The Greek medical texts and the sexual ethos of ancient Athens

After at least a century of institutionalized pederasty Athenian society developed legal and moral sanctions against this practice at the end of the fifth century BC as the indirect result of the introduction of medicine. Viewing the sex drive as a bodily need, analogous to hunger and thirst, it cast a disparaging light on the role played by the passive partner. It is here argued that the principal catalyst of the transformation of biology into prescriptive ethics was Democritus of Abdera, whose preoccupation with medicine is known. Democritus probably influenced Aristotle, who articulated the harshest condemnation of pederasty found in Greek texts.