He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms. And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonor, and emulating one another in honor and when fighting at each other’s side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. The beloved too, when he is found in any disgraceful situation, has the same feeling about his lover. And I say that a lover who is detected in doing any dishonorable act or submitting through cowardice when any dishonor is done to him by another, will be more pained at being detected by his beloved than at being seen by his father, or by his companions, or by anyone else. Of what am I speaking? Of the sense of honor and dishonor, without which neither states nor individuals ever do any good or great work. For the principle which ought to be the guide of men who would nobly live at principle, I say, neither kindred, nor honor, nor wealth, nor any other motive is able to implant so well as love. For I know not any greater blessing to a young man who is beginning life than a virtuous lover or to the lover than a beloved youth. And not only is he the eldest, he is also the source of the greatest benefits to us. Numerous are the witnesses who acknowledge Love to be the eldest of the gods. In Symposium, the character Phaedrus claims that a troop of male lovers could conquer the world: 385 BCE and, if that date is correct, it may have influenced Gorgidas. Scholars continue to debate whether the troop was created in response to Plato’s famous passage concerning an army of pairs of lovers in his dialogue of the Symposium. Once the Spartans were driven from Thebes Gorgidas organized (or reformed) the Sacred Band. 460/455-399/398 BCE), but the famous group was formed after 379 BCE when Pelopidas and other pro-democracy Theban exiles in Athens overthrew the Spartan oligarchy that had taken control of the citadel of Thebes in 382 BCE. There seems to have been some troop of elite warriors in Thebes, numbering 300, prior to the formation of the Sacred Band who are referenced by Greek historians Herodotus (l. It is entirely possible there was an earlier unit of exclusively gay lovers, however, & the Sacred Band was simply the most famous grouping.
336-323 BCE) crushed the combined forces of Thebes and Athens. 359-336 BCE) and his son Alexander (the Great, r. They remained undefeated until the decisive battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE when the Macedonians under Philip II (r.
The Sacred Band were deployed early in the Boeotian War in 378 BCE under Gorgidas but became famous for their participation in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE. Plutarch is thought to have drawn heavily on two earlier historians, Callisthenes and Ephorus, contemporaries of the band, whose works are now lost.
#HOPLITE SHIELD GAY FULL#
291 BCE), but their full story is given by Plutarch (l. The military unit is first mentioned in 324 BCE in the speech Against Demosthenes by the orator Dinarchus (l. They remained invincible from 378-338 BCE when the entire troop fell together at the Battle of Chaeronea. They were formed under the leadership of Gorgidas but first achieved fame under the general Pelopidas. The Sacred Band of Thebes was an elite unit of the Theban army comprised of 150 gay male couples totaling 300 men.
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