Cultural References
In a funeral speech ascribed to him by Thucydides, Pericles exhorts the Athenians to "gaze day after day on the power of the city and become her erastai", interpreted to mean "that citizen-soldiers should behave towards Athens like boyfriends, erastai: i.e. love the city without calculation, more than life itself."
Athenian pederasty is a major theme in the historical novel The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault.
Read more about this topic: Athenian Pederasty
Famous quotes containing the word cultural:
“If in the earlier part of the century, middle-class children suffered from overattentive mothers, from being “mother’s only accomplishment,” today’s children may suffer from an underestimation of their needs. Our idea of what a child needs in each case reflects what parents need. The child’s needs are thus a cultural football in an economic and marital game.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)