[War & Business] Misconceptions About the "Sacred Band"

The appearance of helmets worn by ancient Greek soldiers
[Image source: Louvre Museum official website/www.louvre.fr]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The "Sacred Band," said to have existed in the ancient Greek city-state of Thebes, was a unit composed of 150 pairs of homosexual couples. It is often cited as evidence of the prevalence of homosexuality in ancient Greece. It has been recounted as an invincible unit that fought harder to protect their same-sex lovers on the battlefield.

Called "Hieros Lokos" in Greek, this unit was a special force of 300 men in Thebes, not merely a group of homosexuals. It was an elite unit formed by gathering only those who stood out in military training from a young age, regardless of social status. Members were discharged after the age of 30 due to declining physical strength, were supplied with only the highest quality weapons, and all their necessities were provided by the state under a standing army system. Except for military states like Sparta, standing armies were rare in ancient Greece, making this unit inevitably known as an invincible force.

Misunderstandings about them intensified from the 16th century onward. As the scale of wars in Europe grew, with countries deploying over 100,000 troops in a single battle, managing infectious diseases within barracks became a new issue. Particularly, sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and syphilis significantly reduced combat effectiveness. After the war, when soldiers returned home, there was a risk of these diseases becoming national epidemics. As a result, same-sex relations were condemned as sinful, and the Sacred Band’s homosexuality began to be disparaged as licentious and decadent.

However, their homosexuality was not merely a physical relationship. Homosexuality in ancient Greek society originated from the relationship between an immature boy and his mentor who guided and educated him, resembling more a teacher-student relationship than simple lovers. Adult soldiers in their mid-20s paired with teenage soldiers, sharing life and death experiences and naturally passing down all battlefield knowledge and tactics.

At that time, most military tactics involved infantry composed of spearmen forming a human shield wall by linking their shields, fighting against enemy cavalry in a dense infantry formation. This form of homosexuality was emphasized because in a situation where a military unit had to maintain formation in ranks and files for a long time to win, trust in the comrade standing beside was essential to keep the formation intact.

Ultimately, they neither symbolized the decadent sexual culture of ancient Greece nor proved the superiority of homosexuality. They were simply a special unit created according to the combat environment and national strategy of their era.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.