ABSTRACT
As mentioned in the introduction (section 1) there are pederastic stories (or myths-a Greek word for stories) about several gods. There is also some evidence linking the cults of the gods concerned with the gymnasium and adolescence-Apollo, Hermes, Eros, and Hercules-with pederasty. Some of this evidence is visual. Although, for instance, it is not the case, as was once thought, that the so-called kouros statues-statues of idealized nude youths-typical of Greece in the seventh and sixth centuries always represent Apollo, some of them do, and there is clearly a general connection between the cult of Apollo and the eroticized ideal that they represent.1 Vase-painting too makes a strong connection between the gods and pederasty. On the whole, however, the choice of stories portrayed is more limited than in our textual sources. Mainly, there are scenes in which Zeus seizes or abducts Ganymede and scenes in which the god Eros (or other winged deities from whom it is not always possible to distinguish him) appears in a variety of roles. The other Olympian gods appear almost only in scenes derived from Zeus/Ganymede scenes.
