Hi Ben,
Well you are in the best of company!
Starting to think I am on the wrong side!
Cass
The Great Queers of History
Compiled by Rictor Norton
Part 1: Born before 1800
Part 3:
Born since 1900
Niankhkhnum & Khnumhotep
Sappho
Socrates
Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep (fl. 2450 BC) Egyptian overseers of
manicurists in the royal palace
Buried in joint tomb
in Saqqara provided by Pharaoh Niusere, wall paintings depict them in
intimate embrace, describe them as "Joined in life and joined in
death."
David (10th cent. BC) 2nd King of Israel (reign. c.1010-971/961 BC)
Slayer of Goliath,
musician and military leader. Famous for his friendship with Jonathan
(son of King Saul), whose early death he lamented: "Thy love to me was
wonderful, surpassing the love for women."
Sappho of Lesbos (c.620-c.560 BC) Greek poet
The first writer of
lyric poetry, which survives only in fragments. Founded a school for
girls, to whom she wrote romantic love poems. Her birthplace gave rise
to "Lesbian" as an erotic term. Plato called her "The Tenth Muse."
Harmodius and Aristogiton (6th cent. BC) Greek political figures
Lovers famous for
overthrowing the tyrant Hipparchus in 527 BCE, thereby inaugurating
Athenian democracy. Celebrated for their mutual devotion and love of
liberty. Many statues of the pair survive.
Socrates (469-399 BC) Greek philosopher
Practiced educational
method using analytical cross-examination, emphasizing self-knowledge
and rejection of received opinion. Dialogues with his pupils recorded
by Plato. Sentenced to death for "corrupting" the youth of Athens.
Plato (c.427-347 BC) Greek philosopher
Key figure in Western philosophy, founder of the Academy in Athens,
pupil of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. Dialogues The Symposium
and Phaedrus celebrated the spiritual love of youths, but tolerated
backsliding. Love poems to Aster.
David & Jonathan
Harmodius & Aristogiton
Plato
Alexander
Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) King of Macedon
Conquered most of
Greece, Persia, Asia Minor, India & Egypt (founded the city of
Alexandria), transmitted Hellenic values across the civilized world.
Mourned the death of his lover Hephaestian with extravagant funeral
rites. Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) (70-19 BC) Roman poet
Chief writer of classical Latin poetry. Epic The Aeneid glorifies
the legendary founder of Rome. Idealized pastoral Eclogues
celebrate unrequited love of the shepherd Corydon for the beautiful
Alexis.
Virgil
Hadrian
St Anselm
Dong Xian (1st cent. BC) Chinese favorite
Powerful male
concubine of Emperor Ai (r. 6 BC-AD 1), who one day cut off his sleeve
rather than wake up Dong Xian, who lay sleeping across it, giving rise
to "the passion of the cut sleeve" as the Chinese term for gay
love. Hadrian (Publius Aelius Hadrianus) (AD 76-138) Roman emperor
Patron of art,
innovative architect (the Pantheon; his villa at Tivoli), under whose
enlightened reforms the empire flourished. Deified his lover Antinous,
icon of male beauty, who mysteriously drowned in the Nile.
Abu Nuwas (c.757-c.814) Arab poet
Master of witty,
erotic love poetry (ghazal), celebrating wine, beautiful boys and
song.
Famed for his mockery of taboos as the court jester in Baghdad: "Away
with hypocrisy ... I want to enjoy everything in broad daylight."
St Anselm (1033/4-1109) Italian-French-British prelate and scholastic
Archbishop of
Canterbury from 1093. Though committed to celibacy, wrote romantic
love
letters to former companions in Benedictine monastery of Bec in
Normandy, indicating yearning and frustrated desire.
St Aelred of Rievaulx (c.1110-1167) English monk
Born Northumbria,
educated in the court of King David of Scotland, entered Cistercian
monastery of Rievaulx (became abbot 1147). Celebrates intimate
friendship in Speculum Caritatis & De Spirituali Amicitia: "God is
friendship."
Abu Nuwas & friend
St Aelred
Donatello's David
Ficino
Hafiz (Mohammad Shams Od-Din Hafiz) (c.1319-c.1389) Persian poet
Dubbed Sugar-Lips for
his sensuous lyrics, many in praise of rough trade. Regarded as a Sufi
mystic, but preferred taverns to mosques. His tomb in Shiraz (southern
Iran) is a place of pilgrimage.
Donatello (c.1386-1466) Italian sculptor
Founder of modern
sculpture (i.e. in the round), reviver of classical antiquity as in
his
expressive and homoerotic bronze statue of David (a key marker of
the birth of the Renaissance) and marble St George.
Mehmet II, the Conqueror (c.1430-1481) Sultan of Turkey
Captured
Constantinople in 1453 (renamed Istanbul), defeated the Byzantime
Empire and founded the Ottoman Empire (incl. Greece, Serbia, Albania).
Captured Christian youths were placed in his harem. Patron of
learning.
Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) Italian humanist, philosopher
Reconciled Classical
and Christian ideals in Neoplatonism. Revived the Platonic Academy and
coined the term "platonic love." Wrote Commentary on the Symposium
and the first trans. of Phaedrus for his protégé Giovanni Cavalcanti.
Hafiz
Mehmet II
Leonardo
Montaigne
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian painter, scientist, inventor
Renaissance "universal genius", studied art, anatomy, aeronautics,
architecture, engineering, hydro-dynamics. Mona Lisa and The Last
Supper have come to symbolize the essence of art. Imprisoned for
sodomy.
Michelangelo (Buonarroti) (1475-1564) Italian sculptor, painter,
architect, poet
Portrayed heroic male nudes in sculpture, esp. David, Dying Slave,
Medici tombs, and frescos The Last Judgment & Sistine Chapel
ceiling. Designs for St Peter's, Rome. Wrote homoerotic love sonnets.
Julius II (Giuliano Della Ròvere) (1443-1513) Italian pope
Established control
of the Papal States over many territories. Patron of artists incl.
Bramante and Raphael. Commissioned Sistine Chapel ceiling and his tomb
from Michelangelo.
Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) Italian sculptor, goldsmith
His skills ranged from exquisitely jeweled salt cellars to powerful
military fortifications; his masterpiece is the bronze Perseus
holding up the Head of Medusa. Wrote lively Autobiography while
imprisoned for sodomy.
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist, politician
Skilled diplomat; in 1580 he retired to his estates in Bordeaux,
became mayor, began writing Essays that established modern French
prose style. "On Friendship" was inspired by his love for a neighbor.
Michelangelo
Julius II
Sir Francis Bacon
James I
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) British lawyer, scientist,
philosopherKing's Counsel and Lord Chancellor under James I.
Advocated empirical science in The Advancement of Learning and New
Atlantis. Wrote pithy and penetrating Essays; "Of Friendship"
celebrates male love.
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) English playwright, poet
Tragedies incl. Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine the Great, & Edward II,
which sympathetically portrays gay love. Homoerotic passages in
Hero and Leander and mythological poems. A rebel, murdered in a
tavern.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English playwright, poet
The full range of
human life is encompassed by his plays, some with ambiguous plots in
which a boy actor plays a girl disguised as a boy. His Sonnets
describe his love for his "Master-Mistress" as well as a "Dark Lady".
James VI & I (1566-1625) King of Scotland (from 1567) and England
(from 1603)
United England &
Scotland and brought peace to Europe, but frequent disputes with his
own parliament, who censured his love for his favourites, esp. George
Villiers, created Duke of Buckingham. Set up committee to translate
the
Bible (King James Version).
Marlowe
Shakespeare
Catalina Erauso
Lully
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) Italian painter
His style of dramatic
realism had a wide impact on European painting. Voluptuous homoerotic
figures, incl. saints modeled on his boyfriends. A hot-tempered man,
often involved in street violence. Catalina Erauso (1592?-1650)
Spanish-Mexican soldier
She left the convent
for a life of adventure, became a soldier, was praised by the Spanish
Crown for heroic military services, dubbed "The Second Lieutenant
Nun",
granted permission by Pope Urban VII to dress as a man. Christina
(1626-1689) Queen of Sweden
Clever and beautiful,
an "Amazonian" cross-dresser who refused to marry. Attracted great
artists and thinkers (incl. Descartes) to the court of Sweden. Became
Catholic convert in 1667, retired to Rome, patron of Bernini and
Corelli.
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) Italian-French musician, opera
composer
Director of the Opera
under Louis XIV, composed many works featuring ballet as an important
part of the opera. Became very wealthy and engaged in scandalous
homosexual affairs, while keeping a mistress as "cover".
Caravaggio
Queen Christina
Ihara Saikaku
Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693) Japanese novelist
Homosexual love was his major theme, esp. in The Great Mirror of
Male Love
(1687), a collection of short stories about love between samurai men
& boys, monks & boys, and male actor-prostitutes in kabuki
theatre.
Winckelmann
Cambacérès
Humboldt
John Church
Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) German librarian, art historian
Established Neoclassical taste throughout Europe with his History
of Ancient Art,
using Greek art as a univeral touchstone. Celebrated the ideal beauty
of the nude male in a book dedicated to his lover Friedrich Reinhold
von Berg.
Frederick II, the Great (1712-1786) King of Prussia
Ideal Enlightenment
ruler, military genius, musician, composer for the flute,
correspondent
with intellectuals incl. Voltaire. Forced by his father to marry, but
built a Temple of Friendship at his palace at Sans Souci.
Eleanor Butler (1737-1829) and Sarah Ponsonby (1755-1831) Anglo-
Irish gentlewoman
Eloped together and
settled in Wales. Many Romantic authors visited the celebrated "Ladies
of Llangollen". Though idealized for their romantic friendship, some
contemporaries called them "sapphists".
Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès (1753-1824) French lawyer
Arch-Chancellor of
the Empire under Napoléon Bonaparte. Drafted the Code Napoléon, which
omitted any reference to sodomy (confirming the decision of the
Constituent Assembly in 1791), thus decriminalizing homosexuality.
"Raucourt" (Françoise Saucerotte) (1756-1815) French actress
Star of the Comédie
Française, protected by Marie Antoinette, admired by Napoléon.
"Married" a female opera singer and presided over the Anandrynes, a
lesbian secret society. Her funeral was attended by 15,000 people.
William Beckford (1760-1844) British art collector, writer
Wealthiest man in
England, connoisseur and collector of art and books, builder of a
"Gothick" mansion, Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire, author of the oriental
novel Vathek (1786). Ostracized by society for his homosexuality.
Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt (1769-1859) German explorer,
naturalist, scientist
Scientific expeditions to South America (Voyage aux Regions
Equinoxiales) & Central Asia, traveled with young companions,
studied botany, geology, geography. Left his estate to his valet-
lover.
Rev John Church (c.1782-c.1835) British dissenting minister
Popular preacher,
built the Surrey Tabernacle meeting house in London. Performed
funerals
for men hanged for sodomy, and blessed gay marriages at The Swan male
brothel in Vere Street. Imprisoned for two years for homosexuality.
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) British poet
Popular Romantic poet (Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Don Juan),
creator of the brooding "Byronic hero". Public scandals involving
women, but also many private affairs with men. Died helping in the
campaign for Greek independence.
Frederick II
Ladies of Llangollen
Raucourt
Beckford
Byron
Part 1: Born before 1800 Part 2: Born 1800–1900 Part 3: Born
since 1900
CITATION: If you cite this Web page, please use the following
citation:
Rictor Norton (compiler), "The Great Queers of History, Part 1:
Born before 1800", 1 May 2004
<http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/greatgay.htm>.
Return to Gay History and Literature
See also Lists of Famous Homosexuals
----- Original Message ----
From: Ben Scaro <bscaro@yahoo.com>
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, November 9, 2006 2:04:17 PM
Subject: Theos-World Re: Records Smashed!, A few las points
[[I have several more points on "A
Queer Theosophical Question" and want to
get them out, as they keep banging around
in my head until I do, ]]
I'm not sure they are really banging around anyone else's heads
though.
[[and then that
will be the end of commentary from me,
hopefully. ]]
Well, you said it . . .
[[The pendulum is swinging the
other way and homosexuality is not so
"stylish" as it used to be, and maybe a
few more ears are open. (Actually, being
'stylish' is exactly why, or a contributing
factor, why some decide to "go queer.")]]
Umm, it isn't in fact, not even slightly . . . so can we safely
assume the rest of your argument is the odious rubbish it appears to
be at first blush ?
[[(1) Some go queer because of Fear
(partly justifiable. ) In this overly-competitive,
cut-throat and over-populated world, there
are constant financial, physical, and
psychological dangers to fear. If one
is "harmless" he's less likely to get
attacked. The effeminant male homosexual
to perceptions is as overtly "harmless"
a pose as can be. They get left alone
and not attacked, ]]
Umm, have you ever heard of Daniel Shepherd. Sigh, why bother . . .
[[One knowledgeable guy I knew used
to claim that the reason Tibet got taken
over by the Chinese was that most the
monasteries became homosexual,] ]
What else did he tell you ? He does sound like a fun fellow to be
around, I'll give you that.
Oh wait, there's more . . .
[[This same guy said that if male
and female homosexuals get together, they
can exchange elementals and cure each
other. ]]
Did he, just ? What a pioneer.
And he, umm, presented you with successful examples of his research
to prove his notion ?
[[FINIS]]
Well, you've written one thing I agree with.
Ben
(singularly unapologetic poof)
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