In ancient Greece, the erastes (ἐραστής, "lover") (pl.: erastae) was an adult male involved in a pederastic relationship with an adolescent boy called the eromenos. Erastes was in particular an Athenian term for this role. Other terms were, in Sparta, eispnelas, "inspirer," and in Crete, philetor, "befriender." The word was also used as a general term for any male admirer courting a particular boy, even if he hadn't been accepted by the boy as a bona fide lo… (More on Erastes)