INTERPRETATION AND DEFINITION OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY 21the divine right of gods and kings. Demeter and Persephone did not agree. On
the other hand, a religious artist or critic might maintain that god's will is god's
will, and it was divinely ordained to have Hades and Persephone as king and
queen of the Underworld.
This book bears testimony again and again in a multitude of ways to the
light these Greek and Roman tales have thrown on our civilization. They ex-
plored countless issues and emotions (among them passion and lust), as burn-
ing for them (both men and women) as they are for us, in their own images, just
as we explore them in ours; we are no less obsessed with the subject of sex than
were the ancients, and our depictions certainly can be much more violent and
ugly, yet often not as potent. Critics of classical mythology in previous genera-
tions sometimes chose not to see the rape: some critics today choose to see noth-
ing else.
It is fundamental to realize an obvious fact that too often is completely over-
looked in our rush to interpretative, righteous judgment about the message of
a story. The same tale may embody themes of victimization and rape or sexual
love or spiritual salvation, one or all of these issues, or more. Everything de-
pends upon the artist and the person responding to the work of art: his or her
gender, politics, philosophy, religion, sexual orientation, age, experience or ex-
periences—the list could go on. A major contention of this book is that there is
no one "correct" interpretation of a story, just as there is no one "correct" defi-
nition of a myth.
Homosexuality. Homosexuality was accepted and accommodated as a part of
life in the ancient world. There were no prevailing hostile religious views that
condemned it as a sin. Much has been written about this subject in this era of
gay liberation, and fundamental works are listed in the bibliography at the end
of the chapter. Dover, in his classic study Greek Homosexuality, offers a scrupu-
lous analysis of major evidence for ancient Greece, much of which pertains to
Athens. This fundamental work is required reading, but his conclusions need to
be tempered by other more realistic appreciations of sexuality in the real world,
both ancient and modern. Particularly enlightening because of its wider per-
spective is Homophobia: A History, by Byrne Fone. The remarks that follow con-
centrate on homosexuality in ancient Greece. There were similarities among the
Romans but differences as well. The period of time stretches over centuries and
the subject again is vast, complex, and controversial.
A prevailing view persists that Athens (representing a kind of paradigm of
the Greco-Roman world) was a paradise for homosexuals, particularly in con-
trast to the persecution so often found in other societies. There is some truth in
this romantic vision, but homosexual activity had to be pursued in accordance
with certain unwritten rules, however liberal they may have been. In Athens, a
particular respectability was conferred when an older male became the lover of
a younger man, and it was important that each should play his proper role in