"In Greek mythology, Ganymede or Ganymedes (/ˈɡænɪˌmiːd/; /ˈɡænɪmiːd/; Ancient Greek: Γανυμήδης Ganymēdēs) is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most ...
beautiful of mortals, and in one version of the myth Zeus falls in love with his beauty and abducts him in the form of an eagle to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus.
[Ganymedes] was the loveliest born of the race of mortals, and thereforethe gods caught him away to themselves, to be Zeus´ wine-pourer,for the sake of his beauty, so he might be among the immortals.
— Homer, Iliad, Book XX, lines 233-235.The myth was a model for the Greek social custom of paiderastía, the socially acceptable romantic relationship between an adult male and an adolescent male. The Latin form of the name was Catamitus (and also "Ganymedes"), from which the English word "catamite" is derived. According to Plato, the Cretans were regularly accused of inventing the myth because they wanted to justify their "unnatural pleasures" (i.e. homosexuality)." - (en.wikipedia.org 30.01.2020)
