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Erotic Tours of the Louvre Museum

The beautiful plates and bowls of classical Greece which portray male love were produced in an age when the term "homosexual" was not applicable. Most men were bisexual and male love in Greece was most often love between a man and a youth, though relationships with overly young boys were frowned upon then as they are now. The youths who attracted men¹s attentions ranged in age from adolescence to early manhood, as can be seen from the images that have come down to us on Greek pottery and sculpture. There were exceptions such as the relationship between Alexander the Great and his boyhood friend Hephaiston and the mythical hero of the Trojan war, Achilles, and his best frend and lover, Patroklos

The Greek male was expected not only to marry and raise children, but also to be available for friendship and love with worthy youths, not to the exclusion of marriage but as its necessary complement. The underlying philosophy was that the adult lover gave the youth all that was good and noble in him to help his passage into manhood. That a man should be attracted both to lovely women and to youths was seen as natural and normal. It was a male dominated society with the women tending the children at home and the men training at the gymnasium, developing their bodies and discussing ideas. The word gymnasium derives from 'gymnos' naked, reflecting the fact that all sports were performed unclothed, which naturally created an erotic mileau. It is sometimes forgotten that the culture and beliefs of this far-off time are very different from our own which have evolved through a different set of necessities and circumstances, in particular the repressive Victorian Age.

Step back and revisit this bygone age at the Louvre with our expert guide and see some of the most erotic works of art ever created under whatever pretense was given but more often than not, just for the love of beauty.

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