there was a bearded and masculine image of Venus in female attire, and that according to Philochorus, the deity thus represented was the moon. Sacrifices were offered to him or her by men clad as women, and by women clad as men.
This bearded female deity is sometimes also referred to as Aphroditus, or as Venus Mylitta. While the worship of bearded goddesses was practiced principally in Cyprus and Syria, Egypt also had a representation of a bearded Isis, with the infant Horus in her lap.
In the Orphic hymns, we find the following bisexual features and powers attributed to the deities:
"Zeus was the first of all, Zeus last, the lord of the lightning;
Zeus was the head, the middle, from him all things were created;
Zeus was Man, and again Zeus was the Virgin Eternal."
In another passage, Adonis is addressed thus:
"Hear me, who pray to thee, hear me, O many-named and best of deities,
Thou, with thy gracious hair . . . both maiden and youth, Adonis."
Boy-love is believed to have been introduced in Hellas by the Dorians, as in the pre-Doric period (Homer, for instance), the custom of homosexual practice had as yet no roots as an institution.
In Greece, boy-love was the privilege of the elect only, being permitted to the free citizen, the knight. Slaves were forbidden to indulge in the practice, often under penalty of death. Strict rules were formulated for the regulation
