I don’t think the homosexual references are contextual for two reasons. One, homosexuality was ritual with the role of the mentor in Hellenic aristocratic life. Two, we see Socrates lay with Timaeus in another book The Timaeus. It was normal for an older established aritocratic male (this instance Socrates) to take on a younger up and coming member of the elite class in a two year mentorship. During these two years the two men engage in a homosexual relationship and at the end of it, the elder bestows gifts of money and property to the younger to get the latter started in his promising career. Often the elder male may offer one of his daughters to his protege. It was an acceptable way to distribute wealth, create alliances, and initiate young men into the adult world. The reason aristocratic men found these types of relationships attractive was because they viewed women as mere sex objects and baby makers. Remember that women were not allowed to achieve high levels of education (Sappho and the Vestal Virgins aside). It was more fulfilling to them to have someone that could engage them in intellectual pursuits and contests of physical prowess. Remember though, this ritual was primarily an aristocratic practice. The lower classes did not engage in homosexual practices as openly and prevalently as did their social superiors. If you watched Colin Ferrel in Alexander you’ll notice he had a homosexual mentorship with a colleague of his from his days at Aristotle’s Lyceum Academy. If one did not know this tidbit of Hellenic culture, one would think the director was just trying to be controversial. In all honesty, he was trying to be historically accurate…but in my opinion, he could have left it out and the story of Alexander the Great would have been fine.

If and when you read the Meditations, you also need to go straight into Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic. Compare the two very closely and the whole of Stoicism is revealed. Christian philosophers owe much to Stoicism and also to Plato…..Hegel, well he’s a whole new ball of wax. I think he contributed more to Marx and Weber than to any other branch of thought…..just my opinion. 🙂

Phidippides:

You might try Polybius' The Rise of the Roman Empire
Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War
Plutarch's The Lives of the Noble Greeks and The Lives of the Noble Romans