Glukus Himeros : Pederastic Influence on the Myth of Ganymede / Vernon Provencal

V. Provencal

Pederastic influence on the myth of Ganymede enables it to evolve, in a continuous line of development easily traced in the history of Greek literature from Homer to Plato, into a homoerotic emblem of the spiritual union of the human and divine. Continuity in this history is marked by the thematic use of the Homeric phrase "glukus himeros, 'sweet longing'" to describe sexual desire in association with the Ganymede myth in the Hymn to Aphrodite, Pindar and Plato.[Copies are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Center. The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580, USA]