Pederasty in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged relationship between an adult and a younger male usually in his teens. It was characteristic of the Archaic and Classical periods. Some scholars locate its origin in initiation ritual, particularly rites of passage on Crete, where it was associated with entrance into military life and the religion of Zeus.

The social custom called ''paiderastia'' by the Greeks was both idealized and criticized in ancient literature and philosophy; it has no formal existence in the Homeric epics, and seems to have developed in the late 7th century BC as an aspect of Greek homosocial culture, which was characterized also by athletic and artistic nudity, delayed marriage for aristocrats, symposia, and the social seclusion of women. The influence of pederasty was so pervasive that it has been called "the principal cultural model for free relationships between citizens."

Scholars have debated the role or extent of sexual activity, which is likely to have varied according to local custom and individual inclination. The English word "pederasty" in present-day usage implies the abuse of minors, but Athenian law, for instance, does not recognize consent and age as factors in regulating sexual behavior. As classical historian Robin Osborne has pointed out, historical discussion of ''paiderastia'' is complicated by 21st-century moral standards:

It is the historian's job to draw attention to the personal, social, political and indeed moral issues behind the literary and artistic representations of the Greek world. The historian's job is to present pederasty and all, to make sure that … we come face to face with the way the glory that was Greece was part of a world in which many of our own core values find themselves challenged rather than reinforced.

Terminology

The Greek word ''paiderastia'' (παιδεραστία) is an abstract noun of feminine gender. It is formed from ''paiderastês'', which in turn is a compound of ''pais'' ("child", plural ''paides'') and ''erastês'' (see below). Although the word ''pais'' can refer to a child of either sex, ''paiderastia'' is defined by Liddell and Scott's ''Greek-English Lexicon'' as "the love of boys," and the verb ''paiderasteuein'' as "to be a lover of boys."

Since the publication of Kenneth Dover's now classic work ''Homosexuality in Ancient Greece'', ''erastês'' and ''erômenos'' have been standard terms for the two pederastic roles. Both words derive from the Greek verb ''erô, erân'', "to love"; see also eros. In Dover's strict dichotomy, the ''erastês'' (ἐραστής, plural ''erastai'') is the older lover, seen as the active or dominant partner, with the suffix ''-tês'' (-τής) denoting agency. ''Erastês'' should be distinguished from Greek ''paiderastês'', which meant "lover of boys" usually with a negative connotation. The ''erastês'' himself might only be in his early twenties, and thus the age difference between the two lovers might be negligible.

The word ''erômenos'', or "beloved" (plural ''eromenoi''), is the masculine form of the present passive participle from ''ero'', viewed by Dover as the passive or subordinate partner. An ''erômenos'' can also be called ''pais'', "child." The ''pais'' was regarded as a future citizen, not an "inferior object of sexual gratification," and was portrayed with respect in art. The word can be understood as an endearment such as a parent might use, found also in the poetry of Sappho and a designation of only relative age. Both art and other literary references show that the ''erômenos'' was at least a teen, with modern age estimates ranging from 13 to 20, or in some cases up to 30. Most evidence indicates that to be an eligible ''erômenos'', a youth would be of an age when an aristocrat began his formal military training, that is, from fifteen to seventeen. As an indication of physical maturity, the ''erômenos'' was sometimes as tall as or taller than the older ''erastês'', and may have his first facial hair. Another word used by the Greeks for the younger partner was ''paidika'', a neuter plural adjective ("things having to do with children") treated syntactically as masculine singular.

In poetry and philosophical literature, the ''erômenos'' is often an embodiment of idealized youth; a related ideal depiction of youth in Archaic culture was the ''kouros'', the long-haired male statuary nude. In ''The Fragility of Goodness'', Martha Nussbaum, following Dover, defines the ideal ''erômenos'' as

a beautiful creature without pressing needs of his own. He is aware of his attractiveness, but self-absorbed in his relationship with those who desire him. He will smile sweetly at the admiring lover; he will show appreciation for the other's friendship, advice, and assistance. He will allow the lover to greet him by touching, affectionately, his genitals and his face, while he looks, himself, demurely at the ground. … The inner experience of an ''erômenos'' would be characterized, we may imagine, by a feeling of proud self-sufficiency. Though the object of importunate solicitation, he is himself not in need of anything beyond himself. He is unwilling to let himself be explored by the other's needy curiosity, and he has, himself, little curiosity about the other. He is something like a god, or the statue of a god.

Dover insisted that the active role of the ''erastês'' and the passivity of the ''erômenos'' is a distinction "of the highest importance," but subsequent scholars have tried to present a more varied picture of the behaviors and values associated with ''paiderastia''. Although ancient Greek writers use ''erastês'' and ''erômenos'' in a pederastic context, the words are not technical terms for social roles, and can refer to the "lover" and "beloved" in other hetero- and homosexual couples.

Origins

The Greek practice of pederasty came suddenly into prominence at the end of the Archaic period of Greek history; there is a brass plaque from Crete, about 650-625 BC, which is the oldest surviving representation of pederastic custom. Such representations appear from all over Greece in the next century; literary sources show it as being established custom in many cities by the fifth century BC.

Cretan pederasty as a formal social institution seems to have been grounded in an initiation which involved ritual abduction. A man (''philetor'', "lover") selected a youth, enlisted the chosen one's friends to help him, and carried off the object of his affections to his ''andreion'', a sort of men's club or meeting hall. The youth received gifts, and the ''philetor'' along with the friends went away with him for two months into the countryside, where they hunted and feasted. At this end of this time, the ''philetor'' presented the youth with three contractually required gifts: military attire, an ox, and a drinking cup. Other costly gifts followed. Upon their return to the city, the youth sacrificed the ox to Zeus, and his friends joined him at the feast. He received special clothing that in adult life marked him as ''kleinos'', "famous, renowned." The initiate was called a ''parastatheis'', "he who stands beside," perhaps because, like Ganymede the cup-bearer of Zeus, he stood at the side of the ''philetor'' during meals in the ''andreion'' and served him from the cup that had been ceremonially presented. In this interpretation, the formal custom reflects myth and ritual.

Social aspects

The erastes-eromenos relationship played a role in the Classical Greek social and educational system, had its own complex social-sexual etiquette and was an important social institution among the upper classes. Pederasty has been understood as educative, and Greek authors from Aristophanes to Pindar felt it naturally present in the context of aristocratic education (''paideia''). In general, pederasty as described in the Greek literary sources is an institution reserved for free citizens, perhaps to be regarded as a dyadic mentorship: "pederasty was widely accepted in Greece as part of a male's coming-of-age, even if its function is still widely debated."

In Crete, in order for the suitor to carry out the ritual abduction, the father had to approve him as worthy of the honor. Among the Athenians, as Socrates claims in Xenophon's ''Symposium,'' "Nothing [of what concerns the boy] is kept hidden from the father, by an ideal lover." In order to protect their sons from inappropriate attempts at seduction, fathers appointed slaves called ''pedagogues'' to watch over their sons. However, according to Aeschines, Athenian fathers would pray that their sons would be handsome and attractive, with the full knowledge that they would then attract the attention of men and "be the objects of fights because of erotic passions."

The age-range when boys entered into such relationships was consonant with that of Greek girls given in marriage, often to adult husbands many years their senior. Boys, however, usually had to be courted and were free to choose their mate, while marriages for girls were arranged for economic and political advantage at the discretion of father and suitor. These connections were also an advantage for a youth and his family, as the relationship with an influential older man resulted in an expanded social network. Thus, some considered it desirable to have had many admirers or mentors, if not necessarily lovers per se, in one’s younger years. Typically, after their sexual relationship had ended and the young man had married, the older man and his protégé would remain on close terms throughout their life. For those lovers who continued their lovemaking after their beloveds had matured, the Greeks made allowances, saying, ''You can lift up a bull, if you carried the calf.''

Pederasty was the idealized form of an age-structured homoeroticism that had other, less idealized manifestations, such as prostitution or the sexual use of slave boys. Paying free youths for sex was prohibited. Free youths who did sell their favors were ridiculed, and later in life might be prohibited from performing certain official functions.

Even when lawful, it was not uncommon for the relationship to fail, as it was said of many boys that they "hated no one as much as the man who had been their lover" (see, for instance, "Death of King Philip II of Macedon'"). Likewise, the Cretans required the boy to declare whether the relationship had been to his liking, thus giving him an opportunity to break it off if any violence had been done to him. In Classical times there appears a note of concern that the institution of pederasty might give rise to a "morbid condition", adult homosexuality, that today's ''eromenos'' may become tomorrow's ''kinaidos,'' defined as the passive or "penetrated" partner.

Political aspects

Transgressions of the customs pertaining to the proper expression of homosexuality within the bounds of ''pederaistia'' could be used to damage the reputation of a public figure. In his speech ''Against Timarchus'' in 346 BC, the Athenian politician Aeschines argues against further allowing Timarchus, an experienced middle-aged politician, his political rights, on account of his having spent his adolescence as the kept boy of a series of wealthy men. Aeschines won his case, and Timarchus was sentenced to ''atimia''. Aeschines acknowledges his own dalliances with beautiful boys, the erotic poems he dedicated to these youths, and the scrapes he has gotten into as a result of his affairs, but emphasizes that none of these were mediated by money. A financial motive thus was viewed as threatening a man's status as free.

By contrast, as expressed in Pausanias' speech in Plato's ''Symposium,'' pederastic love was said to be favorable to democracy and feared by tyrants, because the bond between the ''erastes'' and ''eromenos'' was stronger than that of obedience to a despotic ruler. Athenaeus states that "Hieronymus the Aristotelian says that love with boys was fashionable because several tyrannies had been overturned by young men in their prime, joined together as comrades in mutual sympathy." He gives as examples of such pederastic couples the Athenians Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who were credited (perhaps symbolically) with the overthrow of the tyrant Hippias and the establishment of the democracy, and also Chariton and Melanippus. Others, such as Aristotle, claimed that the Cretan lawgivers encouraged pederasty as a means of population control, by directing love and sexual desire into non-procreative channels:

"and the lawgiver has devised many wise measures to secure the benefit of moderation at table, and the segregation of the women in order that they may not bear many children, for which purpose he instituted association with the male sex."

Philosophical views

Socrates' love of Alcibiades, which was more than reciprocated, is held as an example of chaste pederasty. Phaedrus, in the Platonic dialogue the ''Symposium'' states:

For I know not any greater blessing to a young man who is beginning in life than a virtuous lover, or to a lover than a beloved youth. For the principle, I say, neither kindred, nor honor, nor wealth, nor any motive is able to implant so well as love. Of what am I speaking? Of the sense of honor and dishonor, without which neither states nor individuals ever do any good or great work… And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonor and emulating one another in honor; and it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that when fighting at each other’s side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world.

Plato in his ''Laws,'' blamed pederasty for promoting civil strife and driving many to their wits' end, and recommended the prohibition of sexual intercourse with boys, laying out a path whereby this may be accomplished.

In art

Greek vase painting is a major source for scholars seeking to understand attitudes and practices associated with ''paiderastia''. Hundreds of pederastic scenes are depicted on Attic black-figure vases. In the early 20th century, John Beazley classified pederastic vases into three types:

The ''erastês'' and ''erômenos'' stand facing each other; the ''erastês'', knees bent, reaches with one hand for the beloved's chin and with the other for his genitals.

The ''erastês'' presents the ''erômenos'' with a small gift, sometimes an animal.

The standing lovers engage in intercrural sex.

Certain gifts traditionally given by the ''eromenos'' become symbols that contribute to interpreting a given scene as pederastic. Animal gifts — most commonly hares and roosters, but also deer and felines — point toward hunting as an aristocratic pastime and as a metaphor for sexual pursuit.

The explicit nature of some images has led in particular to discussions of whether the ''eromenos'' took active pleasure in the sex act. The youthful beloved is never pictured with an erection; his penis "remains flaccid even in circumstances to which one would expect the penis of any healthy adolescent to respond willy-nilly." Fondling the youth's genitals was one of the most common images of pederastic courtship on vases, a gesture indicated also in Aristophanes' comedy ''Birds'' (line 142). Some vases do show the younger partner as sexually responsive, prompting one scholar to wonder, "What can the point of this act have been unless lovers in fact derived some pleasure from feeling and watching the boy's developing organ wake up and respond to their manual stimulation?"

Chronological study of the vase paintings also reveals a changing aesthetic in the depiction of the ''erômenos''. In the 6th century BC, he is a young beardless man with long hair, of adult height and physique, usually nude. As the 5th century begins, he has become smaller and slighter, "barely pubescent," and often draped as a girl would be. No inferences about social customs should be based on this element of the courtship scene alone.

Sexual practices

Vase paintings and an obsession with the beloved's appealing thighs in poetry indicate that when the pederastic couple engaged in sex acts, the preferred form was intercrural. To preserve his dignity and honor, the ''erômenos'' limits the man who desires him to penetration between closed thighs.

Anal sex may be depicted, but far more rarely. The evidence is not explicit and is open to interpretation. Some vase paintings, which Percy considers a fourth type of pederastic scene in addition to Beazley's three, show the ''erastês'' seated with an erection and the ''erômenos'' either approaching or climbing into his lap. The composition of these scenes is the same as that for depictions of women mounting men who are seated and aroused for intercourse. As a cultural norm considered apart from personal preference, anal penetration was most often seen as dishonorable to the one penetrated, or shameful. A fable attributed to Aesop tells how Aeschyne (Shame) consented to enter the human body from behind only as long as Eros did not follow the same path, and would fly away at once if he did. Oral sex is likewise not depicted, or is indicated only indirectly; anal or oral penetration seems to have been reserved for prostitutes or slaves.

Dover maintained that the ''erômenos'' was ideally not supposed to feel "unmanly" desire for the ''erastês''. David M. Halperin contended that boys were not aroused. More recent discussion holds that in actual practice — as contrasted with philosophical ideals — there would have been reciprocation of desire.

Poetic conventions

There are many pederastic references among the works of the Megaran poet Theognis addressed to Cyrnus (Greek ''Kyrnos''). Some portions of the Theognidean corpus are probably not by the individual from Megara, but rather represent "several generations of wisdom poetry." The poems are "social, political, or ethical precepts transmitted to Cyrnus as part of his formation into an adult Megarian aristocrat in Theognis' own image."

The relationship between Theognis and Kyrnos eludes categorization. Although it was assumed in antiquity that Kyrnos was the poet's ''eromenos'', the poems that are most explicitly erotic are not addressed to him; the poetry on "the joys and sorrows" of pederasty seem more apt for sharing with a fellow ''erastes'', perhaps in the setting of the symposium: "the relationship, in any case, is left vague."

Theocritus describes a kissing contest for youths that takes place at the tomb of a certain Diocles, renowned for friendship; he notes that invoking Ganymede was proper to the occasion.

==In myth and religion==

The myth of Ganymede's abduction by Zeus was invoked as a precedent for the pederastic relationship, as Theognis asserts to a friend:

There is some pleasure in loving a boy ''(paidophilein)'', since once in fact even the son of Cronus ''(that is, Zeus)'', king of immortals, fell in love with Ganymede, seized him, carried him off to Olympus, and made him divine, keeping the lovely bloom of boyhood ''(paideia)''. So, don't be astonished, Simonides, that I too have been revealed as captivated by love for a handsome boy.

Greek myths provide more than fifty examples of young men who were the lovers of gods. Pederastic love affairs are ascribed to Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Orpheus, Hercules, Dionysus, Hermes, and Pan. All the Olympian gods except Ares had these relationships, which are adduced by scholars to show that the specific customs of ''paiderastia'' originated in initiatory rituals.

Dover, however, believed that these myths are only literary versions expressing or explaining the "overt" homosexuality of Greek archaic culture, the distinctiveness of which he contrasted to attitudes in other ancient societies such as Egypt and Israel.

Regional characteristics

The Greek East

The traditions of Ionia and Aeolia featured poets such as Anacreon, and Alcaeus, a man also reputed for his bravery and political skills, who composed many of the sympotic skolia that were to become later part of the mainland tradition. Unlike the Dorians, where a lover would usually have only one eromenos, in the east a man might have several eromenos over the course of his life. From the poems of Alcaeus we learn that the lover would customarily invite his eromenos to dine with him.

Sparta

Sparta, a Dorian polis, is thought to be the first city to practice athletic nudity, and one of the first to formalize pederasty. The Spartans believed that the love of an older, accomplished aristocrat for an adolescent was essential to his formation as a free citizen. The ''agoge'', the education of the ruling class, was thus founded on pederastic relationships required of each citizen. The lover was responsible for the boy's training. Pederasty and military training were intimately connected in Sparta, as in many other cities. The Spartans, claims Athenaeus sacrificed to Eros before every battle.

The nature of this relationship is in dispute. Xenophon in his Constitution of the Lacedaimonians says that the relationship among Spartan man and boys "were opposed to" pederasty, that man should make "ideal friends" out of boys, and if that the man was sexually attracted to the boy, it was considered "an abomination" tantamount to incest. Plutarch also describes the relationships as chaste, and states that it was as unthinkable for a lover to sexually consummate a relationship with his beloved as for a father to do so with his own son. Aelian relates that in Sparta, for a man to not have a youth for a lover was considered a deficiency in character, and he was punished for not making another as good as he was himself, despite his excellence. But Aelian also says that if any couple succumbed to temptation and indulged in carnal relations, they would have to redeem the affront to the honor of Sparta by either going into exile or taking their own lives.

Megara

Megara cultivated good relations with Sparta, and may have been culturally attracted to emulate Spartan practices in the seventh century, when pederasty is postulated to have first been formalized in Dorian cities, One of the first cities after Sparta to be associated with the custom of athletic nudity, Megara was home to the runner Orsippus who was famed as the first to run the footrace naked at the Olympic games and "first of all Greeks to be crowned victor naked." In one poem, the Megaran poet Theognis saw athletic nudity as a prelude to pederasty: "Happy is the lover who works out naked / And then goes home to sleep all day with a beautiful boy."

Athens

In Athens, as elsewhere, ''pederastia'' began among the aristocracy, but in time was picked up by others. Attic pottery is a major source for modern scholars attempting to understand the institution of pederasty. The age of youth depicted has been estimated variously from 12 to 18. A number of Athenian laws addressed the pederastic relationship.

Boeotia

In Thebes, the main polis in Boeotia, renowned for its practice of pederasty, the tradition was enshrined in the founding myth of the city. In this instance the story was meant to teach by counterexample: it depicts Laius, one of the mythical ancestors of the Thebans, in the role of a lover who betrays the father and rapes the son. Another Boeotian pederastic myth is the story of Narcissus.

According to Plutarch, Theban pederasty was instituted as an educational device for boys in order to "soften, while they were young, their natural fierceness, and to "temper the manners and characters of the youth". The Sacred Band of Thebes, a battalion made up of 150 pairs of lovers, was unbeatable until its final battle against Philip II at Chaeronea in 338 BC.

Boeotian pottery, in contrast to that of Athens, does not exhibit the three types of pederastic scenes identified by Beazley. The limited survival and cataloguing of pottery that can be proven to have been made in Boeotia diminishes the value of this evidence in distinguishing a specifically local tradition of ''paiderastia''.

Modern scholarship

The ethical views held in ancient societies, such as Athens, Thebes, Crete, Sparta, Elis and others, on the practice of pederasty have been explored by scholars only since the end of the nineteenth century. One of the first to do so was John Addington Symonds, who wrote his seminal work ''A Problem in Greek Ethics'' in 1873, but after a private edition of 10 copies (1883) only in 1901 the work could really be published, in revised form . Edward Carpenter expanded the scope of the study, with his 1914 work, ''Intermediate Types among Primitive Folk''. The text examines homoerotic practices of all types, not only pederastic ones, and ranges over cultures spanning the whole globe . In Germany the work was continued by classicist Paul Brandt writing under the pseudonym Hans Licht, who published his ''Sexual Life in Ancient Greece'' in 1932.

Mainstream Ancient Greek studies however had historically omitted references of the widespread practice of homosexuality. E. M. Forster's 1910 novel ''Maurice'' makes reference to modern European ambivalence toward this aspect of ancient Greek culture in a scene where a Cambridge professor, leading a group of students in translating an ancient Greek text says, "Omit the reference to the unspeakable vice of the Greeks." Later in the 1940s H. Mitchell wrote: This aspect of Greek morals is an extraordinary one, into which, for the sake of our equanimity, it is unprofitable to pry too closely". It would not be until 1978 and K. J. Dover's book ''Greek Homosexuality,'' that the topic would be widely and frankly discussed.

Dover's work triggered a number of debates which still continue. Twentieth century historian Michel Foucault declared that pederasty was "problematized" in Greek culture, that it was "the object of a special — and especially intense — moral preoccupation" focusing on concern with the chastity/moderation of the ''erōmenos'' (the term used for the "beloved" youth).. A modern line of thought leading from Dover to Foucault to Halperin holds that the eromenos did not reciprocate the love and desire of the erastes, and that the relationship was factored on a sexual domination of the younger by the older, a politics of penetration held to be true of all adult male Athenians' relations with their social inferiors — boys, women and slaves — a theory propounded also by Eva Keuls. From this perspective, the relationships are characterized and factored on a power differential between the participants, and as essentially asymmetrical.

Other scholars point to artwork on vases, poetry and philosophical works such as the Platonic discussion of anteros, "love returned," all of which show tenderness and desire and love on the part of the eromenos matching and responding to that of the erastes. Critics of Dover and his followers also point out that they ignore all material which argued against their "overly theoretical" interpretation of a human and emotional relationship and counter that "Clearly, a mutual, consensual bond was formed," and that it is "a modern fairy tale that the younger eromenos was never aroused."

Halperin's position has been criticized as a "persistently negative and judgmental rhetoric implying exploitation and domination as the fundamental characteristics of pre-modern sexual models" and challenged as a polemic of "mainstream assimilationist gay apologists" and an attempt to "demonize and purge from the movement" all non-orthodox male sexualities, especially that involving adults and adolescents.

Notes

See also

Age disparity in sexual relationships

Greek love

Homosexuality in ancient Greece

LGBT themes in mythology

Paideia

Platonic love

Sacred Band of Thebes

The Sacred Band of Stepsons, fiction

Selected bibliography

Dover, Kenneth J. ''Greek Homosexuality''. Duckworth 1978.

Dover, Kenneth J. "Greek Homosexuality and Initiation." In ''Que(e)rying Religion: A Critical Anthology''. Continuum, 1997, pp. 19–38.

Ellis, Havelock. ''Studies in the Psychology of Sex'', vol. 2: Sexual Inversion. Project Gutenberg text

Ferrari, Gloria. ''FIgures of Speech: Men and Maidens in Ancient Greece''. University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Hubbard, Thomas K. ''Homosexuality in Greece and Rome''. University of California Press, 2003.

Johnson, Marguerite, and Ryan, Terry. ''Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature: A Sourcebook''. Routledge, 2005.

Lear, Andrew, and Eva Cantarella. ''Images of Ancient Greek Pederasty: Boys Were Their Gods''. Routledge, 2008. ISBN 978-0415223676.

Nussbaum, Martha. ''Sex and Social Justice''. Oxford University Press, 1999.

Percy, William A. ''Pederasty and Pedagogy in Archaic Greece''. University of Illinois Press, 1996.

''Same–Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity and in the Classical Tradition of the West''. Binghamton: Haworth, 2005.

Sergent, Bernard. ''Homosexuality in Greek Myth''. Beacon Press, 1986.

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:Philosophy of love Category:Eros in ancient Greece Category:LGBT history in Greece Category:Rites of passage Category:Sexuality and society

es:Pederastia en la Antigua Grecia id:Perjantanan di Yunani kuno it:Pederastia greca he:פדרסטיה sh:Pederastija u antičkoj Grčkoj

name	Steve Reeves
birth date	January 21, 1926
birth place	Glasgow, Montana, USA
death date	May 01, 2000
death place	Escondido, California, USA
spouse	Sandra Smith (1955–1956) Aline Czartjarwicz (1963–1989) (her death) }}

Stephen L. Reeves (January 21, 1926 – May 1, 2000) was an American bodybuilder and actor. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe.

Biography

Childhood

Born in Glasgow, Montana, Steve Reeves moved to California at age 10 with his mother Goldie Reeves, after his father Lester Dell Reeves died in a farming accident. Reeves developed an interest in bodybuilding in high school and trained at Ed Yarick's gym in Oakland. By the time he was 17, he had developed a Herculean physique, long before the general interest in bodybuilding. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Army during World War II, and served in the Pacific.

Acting

After his military service, Reeves invested in an acting career. In 1954 he had a small role in his first major motion picture, the musical ''Athena'' playing the boyfriend of Jane Powell's character. The same year Reeves had a small role as a cop in the Ed Wood film ''Jail Bait''. These two films are the only ones Reeves made where his own voice was used — for the remainder of his career, Reeves acted in [[Dubbing (filmmaking)#Generally dubbing countries| Italian-made films]] where all dialogue and sound effects were added in post-production.

On December 17, 1954, Reeves guest starred in the ABC sitcom with a variety show theme, ''The Ray Bolger Show''. Ray Bolger portrayed Raymond Wallace, a song-and-dance man repeatedly barely on time for his performances. Reeves played a well-built office employee whom Wallace sees in the company of Wallace's girlfriend, Susan, played by Marjie Millar. Others on the series were Richard Erdman, Allyn Joslyn, Betty Lynn, Sylvia Lewis, Gloria Winters, and Verna Felton.

In 1957, Reeves went to Italy and played the lead character in Pietro Francisci's ''Hercules'', a very low-budget epic based loosely on the tales of Jason and the Argonauts, though inserting Hercules into the lead role.

From 1959 through 1964, Reeves went on to appear in a string of sword and sandal movies shot on relatively small budgets, and although he is best known for his portrayal of the Greek hero Hercules, he played the character only twice: in the 1957 film and its 1959 sequel ''Hercules Unchained'' (released in the US in 1960). He played a number of other characters on screen, including Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Glaucus of Pompeii; Goliath (also called Emiliano); Tatar hero Hadji Murad; Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome (opposite Gordon Scott as his twin brother Remus); the famous war-time messenger of the Battle of Marathon, Pheidippides (''The Giant of Marathon''); pirate and self-proclaimed governor of Jamaica, Captain Henry Morgan; and Karim, the Thief of Baghdad. Twice he played Aeneas of Troy and twice he played Emilio Salgari's Malaysian hero, Sandokan.

After the box office success of ''Hercules'', Reeves turned down the role that finally went to Clint Eastwood in ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964) because he could not believe that "Italians could make a western". He also claimed to have turned down James Bond's role in ''Dr. No'' (1962).

During the filming of ''The Last Days of Pompeii'', Reeves dislocated his shoulder when his chariot slammed into a tree. Swimming in a subsequent underwater escape scene, he re-injured his shoulder. The injury would be aggravated by his stunt work in each successive film, ultimately leading to his retirement from filmmaking and weightlifting.

In 1968 Reeves appeared in his final film, a spaghetti western that imitated the Sergio Leone epics, which he also co-wrote, titled ''A Long Ride From Hell''. His last screen appearance was in 2000 when he appeared as himself in the made-for-television ''A&E; Biography: Arnold Schwarzenegger - Flex Appeal''.

In July of 1997, Steve was interviewed by freelance writer, Rod Labbe. Entitled "Demi-god on Horseback," it ran as the cover story for Films of the Golden Age magazine, dated summer 2011.

Death

Later in his life, Reeves promoted drug-free bodybuilding and bred horses. The last two decades of his life were spent in Valley Center, California, near Escondido. He bought a ranch with his savings and lived there with his second wife Aline until her death in 1989. On May 1, 2000, Reeves died from complications of lymphoma.

Filmography in chronological order

''U.S. release title is followed by the English translation of the original Italian title in parentheses

''Jail Bait'' (1954) directed by Ed Wood

''Athena'' (1954) directed by Richard Thorpe

''Hercules'' (1958) (''The Labors of Hercules'')

''Hercules Unchained'' (1959) (''Hercules and the Queen of Lydia'')

''Goliath and the Barbarians'' (1959) (''Terror of the Barbarians'')

''The Giant of Marathon'' (1959) (''The Battle of Marathon'')

''The Last Days of Pompeii'' (1959) (''The Last Days of Pompeii'')

''The White Warrior'' (1959) (''Hadji Murad, The White Devil'') directed by Riccardo Freda

''Morgan, the Pirate'' (1960) (''Morgan, the Pirate'')

''The Thief of Baghdad'' (1961) (''The Thief of Baghdad'')

''The Trojan Horse'' (1961) (''The Trojan War'')

''Duel of the Titans'' (1961) (''Romulus And Remus'')

''The Avenger'' (1962) (''The Legend Of Aeneas'') released in England as ''The Last Glory of Troy''

''The Slave'' (1962) (''Son of Spartacus'')

''Sandokan the Great'' (1963) (''Sandokan, the Tiger of Mompracem'') directed by Umberto Lenzi

''The Pirates of Malaysia'' (1964) (''The Pirates of Malaysia'', also known as ''Pirates of the Seven Seas'') directed by Umberto Lenzi (sequel to the previous title, with Reeves again playing Sandokan)

''A Long Ride from Hell'' (1967) (''I Live for Your Death'') directed by Camillo Brazzoni

See also

List of male professional bodybuilders

References

Chapman, David. "On The Cover: Steve Reeves", ''Hardgainer'', November 1992.

External links

An Interview with Steve Reeves by Roy Frumkes, from ''The Perfect Vision Magazine'', Volume 6, Issue #22, July 1994

How Steve Reeves Trained by John Grimek, Muscular Development November 1964, account of how Reeves trained to prepare for the 1950 Mr. Universe competition at the York Barbell Club gym

Feature Films: Hercules

Feature Films: Hercules Unchained

Steve Reeves Gallery

Category:American bodybuilders Category:American film actors Category:Actors from California Category:Actors from Montana Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Deaths from lymphoma Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:People from Valley County, Montana Category:Professional bodybuilders Category:1926 births Category:2000 deaths

bg:Стив Рийвс ca:Steve Reeves cs:Steve Reeves de:Steve Reeves es:Steve Reeves fr:Steve Reeves it:Steve Reeves la:Stephanus Reeves pl:Steve Reeves pt:Steve Reeves ru:Ривз, Стив sv:Steve Reeves uk:Стів Рівз

name	Sylva Koscina
birthname	Sylva Koskinon
birth date	August 22, 1933
birth place	Zagreb, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now Zagreb, Republic of Croatia)
death date	December 26, 1994
death place	Rome, Italy
occupation	Actress, model
years active	1955-1994
spouse	Raimondo Castelli (1967-1971) (divorced)
domesticpartner	Raimondo Castelli (1960-1967)}}

Sylva Koscina (born August 22, 1933, Zagreb, Kingdom of Yugoslavia — died December 26, 1994, Rome, Italy) was an Italian actress.

Biography

Born in Zagreb as Sylva Koskinon of Greek and Polish descent, she may be best-remembered for her role as Iole, the bride of Hercules (Steve Reeves) in ''Hercules'' (1958) and ''Hercules Unchained'' (1960). She also played Paul Newman's romantic interest in ''The Secret War of Harry Frigg'' (1968).

During the Second World War when she was a teenager, she moved to Italy to live with her sister, who had married an Italian citizen.

Koscina had an extensive film career there. She also starred in the 1967 comedy caper ''Three Bites of the Apple'' with David McCallum, and ''Deadlier Than the Male'' (1967), in which she and Elke Sommer portrayed sophisticated professional killers dueling with Bulldog Drummond. She also played Danica in the Yugoslavian movie ''The Battle of Neretva'', in 1969. She played a German doctor, Bianca, in ''The Hornets' Nest'' with Rock Hudson.

Koscina had studied physics at the University of Naples, was Miss Di Tappa at the Tour of Italy bicycle race in 1954, as well as being a fashion model. She made a fleeting appearance in the part of an aspiring actress in ''Siamo uomini o caporali?'' [Are we men or corporals?] (1955) before making a flying catch at her great opportunity: she portrayed Giulia, daughter of the train engineer Andrea, in Pietro Germi's ''Il ferroviere'' [The Railroad Man] (1956). Koscina immediately confirmed her talent in ''Guendalina'' (1957), where she had no difficulty playing the part of a young mother.

A lead player in popular comedies, such as ''Nonna Sabella'' [Grandmother Sabella] (1957), ''Ladro lui, ladra lei'' [He a thief, she a thief] (1958), and ''Poveri millionari'' [Poor millionaires] (1958), Koscina alternated cleverly between roles as vamp and ingenue. She represented women in search of social upward mobility, the image of an Italy that had left its worst problems behind.

Koscina was suited to sophisticated comedies like ''Mogli pericolose'' [Dangerous wives] (1958), where she made a direct sentimental challenge to poor Giorgia Moll. But she also seemed at ease draped in a peplum: she made a marvelous fiancee for Hercules in ''Le fatiche di Ercole'' [Hercules] (1958), a prototype of this kind of film. A true-life example of her popularity in Italy occurred when, in order to win her over, a police officer named Alberto Sordi let her go without issuing a traffic ticket. Sylva was later a guest on a television program, where thanked him on the air, thus getting him into lots of trouble with the police department. The incident and its aftermath inspired the movie ''Il vigile'' [The policeman] (1960), where she played herself.

In the first half of the sixties, Koscina married her lover, Raimondo Castelli, a small producer connected with Minerva Films. She managed to keep well afloat with roles in Damiano Damiani's ''Il sicario'' [The hired killer] (1961). In ''La lepre e la tartaruga'' [The Tortoise and the Hare], an episode in ''Le quattro verita'' [The Three Fables of Love] (1963), the director Blasetti constructed a duel between Koscina and Monica Vitti. In 1965, Koscina appeared in ''Giulietta degli spiriti''. She was also a television personality, as she was often the special guest on variety shows.

From the early 1960s, she invested most of her considerable salaries as a star in a luxurious villa, in the well-to-do district of Marino, Rome, complete with 16th-century furniture and artistic paintings. That lasted until her spending overcame her dwindling income, and she had to face a tax evasion inquest, when she was forced to sell her house in 1976. Living with Raimondo Castelli since 1960 the couple did not marry due to then Italian law and because his wife Marinella refused him an annulment. Castelli and Koscina married in Mexico in 1967, but that marriage was not recognized in Italy.

After passing thirty, she partnered with actors such as Kirk Douglas in ''A Lovely Way to Die'' (1968) and Paul Newman in ''The Secret War of Harry Frigg'' (1967), but without any luck. Her fame being a bit tarnished, it was given a boost in the second half of the sixties when she photographed bare-breasted in the Italian edition of Playboy magazine. Mauro Bolognini's L'assolute naturale (1969) was released complete with a "chaste" full nude shot.

Personal Quotes

On her infamous love scene - "Of course, if it had not been for the director, I wouldn't have done this film."

Death

Sylva Koscina died in Rome in 1994, aged 61, from breast cancer.

Selected filmography

''Swordsman of Siena'' (1962)

''Hot Enough for June'' (1964)

''Deadlier Than the Male'' (1967)

''Kampf um Rom I'' (1968)

''Kampf um Rom II'' (1969)

References

External links

Category:1933 births Category:1994 deaths Category:People from Zagreb Category:Deaths from breast cancer Category:Italian people of Greek descent Category:Italian people of Polish descent Category:Italian film actors Category:People from Rome (city) Category:Cancer deaths in Italy

de:Sylva Koscina el:Σύλβα Κοσκινά es:Sylva Koscina fr:Sylva Koscina hr:Silva Košćina it:Sylva Koscina ja:シルヴァ・コシナ pt:Sylva Koscina ro:Sylva Koscina ru:Кошчина, Силва sr:Силва Кошћина fi:Sylva Koscina