Intertexts

Intmcxts,Wo\. 7, No, 1,2003 Sex in the Gym: Athletic Trainers and Pedagogical Pederasty Thomas K. Hubbard U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S A T A U S T I N After alengthy prologue apologizing for the poet’s delay in delivering his promised composition,* Pindar’s Olympian 10 finally names the athlete who is to be celebrated, Hagesidamus of Epizephyrian Locris, an adolescent vic¬ tor in boxing in 476 BCE: riuKTas 5’ ’OXupiTidSi viKciv ”IXa q>EpETco X°P>v 'AyrioiSapos, cos ’AxiXeT ndxpoKXos.©d^ais Se ke ' 86.AE.290=Para.375.51bis=Buitron-Oliverno.93),wheresuitorsandlovegiftsenter ^e classroom. An interesting series of terracotta figurines show teacher-student couples huddledcloselytogether,oftenwiththeteacher’sarmorhandaroundthe(typically naked)boy’sshoulder;seeBerlinTC8033(=Beck,Fig.67),ParisMYR287(=Beck,Fig. 74),Athens4899(=Beck,Fig.82),London,LifeColl.31(=Beck,Fig.83).Themost ramous and flamboyant sculptural example is of course Heliodorus’ late Hellenistic group ofPanteachingmusictoanakedDaphnis(themostfamousexampleofwhichisinthe MuseoNazionale,Naples).Red-figurescenesofHeraclesandhismusicteacherLinus typicallyshowtheyoungheronaked(seeLIMCYV,833,especiallynos.1667-73),raising thepossibilitythathisreasonforattackingLinusmayhavebeenrelatedtounwanted physical intimacies rather than punishment. 16. Too 73-75. Halperin30.Foramoredetailedcritique,seeHubbard,“PopularPerceptions,” uard, Theoxenus” 273-90, Hubbard 10-14. 18. Bersani 17. 18^^ ^8^ ^^*^tter, Greek Athletic Sports 503-S, Schween 16-20, Forbes 64—69, JiithnThisisclearfromthesettingofPlato ’sLysis{206E-207B)andClmrmidcs(153A154C ), as well as references in Attic comedy (Aristophanes, Idub. 973-76, Vesp. 1023-28, Pax762-63,Av.139-42).SeethediscussionsofDelorme19-20,35;Dover54-55;Buf- fiere 561-72; Reinsberg 179-80; Steiner 126-29; Fisher 94-104; Scanlon 199-273. / Gotha 48 (ARty 20 =Koch-Harnack, Fig. 17), Berlin 2279 115.2 =Dover R196a), Florence 12 B16 {ARV^ 374.62 =Koch-Harnack, Fig. lOXVancanH550{ARV^375.68=Koch-Harnack,Fig.9),YaleUniv.1933.175(ARF aaiio survey of iconographical evidence by Scanlon 6-49,mcludingseveralexampleswherethegodErosisshowncrowningorinother ways recognizing victorious athletes. 22.Fortheconnectionofathleticnudityandpederasty,seetheremarksinPlutarch, Amatorius751F, Papalas 172, and Scanlon 96. Bonfante emphasizes the evolution of atlileticnudityinconnectionwithritualinitiationoftheyoung ,acontextinwhichpederasty alsofigured.Arieti434-36arguesthatathletes’nuditywasameansofdisplayingtheir sexualmodesty.Forabriefsurveyofotherrecentscholarshiponthequestion,seeGolden 65-69.Pausanias5.8.9datestheadditionofseparateboys’contestsatOlympiato632 BCE. Evidence suggests that they became part of the other major festivals during the same general period; see Papalas 166-67 and Golden 104-12. Significantly, this is also the period to which we owe our earliest evidence of generalized male and female pederasty (Sappho,Alcaeus,Aleman, the Thera graffiti). On athletics generally as eroticized specta¬ cle in this period, see the recent work of Larmour 139^ and Scanlon 199-273. 23. These would include some kind of performance displaying bodily size, strength, and agility. Crowther 285-91 collects the evidence. On their Athenian version a s r e p r e - Sex in the Gym: Athletic Trainers and Pedagogical Pederasty 1 9 sented on Attic vases, see Reed 59-64 and Neils 154—59. For their connection with homoeroticism, see Spivey 36-39. 24. E.g. Automedon, AP 12.34; Strato, AP 12.206, 12.222. Wrestling imagery is Aristophanes, Pax 894—905, commonly applied to love-making in avariety of texts: see Eccl. 962-65, and Lucian, Asm. 8-10. The association may be present in Pindar’s descrip¬ tion of HippolyT:a’s machinations in N.5.26-27. On the strong element of homoeroticism involved in naked bodies wrestling together and the possibility that infibulation of the penis was introduced specifically to avoid sexual arousal during the event, see Larmour 1 4 0 - 4 1 . 25. See Montserrat 150-51 on the implications of this text. 26. See Galen’s treatise PlEpi xpitpECOj TTapaoKEuaoTiKfis (= 6.13 Oribasius) for the importance of this practice, and 11.476 Kuhn for the trainer’s role in it. This activity probably formed the basis for the etymology of the term paidotrtbes (literally “boy rub¬ ber”) and the synonomous aleiptes (literally “anointer”). See Forbes 63, 91; Jiithner 161-62; Harris 171. For the most complete study of athletic massage in antiquity, see Jung8-23.Thepracticeiscertainlyattestedinvasepaintingasearlyas480BCE: kylixbytheAntiphonPainter(VillaGiulia50430=ARW340.62=Gardiner,Athletics, Fig.46).Scanlon(212)notesthatthetermtribeinisalsousedinexpUcitlyeroticcon¬ texts,andthinkstheeroticpotentialofmassageisthereasonitwaslimitedtopracticebya professional. 27.Ontheconceptof“malehomosocialdesire,”ortheneedfornon-sexu^male bondingwhichneverthelessformsaseamlesscontinuumwithactualhomosexuality,see Sedgwick 1-5. For an exploration of the issue with respect to modern athletics, see Pronger. s e e a 28. Kyle...