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Homosexuality Among Men, as a topic of discussion, is more widespread than it used to be, but this does not necessarily mean that homosexuality itself is becoming more prevalent. Nor is it possible to do more than speculate as to whether increasing discussion is occurring solely in consequence of a greater permissiveness in public, or in hazardous response to some idea of its teleological significance (Jung once said to me that he wondered if perhaps homosexuality might not be nature's way of attempting to regulate the excessive rise in the birthrate).
A brief historical account of views on male homosexuality precedes my examination of current views on its aetiology and development, and there follows a detailed account of the case of a male homosexual in my practice.
As we know from the Turin papyrus homosexuality was practised in ancient Egypt prior to the building of the pyramids, that is to say, over 4,500 years before Christ. It appears also that it played a role in the mysteries of Isis and Osiris. Aristotle mentioned that in ancient Crete homosexuality was given official sanction in order to provide a check on overpopulation. and in Greek mythology homosexuality is found among the gods, for example Zeus and Ganymede (cf. Kerényi, 1951 and 1951a). The practice of homosexuality was praised in the writings of Plato. In his Symposium he gives an absorbing account of these young homosexuals, contending that they were of a particularly high intellectual stature. Plato went so far as to idealize homosexuality, regarding it as the purest form of love, representing it as being an admirable combination of strength and tenderness, of devotion, of readiness to sacrifice, of gentleness and beauty.
From ancient Rome also comes rich evidence of the high esteem in which homosexuality was held. It existed side by side with heterosexuality, which was thought of as biological love, in contrast to spiritual love, among men. Only since the spread of Christi