Eromenos

Though in many contexts the younger man is also called pais, 'boy', the word can also be used for child, girl, son, daughter and slave, and therefore eromenos would be more specific and can "avoid the cumbrousness and…imprecision of 'boy'".

His relatively small stature suggests his passive role in the relationship and younger age as well as social status.

The lack of beard and pubic hair are an important clue in identifying an eromenos, though this may possibly be attributed to style.

The muscles on his body contrasts with the hoop, a child's toy which emphasises the shape of his genitals and inner thighs, and he holds the cockerel, which is the love gift from Zeus.

The pectoral and belly muscles show that he was well-trained in wrestling schools, and the bag of ‘Kydonian apples’ or quinces is a sign of his sexual awakening.

Dover studied poems related to pederasty and quoted some verses expressing love to the eromonos, ‘O boy with the virginal eyes, I seek you, but you do not listen, not knowing that you are the charioteer of my soul!’[7] Also, A surviving fragment of Solon from the early sixth century B.C.

writes that ‘Till he loves a lad in the flower of youth, bewitched by thighs and by sweet lips.’ [7] The graffiti of Thera verified that anal penetration was normal in pederastic relationships, for in the inscriptions, Krimon used the verb oiphein (male sexual act performed as either active or passive partner in Dorian dialect) to describe the intercourse with his eromenos, which indicates anal penetration.

[8] Also, literature suggested that the charm of the eromenos lay in his attractive anal area, which was described by various metaphors such as rosebud, fruits, figs or gold.

Apollo fell in love with Hyacinth on account of his youthful beauty, and became his instructor in archery, music, hunting and the gymnasium.

Though usually known as the mortal lover of Aphrodite, Adonis was said to be loved by other gods such as Apollo, Heracles and Dionysus, for his youth and beauty.

Nevertheless, to be in such a relationship with honour, eromenoi were supposed to resist the pursuit of their erastes to test their love, before finally yielding.

[9] According to Foucault, an eromenos should avoid being chased too easily, receiving too many gifts or quickly getting into a relationship before the erastes proved their passion, love and responsibility.

[9] Some scholars believe that what the eromenoi gained from their erastes were not material rewards, but intellectual and moral edification, as well as learning how to achieve ejaculation, as pederasty was regarded as a process of education and sensual pleasure.

[10] However, Michel Foucault argued that, according to Plutarch, the erastes' sexual contact was imposed through violence, and the eromenos could only feel anger, hatred, the desire for revenge and social shame through having become an object of contempt, which he described as acharistos.

[11] In heterosexual erotic images in Ancient Greece, the gender roles of male and female are often depicted as the dominant and subordinate positions.

The 20th-century English and South African writer Mary Renault was famous for her romantic novels on pederasty in Ancient Greece.

Her fan community also created artworks that imitate Greek vase paintings portraying courting scenes between the erastes and eromenos.