That the gods behaved in this way – and that being changed from a man to a woman was seen as punishment – reflected Greek society’s view of gender, which was patriarchal but fluid indeed, Hermaphroditus, the child of Hermes and Aphrodite (and, you guessed it, the origin of the term “hermaphrodite”), was often depicted, and beautifully it must be said, with male genitalia but female breasts and thighs. A person’s sex was often changed at will by the gods: in one myth, Artemis changes a shepherd from a man to a woman after he glimpses the goddess bathing in the nude in another, the prophet Tiresias was changed into a woman for seven years for displeasing Hera. Though the word “transgender” had yet to exist, gender mutability was pervasive in the world of Greek mythology, too. Greek society’s view of gender was patriarchal but fluid Hermaphrodituswas depicted with male genitalia but female breasts and thighs Homosexual romance, in Greek culture, was worthy of veneration. Plato’s Symposium, from roughly 385–370 BC, cites Aeschylus’s depiction of the two as a celebratory example of love’s power to elicit sacrifice and bravery. Patroclus and Achilles were already cast as lovers in Aeschylus’s 5th Century tragedy The Myrmidons which, in its time, reflected the widespread tradition of pederasty – a romantic, typically sexual, relationship between an older man and a younger boy – that, while troubling when seen through today’s moral lens, was a tradition that defined contemporary Greek life and provided a cultural model that “fostered cohesion” in city society, according to scholar Doyne Dawson’s Cities of the Gods. Madeline Miller’s 2011 hit The Song of Achillesis a moving queer retelling of The Iliad from the perspective of young prince Patroclus that simultaneously reflects pride in same-sex relationships (Achilles remains adamant throughout that he and Patroclus be seen together) and modern anxieties about romantic relationships and masculinity – how men can be gentle, how to manage family expectations.īut being queer wasn’t always coded as different, and many myths don’t require retelling: even before the printed word, ancient mythology and religious narratives were rife with romantic and sexual engagements between people of the same gender. Here, we take a look at the evolution of queer fiction across the ages – for brevity’s sake, focusing on the Western world – and what it reflects about that moment in history, from Sappho, to Stonewall, and beyond. Their stories have often, but not always, been marginalised, but they have always said something about the era in which they were first told or published. Fiction tells us so much about the time we live in – and LGBTQ+ writers have been writing since the early days of literature.
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