Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626-1689)

Christina of Sweden is well known throughout the ages as the "Patroness of the Arts." She opened the first public opera house in Rome and an academy of Philosophy and Literature. Do you like the works of Giovanni Bernini, the masterful genius who brought us: The Fountain of the Four Rivers, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, and many other works of art? Well, you wouldn't have known about him if it weren't for Christina. In 1680, claims against Bernini were in the works to try and discredit him and wipe his name from the works he had designed. In retaliation to this effort, Christina hired a man by the name of Filippo Baldinucci to write a biography on Bernini, thus winning Bernini his rightful place in the art history books!

Art snobs of the world are happier now...

Something that not many people know is that Christina of Sweden was actually a queen for 22 years of her life! From 1632 to 1654 Kristina Wasa was known as Christina Alexandra or Countess Dohna, Queen of Sweden. The odd and funny thing is that she was born in 1626. Anybody doing the math yet? 

I suppose they made all her crowns with "a little growing room."

Christina was crowned Queen at age six soon after the demise of her Father, King Gustav II Adolf, in the Thirty Years War. The council of rengents were surprised and delighted by her maturity and remarkable intelligence, especially in regard to learning foreign languages. Her tutors always commented that talking to her in their academic language was like talking with someone that had been born and raised in the country the language had originated from.


During her reign as queen, Christina helped form Sweden's first newspaper AND was the driving force that brought about the end of the Thirty Years War, the longest and bloodiest of wars that Europe has ever seen. The very same one that claimed her father's life. In this blogger's opinion, she probably carried something huge against that war...

If this had been a period film we would have been spared Sarah Michelle Gellar...

Now, with all of the things this woman had done you're probably thinking something like, "Holy crap, this is one strong, kick-ass woman!"

 Kinda like Sarah Connor in Terminator

In which case, you'd be right. Hell, they thought that when she was still around. In fact, they even questioned whether she was even... a she.

 Kinda like the Sarah Connor action figure.

Because she wasn't the most feminine of ladies, she looked a bit like a man (just look at her picture) Christina was thought to be "intersexed" or a hermaphrodite. Even upon being born, all the mid-wives thought she was a boy due to a fetal membrane she was born with called a Caul that formed what looked like a small penis. Imagine everyone's surprise when she was cleaned and the "penis" came off. 

 You... TOOK it?!

To this, King Gustav exclaimed, with great amusement,  "She'll be clever, she made fools of us all!"

Her further fighting against being urged to marry and produce an heir to the throne only fueled the conspiracy around her "lady parts" and later brought around ideas that she might even be a lesbian. Later, love letters were found addressed to one of her ladies in waiting, Countess Ebbe "Belle" Sparre. In many of the letters there were references to the two "sharing a bed", though in those times it wasn't all too uncommon for such occurrences to happen in a completely platonic way. But many would argue that the passion in which the letters were written would suggest a love beyond that of mere girl-talk.

Another gay Queen... this one of the country of Latifah.

 So, to recap, the reason why Sweden has a newspaper, we have the knowledge of Bernini, and still have EUROPE is because of one woman. Whether she was a lesbian hermaphrodite is technically unknown, but she still serves as a hell of a role model for lesbians world-wide. That and she was the first woman EVER to wear pants publicly, starting the thought for it to eventually be ok for other women to wear pants.

 

Flo-Rida thanks you so much!

Thanks to her tremendous contributions to the art world and the world at large, Christina Queen of Sweden is this week's Homo of the Week.

 To stay current with further updates to my blog, please follow! Also, help me to spread the word, the more fans I have the more likely it is that there will be more frequent updates.

Aristocles (427-347 BC)

     You may recognize this face from a very famous painting from inside the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, Rome painted by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Raphael). The Painting is named, "The School of Athens." What you may not recognize is the name of this man, but trust me you know who he is. Aristocles is the real name of Plato, the famous Greek philosopher, and founder of the Academy of Athens. He also took his queue from Sappho and helped to lay the foundations for western philosophy and science. (Why the church allowed Raphael to paint his image inside their inner sanctum, when science had been their mortal enemy for centuries, is beyond most people...)


    The "Platonic Academy" in Athens was founded to help educate those who could cater to the general public, a.k.a. NOT the super rich. Yes, Plato helped to pave the way for general education! Thanks to this guy, we as a society don't consist of drooling inbreds and ignorant fools.

This kid's parents clearly didn't go to the Academy...

 But to be fair, they didn't have harnessed electricity back then...

    There is a very famous quote from A. N. Whitehead regarding the modern influences of Plato:

"The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them."

     What this basically means is that all science in our world is riddled with the influences of Plato's theories and teachings. Most of the scientific things we know to be fact now were at least thought about by Plato.

     Also the thought process of questioning what is "known" as fact, called Platonic Realism, was pretty much invented by Plato. This is the reason why we are such a curious society, always questioning what we're being told by anyone that dares to consider themselves our superior (governing emperor, king, God, etc...)

Let's face it, we NEVER liked that as kids.

(also, it made a TERRIBLE movie)

     

     What most people don't know is that Plato was gay. Indeed MOST of Ancient Greece was pretty accepting of homosexuality, and even encouraged acts of homo-sex. In Plato's text, Symposium, Plato argued that every person is actually half of a whole person or soul. In his text, he said there were 3 genders in the beginning: Male, Female, and one androgynous being. All three genders split in half--the androg splitting into male and female halves--and forever seek their other halves.

 

Sound familiar?

 

    With this in mind, Plato could well have also been the first gay marriage supporter slash activist.

    Aristocles, or Plato, is this week's "Homo of the Week" because, despite all the annoying hours you spent at school as a child, you are still a hell of a lot smarter than the combined IQ of an entire village back in 426 BC.

Imagine the effort it took to be the Village Idiot back then!

    On a side note, you know that nickname Aristocles got landed with? Plato comes from the Greek word Platon which means "broad". I guess the gay men were pretty sassy back then too...

Oh, sweetie-face, we need to do something about this "broadness" problem you have. K, pumpkin?

 ::Sigh:: Asshole.

    To stay caught up on weekly updates of "Homo of the Week" just click on the follow link above and register to receive the email letting you know that there is a new installment. Also, please share on you favorite online forum! Until next week!

 

Sappho (600 B.C.)

    Sappho is commonly referred to as "The Greek Muse of Poetry". Most people don't realize that she was an actual person that lived in Ancient Greece around 600 B.C. Arosticles (more commonly known by his nickname, Plato) was the one that likened Sappho to the muses, calling her the "tenth muse" because he found her writings to be so moving and lyrical. Sappho's poetry helped bring a voice to the, otherwise oppressed, women of Greece. Her workings are the very basis of what we now call "Post-Modern Feminism." She was also the first lesbian recorded in history.


    Sappho was born between 630 and 612 B.C. (no real record of her birth-date exists anywhere) on the island of Lesbos. Her name and birthplace are the base words for Sapphic and Lesbian. Both terms have come to be used to describe female homosexuality. Sappho lived on Lesbos until she and a loyal band of female followers went into exile to the mainland of Greece and started the foundations of the Hellenic Republic.

He probably didn't know Democracy was founded by a lesbian. Oh... you didn't either?

 

    Yup, the Hellenic Republic would eventually be the birthplace of western philosophy and democracy! Thanks Sappho!

 

No sweat...

 

    During her time only men had the right to have their writings published, but due to overwhelming demand, Sappho gained the right to become the first published female poet in history as well as one of the first women to reach fame status of her own accord. In her writings, Sappho commonly equated herself with Aphrodite--the Greek Goddess of love, beauty and desire--talking to her as if to a best friend or lover. This was quite controversial.

    Also quite controversial was how she brought strength to her words by recounting, in quite frank and honest detail: her feelings about being a woman and the stigma that came with it, her love of feminine energy, the firey strength that resides in all women, and how woman is the equal and opposing force to man.

The modern day Sappho.

    Oscar Wilde--another well known gay writer--wrote about Sappho in the Victorian woman's magazine, "The Woman's World" in an article called "The Pictures of Sappho" where he noted her undying love of women and their strength. He even quoted a translated love poem of her's to a specific woman who's name is never revealed.

 Come to my window...

    Basically, women's rights and suffrage might never have happened had it not been for the influential writings of one woman from the Lesbian island. Sappho is this week's "Sapphic of the Week" and in my opinion, the best candidate for the first "Homo of the Week" lesbian article.

    Kudos, girl. You work it... Ancient Greek style. 


    To keep up on currant blog posts please subscribe! And the more popular this blog gets the more likely I am to stay regular with the posting! See you all next week!

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)

   Leonardo Da Vinci was most renowned for his fabulous paintings in the Italian Renaissance, the most famous of which are The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and Madonna of the Rocks. You may also recognize a very famous drawing of his, The Vitruvian Man. Leonardo dedicated his life to the art of... ART.

  Yes, Leo was a very creative man, but he was also a man of science and an inventor! Many of the conveniences we have today are around because Leo at least came up with the idea for them. True many of them have military purposes, he WAS employed by the Catholic Church after all, but without them we might well still be using bow-and-arrows or throwing rocks with trebuchets.

    Here is a link to Cracked.com showcasing all the devices he invented that have military applications. 

    Amongst the other things Leo has invented there are the Odometer, the idea of photography, the basis for medical anatomy, and he basically drew the blueprints for what would eventually become the Player Piano that you'd see in a saloon in the Olde West.

    With all this said you by now, no doubt, think of Da Vinci as a true Renaissance Rambo! He just goes in, guns blazing and paints the carnage afterward. But what most don't tell you is that back in 1476 Leo, along with 3 other young men, were tried and charged with sodomy. Leo was later acquitted by the church in order to be employed as the one of Vatican's painters and its chief "weapons of death" designer. Funny how the church can look the other way when you prove to be inherently useful.

Hmmmmmmmmm...

    Though Da Vinci was never again actually caught engaging in acts of homo-sex, there were certainly allegations and rumors about the nature of his sexual appetite and wonderings throughout Rome and Florence.

    I solute you, Leonardo Da Vinci, for living in a time when being gay was punishable by exile or even DEATH! You left your legacy in our hearts and minds. Your contributions and bravery have earned you the first of many blog entries to come on "Homo of the Week".