Religion is a powerful and driving force behind the lives of many humans. Time in history makes no difference toward the devotion of humans to the unseen celestial forces. Many deities have been worshipped for the many aspects of sexuality, and ancient Greece is no different. There are many gods and goddesses in Greek religion that represent different aspects of sexuality. The goddess Aphrodite represents love, lust and beauty, the goddess Demeter represents fertility while the goddess Hera presides over matters of marriage, women and childbirth. The god Hermes is known for many different reasons, but a little known fact is that Hermes taught his frustrated son, Pan, how to masturbate. In turn, Pan taught the activity to the herdsmen he presided over. Some minor gods and goddesses also preside over sexual matters. Apheae is a minor goddess of fertility, Eros is the son of Aphrodite and he looks after love, lust and sex, and Hymen is the goddess of marriage and marriage feasts.
Both homosexuality and heterosexuality are represented in stories about the god’s adventures. The powerful god named Zeus was a classic womanizer, but he was also susceptible to the powerful pull of a beautiful young boy. It was said that Zeus fell in love with a Trojan prince named Ganymede, and abducted him, taking him back to Olympus.
Religion is commonly shown in the form of art. Neolithic figurines show a lot of strong sexual themes and genital representation from a variety of timelines. Sex and fertility figures are commonly found, most of them are indistinguishable from one to the next. The mythical creatures called Satyrs are half man, half goat and are always depicted in art with an erect phallus. These mythical creatures are sexually insatiable and always in pursuit of a person or thing that will satisfy their needs.
Overall, public attitudes towards sex and sexuality have become much more closed-minded in modern times compared to times in ancient Greece. Although, an amazing amount of similarities do exist between these two times. The most similarities exist with regards to superstition and religion. Humans consistently believe in what they cannot see and perform the necessary rituals to achieve the desired result of a situation.
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