Avast Ye Scallywags!

Narratives have been spun throughout history as ancient cultures explored homoeroticism. Many would be surprised that a religion whose extremists in modern day violently rejects a practice that at one point was a widely unstigmatized part of their everyday culture. In this episode we explore the origins and the evolution of homoeroticism and homosexuality within the Islamic World.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/2/186https://medium.com/@rami_zahra/homosexuality-in-the-halls-of-the-islamic-caliphate-fd0743dddedahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSJ5SS--FcQhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Umayyad-dynasty-Islamic-historySources & Further Reading: The Great Caliphs: The Golden Age of the 'Abbasid Empire by Amira K. BennisonWhen Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World by Hugh KennedyDaily Life in the Medieval Islamic World Paperback by James E. Lindsay https://drivethruhistory.com/the-bedouin-people/?srsltid=AfmBOopk4NXpaKCUYQidCvx32Qn476J42PnlI7QKPp6Pp0UHxK8A2fgEhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Abbasid-caliphatehttps://www.islam21c.com/history/the-end-of-al-andalus/El-Rouayheb / "Before Homosexuality" thesisKhaled El-Rouayheb, Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500–1800 (University of Chicago Press) — press.uchicago.eduWikipedia summary of the book — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Homosexuality_in_the_Arab-Islamic_WorldCairn.info, "Homoeroticisms and Historiographical Backgrounds of the Islamic World" — shs.cairn.infoLauren's Reflections (grad seminar blog working through the book's terminology) — lmcc355.wordpress.comAbu Nuwas biography/contextWikipedia, "Abu Nuwas" — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Nuwasnews.lgbti.org, "Abu Nuwas Biography, The First and Foremost Islamic Gay Poet" — news.lgbti.org/abu-nuwasRainbow Sudan blog (same biographical text, mirrored) — rainbowsudan.wordpress.comKhalkedon Rare Books, listing for an early Diwan edition — khalkedonrarebooks.comThe Legend of Abu Nuwas blog — dariyakeuspaar.wordpress.comAl-Amin, Zubayda, ghulamiyyat, KawtharRami Zahra, "Homosexuality in the Halls of the Islamic Caliphate," Medium — medium.com/@rami_zahra (this appears to be the direct source of the wording in your original draft)Cambridge IJMES, "The Multifarious Lives of the Sixth 'Abbasid Caliph Muhammad al-Amin" — cambridge.orgActa Victoriana, "Beyond Gender: Ghulāmiyyāt and Fashion in Abbasid Culture" (translates the primary source, al-Mas'udi's Meadows of Gold) — actavictoriana.caThe Macksey Journal (academic paper drawing on Nabia Abbott's 1946 scholarship) — mackseyjournal.scholasticahq.com"The Traffic in Boys" / ghilman institutionEverett K. Rowson, "The Traffic in Boys: Slavery and Homoerotic Liaisons in Elite 'Abbāsid Society," Middle Eastern Literatures 11:2 (2008) — tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14752620802223798Same article via ResearchGate — researchgate.netMcGill IOWC Working Paper Series (cites Rowson directly, on eunuchs and slave-boys in Abbasid court politics) — iowcwp.mcgill.caLegal codification — liwat, hudud, evidentiary standardsSeekersGuidance, "How Does Islamic Law Address Same-Sex Relations?" (breaks down Shafi'i/Hanbali/Maliki/Hanafi positions) — seekersguidance.orgSeekersGuidance, "What Are the Conditions for a Witness's Testimony in Islamic Courts?" — seekersguidance.orgKSPublisher, "The Divergent Views of Jurists (Fuqaha) on Punishment of [Sodomy]" — kspublisher.comQuran Gallery, "Four Witnesses in Islam: The High Burden of Proof for Zina" — qurangallery.app

This is one of history's messiest, most debated corners and we've got to be upfront: historians don't agree on most of it.The evidence is thin, the record is spotty, and honestly, terms like "gay" or "closeted" barely fit onto how people centuries (or millennia) ago actually understood love, intimacy, and desire. So take this as an invitation to speculate responsibly, not a verdict. Here are the figures whose private lives have sparked some of the juiciest historical arguments; people who may have loved outside the lines in eras that would've publicly condemned them for it.

Abraham LincolnCharles E. Shively, "Male Sexuality and Sensuality in Antebellum America" and other essaysJonathan Ned Katz, Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Homosexuality (University of Chicago Press, 2001) The New York Times, Dec. 16, 2004For the "Stuart letter" and Lincoln's 1841 depression: Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008) Rumi Franklin D. Lewis, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings, and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi (Oneworld Publications, 2000; rev. ed. 2008)Annemarie Schimmel, The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi (SUNY Press, 1993) Coleman Barks (trans.), The Essential Rumi (HarperOne, 1995)William Chittick, Me and Rumi: The Autobiography of Shams-i Tabrizi (Fons Vitae, 2004) Mahatma GandhiJoseph Lelyveld, Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India (Alfred A. Knopf, 2011)Hari Kunzru, "The Secret History of Mahatma Gandhi," book review, The New York Times, March 29, 2011.SpartaPlutarch, Life of Lycurgus, in Parallel Lives (Loeb Classical Library, trans. Bernadotte Perrin, 1914) Xenophon, Constitution of the Spartans (Lakedaimoniōn Politeia) Paul Cartledge, The Spartans: An Epic History (Pan Macmillan, 2002) and Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History 1300–362 BC (Routledge, 2002) Leonardo da VinciMichael Rocke, Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence (Oxford University Press, 1996) Catherine Fletcher, "Leonardo da Vinci's Private Relationships: What's Known?," HistoryExtra (BBC History Magazine), 2021 Walter Isaacson, Leonardo da Vinci (Simon & Schuster, 2017) Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1550; rev. 1568)On Melzi: Martin Kemp, Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man (Oxford University Press, rev. 2006)Jane Addams The Jane Addams Papers (digitized), Ramapo College / Swarthmore College Peace Collection. Louise W. Knight, Jane Addams: Spirit in Action (W.W. Norton, 2010) Victoria Bissell Brown, The Education of Jane Addams (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004) James Weber Linn, Jane Addams: A Biography (D. Appleton-Century, 1935) "Jane Addams, Mary Rozet Smith, and the Disappointments of One-Sided Correspondence," Jane Addams Digital Edition project blog (Ramapo College), janeaddams.ramapo.edu 2008 Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame induction of AddamsJulie d'AubignyThéophile Gautier, Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) Kelly Gardiner, Goddess (HarperCollins Australia, 2014) Records of the Paris Opera (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Archives de l'Opéra) PuyiEdward Behr, The Last Emperor (Bantam Books, 1987) Puyi (Aisin-Gioro Puyi), From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi (Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1964–65; various English reprints) Jia Yinghua, The Last Eunuch of China: The Life of Sun Yaoting (Chinese trans. into English, Homa & Sekey Books, 2008) "China's Last Living Eunuch — Sun Yaoting, 91, Recalls Cruelty of Final Emperor," Associated Press/Seattle Times archive, Nov. 8, 1992Han Dynasty EmperorsBret Hinsch, Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (University of California Press, 1990) Louis Crompton, Homosexuality and Civilization (Harvard University Press, 2003) Louis Crompton, Homosexuality and Civilization (Harvard University Press, 2003)

Bibliography Jamison, Stephanie W., and Joel P. Brereton, trans. The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Oxford University Press, 2014.Doniger, Wendy. The Hindus: An Alternative History. Penguin, 2009.Witzel, Michael. "Tracing the Vedic Dialects." In Dialectes dans les littératures indo-aryennes, ed. Colette Caillat, 1989.Macdonell, Arthur A. Vedic Mythology. Strassburg, 1897 (still a standard reference on Dyaus, Varuna, Ushas, Aditi).Pollock, Sheldon. The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India. University of California Press, 2006.Cardona, George. Panini: His Work and Its Traditions. Motilal Banarsidass, 1997.Brahma, Prajapati, and the Puranic genealogiesDoniger, Wendy, trans. The Rig Veda: An Anthology. Penguin Classics, 1981.Kinsley, David. Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition. University of California Press, 1988.

Olivelle, Patrick, trans. The Law Code of Manu. Oxford University Press, 2004.Olivelle, Patrick. "Caste and Purity: A Study in the Language of the Dharma Literature." Contributions to Indian Sociology, 1998.Bronkhorst, Johannes. Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism. Brill, 2011.Shudra origins and AmbedkarAmbedkar, B.R. Who Were the Shudras? How They Came to Be the Fourth Varna in the Indo-Aryan Society. Thacker & Co., 1946.Ambedkar, B.R. The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? Amrit Book Co., 1948.Olivelle, Patrick, trans. Manu's Code of Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Manava-Dharmasastra. Oxford University Press, 2005.Jaiswal, Suvira. Caste: Origin, Function and Dimensions of Change. Manohar, 1998.van Buitenen, J.A.B., trans. The Mahabharata. University of Chicago Press, 1973–78.Hiltebeitel, Alf. Rethinking the Mahabharata: A Reader's Guide to the Education of the Dharma King. University of Chicago Press, 2001.Brodbeck, Simon, and Brian Black, eds. Gender and Narrative in the Mahabharata. Routledge, 2007 (for Draupadi and status of women).Goldman, Robert P., ed. and trans. The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India (multi-volume critical edition). Princeton University Press, 1984–2009 (Goldman's introductions discuss the late dating of Books 1 and 7, the "Balakanda" and "Uttarakanda").Pollock, Sheldon, trans. The Ramayana of Valmiki, Vol. 3: Aranyakanda. Princeton University Press, 1991.Richman, Paula, ed. Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia. University of California Press, 1991 (covers regional/Tamil Ravana-positive traditions).Richman, Paula, ed. Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition. University of California Press, 2001.Bronkhorst, Johannes. Greater Magadha: Studies in the Culture of Early India. Brill, 2007.Gombrich, Richard. Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo. Routledge, 1988.Thapar, Romila. Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. Oxford University Press, 1961 (rev. 1997).Geiger, Wilhelm, trans. The Mahavamsa, or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon. Pali Text Society, 1912.de Silva, K.M. A History of Sri Lanka. University of California Press, 1981.Gunawardana, R.A.L.H. "The People of the Lion: The Sinhala Identity and Ideology in History and Historiography." Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities, 1979.Anthony, David W. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press, 2007.Joseph, Tony. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From. Juggernaut, 2018 (popular synthesis of the recent aDNA studies referenced in the script).Narasimhan, Vagheesh M., et al. "The Formation of Human Populations in South and Central Asia." Science 365, no. 6457 (2019) — the key genetics paper behind the "migration and mixing, not invasion" claim.Reich, David. Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past. Pantheon, 2018.

Cattle in Vedic religion and beef-eatingD.N. Jha, interview/summary via Caravan Magazine, "The DN Jha interview on beef-eating in ancient India" — cited directly in the script. https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/dn-jha-beef-eating-hinduism-ancient-indiaPart Seven: Elite Dominance ModelWikipedia, "Indo-Aryan migrations" — overview of elite dominance/patron-client diffusion model, Steppe ancestry genetic data, ecological collapse hypothesis. https://kids.kiddle.co/Indo-Aryan_migrationsMichael Witzel, "The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture, and Ethnicity" — Witzel's own treatment of migration, linguistic switch, and rise to elite dominance. https://www.academia.edu/18428649Colin Renfrew's "elite dominance" terminology, discussed in Anthony & Ringe, "The Indo-European Homeland from Linguistic and Archaeological Perspectives," Annual Review of Linguistics. https://people.umass.edu/sharris/in/handouts/AnthonyRingePIEHOmeland.pdfPart Eight: Mitanni, Kikkuli text, Hittite-Mitanni treatyWikipedia, "Kikkuli" — authorship, dating (~1400 BCE), Indo-Aryan numeral loanwords (aika, tera, panza, satta, na). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KikkuliLivius.org, "Mitanni" — summary of the Hittite-Mitanni treaty gods (Mitra, Varuna, Indra, Nasatya) and the Kikkuli text as the two primary attestations. https://www.livius.org/articles/people/mitanni/New World Encyclopedia, "Mitanni" — numeral list and treaty-deity list with brief linguistic context. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/MitanniFournet, Arnaud, "About the Mitanni Aryan Gods," Journal of Indo-European Studies 38 (1–2), 2010: 26–40 — cited via secondary compilation; this is the actual peer-reviewed source for the Sanskritic name etymologies (Tushratta, Shativaza, etc.) and should be cited directly if available. https://www.academia.edu/49215954Substack (Visva Viswas), "The Indo-Aryan Superstrate at Mitanni: Vedic Gods in Syria" — accessible synthesis with citations to Diakonoff and others; useful for the narrative framing used in the script. https://visvaviswas.substack.com/p/when-indra-spoke-hurrianBhāvanā (Indian mathematics/science magazine), "Computing Processes and Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī" — most rigorous source found; gives exact rule count (3,959) and discusses formal-systems comparison carefully. https://bhavana.org.in/computing-processes-and-pan%CC%A3inis-as%CC%A3t%CC%A3adhyayi/P. Venkata Subba Reddy, "Fuzzy Modeling and Natural Language Processing for Panini's Sanskrit Grammar," arXiv. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1006.2835Benchmark Corpus paper, arXiv, background on Ashtadhyayi's structure and modern computational treatments. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2010.12937The Manusmriti IX.18 ("Women have no right to study the Vedas...") is quoted/discussed across multiple secondary sources: The Dalit Voice, Velivada, SikhiWiki, TamilBrahmins forum. These aggregate but don't replace a primary translation — recommend citing a standard scholarly translation (e.g., Patrick Olivelle's Manu's Code of Law, Oxford University Press, 2004) for the actual verse text and numbering.The New Indian Express / TheNewsMinute piece on Dharmasutras predating and paralleling Manusmriti's exclusion of women and Shudras from Vedic study (citing Baudhayana and Gautama Dharmasutras) — useful corroborating context showing this wasn't unique to Manusmriti. https://www.thenewsminute.com/voices/why-manusmriti-symbol-caste-system-anti-caste-reformers-136809Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 — multiple legal-reference sources confirm Sections 5, 11, and 17 banned polygamy for Hindus (including Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs under the Act's definition), replacing prior customary permission. https://www.netlawman.co.in/ia/hindu-marriage-act-1955 and Grokipedia's summary of the Act's legislative history (Ambedkar's Hindu Code Bill, 1951 resignation, 1955 passage). https://grokipedia.com/page/Hindu_Marriage_Act,_1955

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr7Bb93-ZaE&t=3shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr7Bb93-ZaE&t=3s

Imagine a word. Not just any word — a root. A seed buried so deep in human history that it eventually grew into the languages of ancient India, Persia, Greece, Rome and eventually into the very English you're listening to right now.Sources BibliographyNarasimhan, V. M., Patterson, N., Moorjani, P., Rohland, N., Bernardos, R., Mallick, S., Lazaridis, I., Nakatsuka, N., Olalde, I., Lipson, M., Reich, D., et al. (2019). The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia. Science, 365(6457), aat7487. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat7487Shinde, V., Narasimhan, V. M., Rohland, N., Mallick, S., Mah, M., Lipson, M., Nakatsuka, N., Adamski, N., Broomandkhoshbacht, N., Ferry, M., Reich, D., et al. (2019). An ancient Harappan genome lacks ancestry from steppe pastoralists or Iranian farmers. Cell, 179(3), 729–735. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.08.048What Was The Indus Valley/Harappan Civilisation? - YouTube. https://youtu.be/rlONwxT9Nlc Cardona, G. (1997). Pāṇini: His Work and Its Traditions (2nd rev. ed.). Motilal BanarsidassGenetics / population historyNarasimhan, V. M., Patterson, N., Moorjani, P., Rohland, N., Bernardos, R., Mallick, S., Lazaridis, I., Nakatsuka, N., Olalde, I., Lipson, M., Reich, D., et al. (2019). The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia. Science, 365(6457), aat7487. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat7487The Wheeler "invasion" theory and its debunkingWheeler, R. E. M. (1947). Harappa 1946: The defences and cemetery R-37. Ancient India, 3, 58–130.Kennedy, K. A. R. (1984). Trauma and disease in the ancient Harappans. In B. B. Lal & S. P. Gupta (Eds.), Frontiers of the Indus Civilization (pp. 425–436). Books & Books..Sintashta, chariots, and the steppe migrationsAnthony, D. W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press.The Mitanni elite and the Kikkuli textRaulwing, P. (2009). The Kikkuli Text: Hittite Training Instructions for Chariot Horses in the Second Half of the 2nd Millennium B.C. and Their Interdisciplinary Context. (Discusses A. Kammenhuber's 1961 critical edition of the Kikkuli text and the Šuppiluliuma–Šattiwaza treaty invoking Mitra, Varuṇa, Indra, and the Nāsatyas.)The Saraswati/climate-driven declineGiosan, L., Clift, P. D., Macklin, M. G., Fuller, D. Q., Constantinescu, S., Durcan, J. A., Stevens, T., Duller, G. A. T., Tabrez, A. R., Gangal, K., Adhikari, R., Alizai, A., Filip, F., VanLaningham, S., & Syvitski, J. P. M. (2012). Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan Civilization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(26), E1688–E1694. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1112743109Meluhha, Harappan trade, and ShortughaiKenoyer, J. M. (1998). Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Oxford University Press / American Institute of Pakistan Studies. (Covers Harappan maritime trade, the "Meluhha" identification in Mesopotamian texts, Lothal, and the Shortughai lapis lazuli outpost.)