338. Did the Ancient Greeks and Romans Invent Homophobia? With Harry Tanner

Did the ancient world celebrate queer love, or did they invent homophobia?

Stop repeating the myth that the ancient Greeks and Romans lived out an enlightened, carefree bisexual paradise. In this explosive episode of the History Rage Podcast, where historical myths are debunked, host Paul Bavill sits down with historian, linguist, and author Harry Tanner to tear down everything you think you know about ancient sexuality truths.

From popular pop-history literature to classic classrooms, we are constantly told that sexuality is a modern 19th-century invention and that ancient city-states completely tolerated same-sex love. But the original ancient Greek texts paint a much darker reality, exposing the deep roots of ancient Greek homophobia. In discussing his book, The Queer Thing About Sin, Harry exposes the starting gun of systemic bias in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, tracking how societal crises, severe wealth inequality, plagues, and wars forced ancient cultures to turn aggressively on their queer citizens.

Discover the hidden truth behind discriminatory laws in Athens and Sparta, the reality of Romans and homosexuality, and the broader history of queer phobia. We explore why we must finally stop confusing brutal acts of wartime dominance with actual sexual tolerance. We also dive into the linguistic traps of the New Testament, confronting the intersection of religion and homophobia, and how academic nuance is the ultimate antidote to dogmatic prejudice. It is raw, it is angry, and it is a vital rewrite of Western history from History Rage.

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Episode 275: The Lives and Loves of Alexander the Great with Stephen HarrisonEpisode 185: The Relationships of James I with Gareth Russell

About Our Guest

Buy the Book: Grab your copy of The Queer Thing About Sin directly from the History Rage Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9781399422314Follow Harry Tanner: Connect on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/harryjamestanner or find him on Threads at https://www.threads.net/@harryjamestanner

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