'Coming out' in Classical Athens: Heterosexual Love

To judge from extant sources, after Homer until the late Hellenistic period no Greek man ever publicly stated that he loved his wife. By contrast, after Homer elite men often stated that they loved (or felt passion for) particular adolescent males. This essay explores possible reasons for these differences from more recent practice, and their progressive modification. Starting in the later fifth century, men might publicly state that they loved their dead wives. In New Comedy and then Hellenistic epigram, a young man might state that he loved (or felt passion for) a girl. Only the Greek novel, from the late Hellenistic age, expresses complete heterosexual love, although the readership of this genre may have been female.