View source for Catamite

{{Short description|Pubescent male companion in a pederastic relationship in ancient Greece and Rome}}
{{Distinguish|Calamite}} 

[[File:Warren Cup BM GR 1999.4-26.1 n2.jpg|thumb|The [[Warren Cup]], now in the [[British Museum]], depicts sexual intimacy between a young man or a "[[pederasty|pederast]]" – in the broadest sense – and his "catamite"]]
[[File:Roman Empire Ganymede.jpg|thumb|Roman [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]] as a ''[[puer delicatus]]'', with the eagle of [[Jove]]]]

In  [[Homosexuality in ancient Greece|ancient Greece]] and [[Homosexuality in ancient Rome|Rome]], a '''catamite''' ([[Latin]]: ''catamītus'') was a [[Puberty|pubescent]] boy who was the intimate companion of an older male, usually in a [[pederastic]] relationship.<ref>Craig Williams, ''Roman Homosexuality'' (Oxford University Press, 1999, 2010), pp. 52–55, 75.</ref> It was generally a term of affection and literally means "[[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]]" in Latin, but it was also used as a term of insult when directed toward a grown man.<ref name="Cicero p. 95">Cicero, frg. B29 of his orations and ''[[Philippicae|Philippics]]'' 2.77; Bertocchi and Maraldi, "''Menaechmus quidam''," p. 95.</ref> The word derives from the [[proper noun]] ''Catamitus'', the [[Latinisation of names|Latinized]] form of Ganymede, the name of the beautiful [[Troy|Trojan]] youth abducted by [[Zeus]] to be his companion and cupbearer, according to Greek mythology.<ref>Alastair J. L. Blanshard, "Greek Love," in ''Sex: Vice and Love from Antiquity to Modernity'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), p. 131. Both [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], note to ''[[Aeneid]]'' 1.128, and [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] state clearly that ''Catamitus'' was the Latin equivalent of ''Ganymedes''; Festus says he was the ''concubinus'' of Jove. Alessandra Bertocchi and Mirka Maraldi, "''Menaechmus quidam:'' Indefinites and Proper Nouns in Classical and Late Latin," in ''Latin vulgaire–Latin tardif. Actes du VII<sup>ème</sup> Colloque international sur le latin vulgaire et tardif. Séville, 2–6 septembre 2003'' (University of Seville, 2006), p. 95, note 16.</ref> The [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] form of the name was ''Catmite'', from an alternative Greek form of the name, ''Gadymedes''.<ref>[[Larissa Bonfante]] and [[Judith Swaddling]], ''Etruscan Myths'' (University of Texas Press, 2006), p. 73.</ref>

In its modern usage, the term ''catamite'' refers to a boy as the passive or receiving partner in anal intercourse with a man.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'' 3rd Ed. (2003)</ref>

==References in literature and popular culture==
*In [[Plato]]'s dialogue ''[[Gorgias (dialogue)|Gorgias]]'' (at 494e), [[Socrates]] uses the phrase  κιναίδων βίος (Catamite Life),  in a conversation with Callicles contrasting appetites and contentment.
*The word appears widely but not necessarily frequently in the [[Latin literature]] of antiquity, from [[Plautus]] to [[Ausonius]]. It is sometimes a synonym for ''[[puer delicatus]]'', "delicate boy". [[Cicero]] uses the term as an insult.<ref name="Cicero p. 95">Cicero, frg. B29 of his orations and ''[[Philippicae|Philippics]]'' 2.77; Bertocchi and Maraldi, "''Menaechmus quidam''," p. 95.</ref> The word became a general term for a boy groomed for sexual purposes. It also appears in ''[[Meditations]]'' by [[Marcus Aurelius]] (Books 3.16, 5.10 and 6.34).
*[[Stephen Dedalus]] ponders the word in ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'' when discussing accusations that [[William Shakespeare]] might have been a pederast.
*[[C. S. Lewis]] in his partial autobiography ''[[Surprised by Joy]]'' described the social roles during his time at Wyvern College (by which he meant [[Malvern College]]) as including the role of "Tart": "a pretty and effeminate-looking small boy who acts as a catamite to one or more of his seniors&nbsp;..." and noted that "[[pederasty]]&nbsp;... was not [frowned upon as seriously as] wearing one's coat unbuttoned."<ref>''Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life'', Chapter VI ''Bloodery'', pp. 83-84, C. S. Lewis</ref> 
*[[Anthony Burgess]]'s 1980 novel ''[[Earthly Powers]]'' uses the word in its<ref name="Tel">{{cite news | url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/jameshiggs/4739703/An_arresting_opening/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529050903/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/jameshiggs/4739703/An_arresting_opening/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 29, 2010 | title=An arresting opening | newspaper=The Telegraph | accessdate=August 30, 2012}}</ref> opening sentence: "It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."
*In [[Rome (TV series)|HBO's TV series ''Rome'']], following the [[battle of Pharsalus]], [[Julius Caesar]] admonishes [[Lucius Vorenus (character of Rome)|Lucius Vorenus]] for letting [[Pompey Magnus]] escape, saying that Pompey might be "broken like a [[Dacians|Dacian]] catamite" and yet still be dangerous.  
*In the post-apocalyptic landscape of [[Cormac McCarthy]]'s novel ''[[The Road]]'', the narrator describes an army on the move on foot with "women, perhaps a dozen in number, some of them pregnant, and lastly a supplementary consort of catamites".<ref>{{cite book|last=McCarthy|first=Cormac|title=The Road|year=2006|publisher=Vintage International|isbn=9780307387899|pages=92|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/road00mcca}}</ref>
*In ''[[South Park]]'' season 7 episode 8, "[[South Park Is Gay!]]", [[Craig Tucker]] identifies himself as a catamite.

==See also==
*[[Greek love]]
*[[Sexuality in ancient Rome]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{wiktionary inline|catamite}}

[[Category:Ancient LGBTQ history]]
[[Category:Ganymede (mythology)]]
[[Category:Pederasty in ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Sexuality in ancient Rome]]