Catamite
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A catamite is the younger, passive (anal recipient) partner in a pederastic relationship between a man and a boy, which was a popular arrangement in many areas of the ancient world.
The word catamite is derived from the Latin catamitus, itself borrowed from the Etruscan catmite, a corruption of the Greek Ganymedes, the boy who was seduced by Zeus and became his beloved and cup-bearer in Greek mythology.
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Related terms
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Etymology
First attested in English in 1593: from Latin Catamītus, from Etruscan Catmite, from Ancient Greek Ganymede.
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References in literature
- Anthony Burgess opens his novel Earthly Powers with the memorable sentence. "It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."
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See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Catamite" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
