Male Homoeros, the Œdipus Complex, and the Œdipus Myth

Abstract

This hermeneutic study reconsiders the Œdipus complex in relation to the extended Œdipus myth, which contains homoerotic themes that Sophocles did not include in the Greek tragedy that inspired Freud. Another aim of this study is to understand and reaffirm male homoeros from a depth psychological perspective, which entails an examination of male homoeros in ancient Greek culture and myth. Freud’s revolutionary theories of sexuality are explored, particularly regarding male homosexuality and the Œdipus complex, followed by an examination of how later psychoanalytic theorists constructed the pathological male homosexual in reaction to Freud’s Œdipal theory. The study then explicates the extended Œdipus myth, emphasizing Laïus’s abduction of Chrysippus, and proposes that the extended Œdipus myth might allow for a new conceptualization of the Œdipus complex that affirms same-sex erotic orientations as natural variations of human sexuality. Finally, archetypal psychology is utilized to amplify themes found in the extended Œdipus myth, in order to demonstrate how they might serve as metaphors in working psychotherapeutically with men of all sexual orientations.