Rath said:
@Kasz. And in the Greek military of the era (especially I think the Spartans?) it was also very common for there to be soldier lovers. They weren't gay as such from what I've read - they had wives and children back home - it was just considered not to be unusual for them to have a lover amongst the other soldiers while on campaign. |
Yep, I actually thought that's who he was talking about when he mentioned gay soldiers. The Spartans were among the best soldiers in the anchient world but were raised to be soldiers from a young age and they spent majority of their time with other men. It was weird if they didn't have a male lover in fact.
Sparta was pretty forward thinking for the anchient world actually as the women had a far more active and powerful role in life as merchants and finances compared to other Greek provinces.
Didn't even know about the Egyptians. Have to look that one up.