An Ancient Sugar Daddy? & Amphora depicting older man courting younger man

Ancient Sugar Daddy?, 2022

Maansi Gupta

paper and mixed media on poster board

The amphora in the RISD Museum depicts the gift-giving aspect of an ancient Greek pederastic relationship. While these types of relationships were common, at one point, in ancient Greece, modern scholarship’s perspective and analysis of pederastic relationships, and their depictions, can be skewed by current understandings of sexuality, including biases and prejudices. As such, it is crucial to consider modern interpretations of sexuality, ancient interpretations of sexuality, and the understanding that relationships are a social phenomenon that do not exist within a vacuum to begin to build a holistic interpretation of pederastic relationships.

Inspiration for the new object came from about two dozen interviews conducted in regard to the amphora. Interviewees were comprised of students who had little to no exposure to the classics or archaeology; students were not given any context about the amphora and then were incrementally told small details about the scene and asked about their interpretation/opinion about the piece.

The questions and details were given in the following order:

1. What are the first three words that come to mind when looking at the object?

2. This is a gift-giving scene. Does this detail change your interpretation?

3. The man on the right is substantially older than the man on the left. Does this detail change your interpretation?

4. They are in a homosexual relationship. Does this detail change your interpretation?

5. Have you heard of the word pederasty?

Interviewees were given a full explanation of the piece and pederasty in ancient Greece and were asked about their final thoughts.

Most interviewees referred, either directly or indirectly, to “sugar daddies” after being given the full explanation of the depicted scene and pederastic relationships. This association calls the potential problematic aspects of pederastic relationships through a modern lens to the forefront. Interestingly, most interviewees also said that their interpretation of the piece did not change after learning that the two men were in a homosexual relationship and continued to articulate ideas about exchange which suggests that, despite being in an intimate social relationship, it is important to continue to consider broader societal forces that shaped these relationships. The images from the original scene have been altered and arranged in this web to reflect all the ways in which these phenomena interact, and how this helps us gain a better understanding of the piece and its implications. “Sugar daddy” also lent itself to the title of the new object as it forces viewers to consider the social implications of the scene and stands in direct conflict with the original ambiguous title from the RISD Museum: “Storage Jar (Amphora).”

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Storage Jar (Amphora) depicting older man courting younger man, 550 - 540 BCE

Greek, Attica

Terracotta, black figure

RISD Museum, Gift of Ms. Gustav Radeke13.1479

This amphora (storage jar) depicts a pederastic relationship between the older man on the right and the younger man on the left, where the older man is gifting two roosters and a dog to the younger man. Pederastic relationships, or a romantic and homosexual relationship between a younger man (referred to as the eromenos) and an older man (referred to as the erastes) were common in ancient Greece, especially during the seventh and sixth centuries BCE; this particular image refers to a moment of courtship where the erastes is courting the eromenos by offering him gifts. Scholars have theorized that these gifts are associated with hunting: the pair of roosters suggests fighting roosters, and the dog fits in neatly as a hunting dog, but the significance of this specificity is unknown.

The other side of the amphora shows a similar scene where the erastes is gifting the eromenos a stag, a duck, and a rooster. The erastes is also holding is left hand up in a gesture that suggests him trying to touch the eromenos’ face, a common motif seen in artwork depicting pederastic relationships. The precise function and context of the amphora is unknown; while these vessels are typically used as storage jars, the purposeful repetition of this pederastic scene on both sides of the amphora could suggest something beyond everyday use and function. Perhaps it was used as a grave good, an object with meaning that is placed in someone’s grave, or maybe it was used as decoration, much like how we display fine porcelain dishes in cabinets today.

Pederasty in ancient Greece served as something akin to a mentorship function in which the erastes taught the eromenos about sex and inducted him into society, both economically, as demonstrated in this gift-giving scene, and socially, especially through attendance of symposiums, male-dominated party spaces., In modern times, pederastic relationships connotate an almost-pedophilic sexual exploitation of an immature or naïve younger person by an older person; the morality of consent due to the age gap maintained by the eromenos and erastes is questioned by many modern scholars,iii and it is worth noting that the law in various Greek city-states dictated the minimum age at which young men could become eromenos.iv The normalization and institutionalization of pederastic relationships within the Greek city-states seems to coincide with Cretan laws that segregated women from men and an increasing trend of men marrying later, perhaps due to overpopulation.