The education of boys in Athens and ancient Rome: beatings, bullying and sexual abuse

To go further

In his play “The Birds”, Aristophanes recounts that a certain Pistheterus was argued one day by a father of his acquaintance. Which one had a big heart: “That’s some great behavior! You meet my son coming back from the bath and the gym, and not a kiss, not a word, not a caress, not a touch from you, the father’s friend! » Here we must understand “kiss”, “caress” and “touch” in their completely erotic sense – those that the lover lavishes on the loved one. We do not dream: this ordinary father of the family Greek Society of the V^e siècle av. J.-C. se dit outré que Pisthétère snob sexualement son rejeton !

Surprising? It is just as true to learn that, under the emperor of Rome Augustus (I^is century), a husband deceived by his wife was entitled to take justice into his own hands by raping his lover. Let things be clear: ancient Greece and Rome may well have been the founders of the West, of course…