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Day: May 8, 2016
Why were there (apparently) more homosexual men in Ancient Greece than today?
In traditional Modern Greek society, there was a stigmatised group of gay men: poustides. In traditional Ancient Greek society, there was a stigmatised group of gay men: kinaidoi. The stigma in antiquity was more about being a bottom (i.e. about power) than about having sex with males per se. What was not stigmatised was homosexual […]
What are some suboptimal design decisions of Esperanto?
I really don’t like this kind of question. As many on Quora and outside Quora have said, optimal design is not how a language prevails; language typology is not about better and worse but different; and the defensive Esperanto assertion that Esperanto has an internal cohesion is quite true. *sigh* That said, if there is […]
What are some signs of Venetian and Genovese influence in the Greek islands (and Cyprus)?
Not aware of any Russian influence; 7 years was short, and I’m not aware that the Russian presence was substantial. The British did leave behind ginger beer and cricket. Venetian and Genoese influence that I know of includes: Substantial Italian, Venetian and Genoese lexicon in the dialects of the Greek islands. When my grandmother told […]
To whom Constantinople and Byzantium legacy belong to, Greece, Turkey or Bulgaria?
To anyone who claims it. I mean, seriously, what are you going to do? Sue the claimants you don’t like in the Hague? It belongs to the Greeks, who continue to call the City Constantinople and the empire Byzantine, Andrew Baird nothwithstanding, whose literary and church culture is suffused with Byzantium, and whose language if […]
How come the concept of ‘homosexuality’ was not known in Ancient Greece (if it was in the Bible itself)?
Paul refers to ἀρσενοκοίτης, “sleeping with men”, which is an expression for the concept of homosexuality. Predating the modern term homosexuality. And indeed, which might well be rendered as “homosexuality”, even though it was not the word that Ancient Greeks used. There is a contrary opinion that it refers specifically to temple prostitution in Leviticus; […]