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Sexual Promiscuity of Non-Greeks in Herodotus’ Histories
- Classical World
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 107, Number 4, Summer 2014
- pp. 515-534
- 10.1353/clw.2014.0044
- Article
- Additional Information
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This paper examines Herodotus’ characterization of the sexual customs and habits of barbarians (i.e., non-Greeks) in the Histories. The argument to be advanced in this study is that Herodotus describes non-Greek populations as sexually promiscuous and implies that, at least by Greek standards, their marital relations constitute a sort of μοιχεία (i.e., adultery/corruption). Moreover, since the μοιχός (adulterer/corrupter) was typically seen as an un-manly or emasculated figure in the Classical Greek imagination, this paper further argues that Herodotus is utilizing prevailing notions of gender and sexuality as a way of more broadly articulating non-Greek cultures as essentially unmanly in general.