Same sex relations in history and culture: an up-to-date synthesis.

Homosexuality, and Civilization. By Louis Crompton. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003, 623 pages. Cloth, $35.00.

Reviewed by Vern L. Bullough, Ph.D., R.N., SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus, 3305 West Sierra Dr., Westlake Village, CA 91362-3542; e-mail: [e-mail].

The publishing of historical studies of homosexuality, particularly in English, has exploded during the past 40 years. When I began writing on homosexuality in the 1960s and early 1970s, there were almost no serious historical studies in English. The best studies, written mostly in German in the early part of the 20th century, remained untranslated and unknown except to a few. Historical journals, in fact, were very reluctant to consider articles on homosexuality, so some of my early writing on the topic appeared in sociology journals, the editors of which were somewhat more receptive.

Book publishers, or at least some of them, were more willing to consider homosexuality, but I had two presses reluctantly turn down my book Sexual Variance in Society and History (Bullough, 1976) because of the topic. When it was finally published by a major press, the division in which it appeared closed shortly thereafter, the editor moved on, and the book more or less perished. Fortunately it was picked up by the University of Chicago Press (Bullough, 1978), which was beginning to venture into the sex field. I should add that it was not necessarily sexual topics publishers were fearful of since I had little trouble publishing on prostitution, but trouble came with attempts to publish objective historical studies on homosexuality and other forms of stigmatized sexual behavior.

What began as a trickle in the early 1970s has become a flood of historical studies. Most important, there was a reexamination of many of the primary sources (documents and works surviving from earlier periods of history). Most of the ancient Latin and Greek sources had been translated into English, but when it came to discussion of same-sex relations, the language was bowdlerized at best or sometimes left untranslated in the original Greek or Latin (most often it was simply deleted). Most of these translated sources--including the Loeb library, a scholarly collection of source materials--are now being republished and, if not retranslated, at least reedited to include previously expurgated passages. Source materials never translated or long neglected also began to be published.

The result has been a growing number of serious scholarly studies, many of them published by university presses. Some of the early books published during this historical revision have since been found by scholars to be misleading if not mistaken. This has been the case regarding John Boswell's Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality (1980), which received tremendous publicity and opened the field to other historical writers because of its large sales. Since its publication, however, scholars (including Crompton, the author of the book reviewed here) have repeatedly shown where Boswell mistranslated or claimed more than was in the original sources. Boswell's work emphasized the opposite side of the historical coin, a change from neglecting or subverting sources and data about homosexuality to neglecting or drastically reinterpreting negative sources about homosexuality. Historians are not always as objective as we should be, and Boswell, a dedicated Catholic and a homosexual, was determined to show the error of the Catholic Church in its hostility toward homosexuality. Unfortunately, his missionary task overcame his objectivity.

If there has been so much research on the topic, some of which has been very controversial (e.g., Boswell, 1980), where can the nonhistorian specialist find the kind of historical data on homosexuality that he or she might want to rely upon? The best work I have read on this topic is the work by Louis Crompton, the subject of this review. Crompton, a retired gay English professor from the University of Nebraska and a pioneer in establishing gay and lesbian studies, has dispassionately brought together much of the recent scholarship on the history of homosexuality in a well-written book, easily read by both professional historians and interested readers whatever their field or level of expertise.

Crompton's is essentially an intellectual history, emphasizing the attitudes toward homosexuality of a number of societies at different historical periods. However, what makes it even more valuable and interesting to read are the brief and compelling biographies of individual gay and lesbian persons in history. Crompton often quotes the primary sources at some length, and the individuals become human beings, not just names. The book starts with a chapter on ancient Greece, where from 776 to 480 B.C.E. same-sex relationships began to play an important role in society. Crompton begins by examining some of the homoerotic illustrations on surviving pottery and the portrayal of same-sex interactions in statuary, then proceeds to literary figures such as Sappho and discussion of the controversies surrounding Greek homosexuality. As a contrast, the next chapter is devoted to the conflicting and contrary views of the Jews during the same time period. It was the Jewish view of this time that proved so influential upon the attitudes adopted by the later Christian church. Crompton then returns to classical Greece, discussing writers such as Pindar, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, various playwrights from Sophocles to Euripides, the sacred band of Thebes, and the life of Alexander the Great and others to demonstrate the importance of homoeroticism on Greek thinking. Next comes a comparison of Rome with Greece, in which Crompton finds what is called "Greek love" widespread in the literature and finds that same-sex relationships were a major element in the lives of poets, playwrights, emperors, and others, all of whom he surveys.

Particularly valuable is Crompton's discussion of Christians and pagans, although he pays less attention to the neo-Platonists and others who set the antihomoerotic tone of Christianity than he might have. Crompton's view, in fact, is not all-encompassing, but his selectivity does not distort his recognition of the hostility which the "Fathers of the Christian Church" had toward same-sex relationships. On the whole, Crompton holds that while non-Christian philosophic writings in Latin tended to defend male love, the love interest in popular Latin fiction was primarily heterosexual.

As Christianity gained force in the Roman empire, anti-homosexual laws began to appear. The Christian hostility was reinforced by a new development in biblical exegesis, namely a reinterpretation of the Sodom story that emphasized homosexuality as the major sin, instead of the arrogance of its wealthy residents and mistreatment of aliens and the poor that had been favored by earlier interpretations. Crompton emphasizes the importance of the antihomoerotic writings of St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom, and holds that the culmination of this growing hostility was the Justinian Code, something which Boswell tried to ignore and misinterpret.

Crompton's discussion of early medieval Europe is again selective, emphasizing the hostility of the Visigoths (early Christian Spainiards) and comparing it with the more tolerant attitude toward same-sex love of Spain's Islamic conquerors. He explains how the Christian intolerance was codified into canon law, although in spite of this official hostility, Crompton holds that homosexual themes were widespread in medieval Latin literature of the 10th and 11th centuries as was homosexuality itself. Crompton then proceeds to recount many of the homosexual scandals (in both the church and state) during the medieval period, which were factors in the appearance of the Inquisition. Still, in spite of this, Crompton finds that as Medieval Europe became more sophisticated there was surprising tolerance of homosexuality expressed by Dante and other later writers (even though Dante placed homosexuals in Hell). For the most part, Crompton's discussion of same-sex relations in Christian Europe concentrates on England, France, Italy, and Spain, with only occasional references outside of these areas (usually with regard to specific individuals such as Frederick the Great of Prussia or Queen Christina of Sweden).

To compare attitudes in the West with those in the East, Crompton has a long chapter on homosexuality in imperial China, where there were periods in which homosexuality seemed omnipresent and others when it was widely prosecuted. He also has a chapter on pre-Mejei Japan, where until the 19th century homosexuality was more or less institutionalized.

Returning to Europe, Crompton argues that there was a new ethos that developed in Renaissance Italy, summarizing the data about same-sex relationships found in the archives of Venice and Florence as evidence. Crompton also recounts the relationships of a number of significant individuals involved in same-sex activities, including artists such as Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vince, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Cellini. Crompton then returns to Spain where he examines the effects of the Spanish Inquisition (and its Portuguese counterpart) and the information such sources give about homosexuality. As part of his coverage of Spain, Crompton includes a discussion of homosexuality among the peoples of the New World.

Proceeding toward more modern time, Crompton devotes a chapter to France from John Calvin to Louis XIV, finding homosexuality and lesbianism widespread among royalty as well as some of the major generals. It might be surprising to modern readers to realize how much the existence and fear of homosexuality played into the religious controversies and wars associated with the success or failure of the Protestant movement in some areas of France. Just as Crompton found homosexuality widespread in France, he also found it prevalent in England during the 16th and 17th centuries, with royalty, poets, and nobility involved.

The last three chapters are devoted to the 18th century, with discussion of homosexuality in the Netherlands, England, and France. Crompton concludes with a discussion of English law and the contrasting views of William Blackstone (who regarded same-sex relations as an activity so horrible it was not to be mentioned by Christians) with that of Jeremy Bentham (who felt that same-sex relations gave pleasure to many and caused no harm to others). Unfortunately for gay and lesbian rights, Bentham's views were not published in the 18th century and it was not until the last part of the 20th century that they became fully known--a fate that many of the more positive writings on same-sex relations suffered throughout much of Western history. Left out of the book is the genesis of the modern homosexual rights movement, which began in Germany in the last part of the 19th century. However, this subject would demand an entire book in its own right, and those who attempt to canT on from where Crompton left off will have an excellent foundation upon which to build.

The end notes supply references only, and Crompton includes an extensive bibliography mainly of writings in English or French and translations into those languages. The more than 100 illustrations complement the text nicely. In sum, for those interested in the history of homosexuality this is an invaluable resource. I highly recommend it. It is well written, scholarly, and dispassionate, although it is clear where Crompton stands on the issue of homosexual rights.

REFERENCES

Boswell. J. (1980). Christianity, social tolerance, and homosexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Bullough. V. L. (1976). Sexual variance in society and history. New York: Wiley.

Bullough, V. L. (1978). Sexual variance in society and history. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.