THE HISTORIES BY HERODOTOS
Herodotos of Halikarnassos (ca. 484-425 BC), known since antiquity as the “Father of History” was the author of The Histories, a detailed, reliable and lively account of the Greco-Persian wars, including the broad background to them. Presented here are all references to pederasty in them.
The inclusion of four passages pertaining to the castration of boys (in three instances described as handsome) for sale as eunuchs is largely based on Plutarch’s treatise On the Malice of Herodotos, where he berates Herodotos for claiming that the Persians learned to practise sex with boys from the Greeks when “when almost everyone admits that they had practised the castration of boys before they ever saw the Greek sea,” thus implying that the main purpose of castration was to preserve boys as such for sex with men.
The translation is by A.D. Godley in the Loeb Classical Library volume CXVII (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1920). His Latinisation of Greek names has been undone in favour of transliterated forms.
I 135
On how the Persians learned the custom of having sex with boys from the Greeks. See the article Pederasty in ancient Persia.
III 48-49
An episode just before the death of Periandros, tyrant of Corinth, in 585/4 BC:[1]
| Periandros son of Kypselos sent to Alyattes at Sardis[2] three hundred boys, sons of notable men in Corcyra, to be made eunuchs. The Corinthians who brought the boys put in at Samos; and when the Samians heard why the boys were brought, first they bade them take sanctuary in the temple of Artemis, then they would not suffer the suppliants to be dragged from the temple; and when the Corinthians tried to starve the boys out, the Samians made a festival which they still celebrate in the same fashion; as long as the boys took refuge, nightly dances of youths and maidens were ordained to which it was made a custom to bring cakes of sesame and honey, that the Corcyraean boys might snatch these and so be fed. This continued to be done till the Corinthian guards left their charge and departed, and the Samians took the boys back to Corcyra. |
Κερκυραίων γὰρ παῖδας τριηκοσίους ἀνδρῶν τῶν πρώτων Περίανδρος ὁ Κυψέλου ἐς Σάρδις ἀπέπεμψε παρὰ Ἀλυάττεα ἐπ᾿ ἐκτομῇ προσσχόντων δὲ ἐς τὴν Σάμον τῶν ἀγόντων τοὺς παῖδας Κορινθίων, πυθόμενοι οἱ Σάμιοι τὸν λόγον, ἐπ᾿ οἷσι ἀγοίατο ἐς Σάρδις, πρῶτα μὲν τοὺς παῖδας ἐδίδαξαν ἱροῦ ἅψασθαι Ἀρτέμιδος· μετὰ δὲ οὐ περιορῶντες ἀπέλκειν τοὺς ἱκέτας ἐκ τοῦ ἱροῦ, σιτίων δὲ τοὺς παῖδας ἐργόντων Κορινθίων, ἐποιήσαντο οἱ Σάμιοι ὁρτήν, τῇ καὶ νῦν ἔτι χρέωνται κατὰ ταὐτά. νυκτὸς γὰρ ἐπιγενομένης, ὅσον χρόνον ἱκέτευον οἱ παῖδες, ἵστασαν χοροὺς παρθένων τε καὶ ἠιθέων, ἱστάντες δὲ τοὺς χοροὺς τρωκτὰ σησάμου τε καὶ μέλιτος ἐποιήσαντο νόμον φέρεσθαι, ἵνα ἁρπάζοντες οἱ τῶν Κερκυραίων παῖδες ἔχοιεν τροφήν. ἐς τοῦτο δὲ τόδε ἐγίνετο, ἐς ὃ οἱ Κορίνθιοι τῶν παίδων οἱ φύλακοι οἴχοντο ἀπολιπόντες· τοὺς δὲ παῖδας ἀπήγαγον ἐς Κέρκυραν οἱ Σάμιοι. |
VI 9
In the speech in 494 BC of the Persian commanders to the former Ionian tyrants who had joined them, enjoining them to persuade their compatriots to submit to Persian rule:
| “[…] But if they will not be so guided, and nothing will serve them but fighting, then utter a threat that shall put constraint upon them, and tell them that if they are worsted in battle they shall be enslaved; we will make eunuchs of their boys, and carry their maidens captive to Bactra, and deliver their land to others.” | “[…] εἰ δὲ ταῦτα μὲν οὐ ποιήσουσι, οἳ δὲ πάντως διὰ μάχης ἐλεύσονται, τάδε ἤδη σφι λέγετε ἐπηρεάζοντες, τά περ σφέας κατέξει, ὡς ἑσσωθέντες τῇ μάχῃ ἐξανδραποδιεῦνται, καὶ ὡς σφέων τοὺς παῖδας ἐκτομίας ποιήσομεν, τὰς δὲ παρθένους ἀνασπάστους ἐς Βάκτρα, καὶ ὡς τὴν χώρην ἄλλοισι παραδώσομεν.” |
VI 32
On what happened in 492 BC, following the suppression of the revolt of the Ionians against Persian rule:
| There the Persian generals failed not to fulfil the threats which they had uttered against the Ionians when they were encamped over against them; for when they had gained the mastery over the cities, they chose out the comeliest boys and castrated them, making them eunuchs instead of men, and they carried the fairest maidens away to the king; this they did, and burnt the cities, yea, and their temples. | ἐνθαῦτα Περσέων οἱ στρατηγοὶ οὐκ ἐψεύσαντο τὰς ἀπειλὰς τὰς ἐπηπείλησαν τοῖσι Ἴωσι στρατοπεδευομένοισι ἐναντία σφίσι. ὡς γὰρ δὴ ἐπεκράτησαν τῶν πολίων, παῖδάς τε τοὺς εὐειδεστάτους ἐκλεγόμενοι ἐξέταμνον καὶ ἐποίευν ἀντὶ εἶναι ἐνόρχιας εὐνούχους καὶ παρθένους τὰς καλλιστευούσας ἀνασπάστους παρὰ βασιλέα: ταῦτά τε δὴ ἐποίευν καὶ τὰς πόλιας ἐνεπίμπρασαν αὐτοῖσι τοῖσι ἱροῖσι. |
VIII 105
On Hermotimos of Pedasa (a Greek city in Caria), most favoured eunuch of the Persian King of Kings, Xerxes I:
| Hermotimos, who came from this place Pedasa, had achieved a fuller vengeance for wrong done to him than had any man within my knowledge. Being taken captive by enemies and exposed for sale, he was bought by one Panionios of Chios, a man that had set himself to earn a livelihood out of most wicked practices; he would procure beautiful boys and castrate and take them to Sardis and Ephesus, where he sold them for a great price; for the foreigners value eunuchs more than perfect men, by reason of the full trust that they have in them. Now among the many whom Panionios had castrated in the way of trade was Hermotimos, who was not in all things unfortunate; for he was brought from Sardis among other gifts to the king, and as time went on he stood higher in Xerxes’ favour than any other eunuch. | Ἐκ τούτων δὴ τῶν Πηδασέων ὁ Ἑρμότιμος ἦν] τῷ μεγίστη τίσις ἤδη ἀδικηθέντι ἐγένετο πάντων τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν. ἁλόντα γὰρ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ πολεμίων καὶ πωλεόμενον ὠνέεται Πανιώνιος ἀνὴρ Χῖος, ὃς τὴν ζόην κατεστήσατο ἀπ᾿ ἔργων ἀνοσιωτάτων· ὅκως γὰρ κτήσαιτο παῖδας εἴδεος ἐπαμμένους, ἐκτάμνων ἀγινέων ἐπώλεε ἐς Σάρδις τε καὶ Ἔφεσον χρημάτων μεγάλων. παρὰ γὰρ τοῖσι βαρβάροισι τιμιώτεροι εἰσὶ οἱ εὐνοῦχοι πίστιος εἵνεκα τῆς πάσης τῶν ἐνορχίων. ἄλλους τε δὴ ὁ Πανιώνιος ἐξέταμε πολλούς, ἅτε ποιεύμενος ἐκ τούτου τὴν ζόην, καὶ δὴ καὶ τοῦτον. καὶ οὐ γὰρ τὰ πάντα ἐδυστύχεε ὁ Ἑρμότιμος, ἀπικνέεται ἐκ τῶν Σαρδίων παρὰ βασιλέα μετ᾿ ἄλλων δώρων, χρόνου δὲ προϊόντος πάντων τῶν εὐνούχων ἐτιμήθη μάλιστα παρὰ Ξέρξῃ. |
In the winter of 481-0 BC, Hermotimos sought out Panionios, tricked him into bringing himself into his power, forced him to castrate his own four sons and then them to castrate their father.
[1] The date comes from Diogenes Laertios, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers I 7 ii, where the same story is alluded to.
[2] Alyattes was King of Lydia, a powerful and fabulously rich land in westernmost Asia (close to Greek islands such as Samos), of which Sardis was the capital.
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