Glukus himeros: pederastic influence on the myth of Ganymede

Pederastic influence on the myth of Ganymede enables it to evolve, in a continuous line of development easily traced in the history of Greek literature from Homer to Plato, into a homoerotic emblem of the spiritual union of the human and divine. Continuity in this history is marked by the thematic use of the Homeric phrase gammalambdaupsilonkappaùvarsigma 'ímicroepsilonrhoomicronvarsigma (glukus himeros, sweet longing) to describe sexual desire in association with the Ganymede myth in the Hymn to Aphrodite, Pindar and Plato.