappho, Thucydides, Hesiod, Demosthenes, Lysias, Alcaeus, Archilochus, Theognis of Megara, Simonides of Ceos, Bacchylides, Apollonius, Callimachus201h 34m4.4 (12)$0.99 · $0.00
A deep dive into Art in ancient RomeEugenie Strong, Elie Faure1h 21m$13 · $0.00
Andrea Mantegna and the Italian RenaissanceJoseph Manca6h 23m4.6 (11)$18 · $0.00