Paggi, coppieri e imberbi: gli effeminati nella cultura persiana

Abstract

Mentioned in the Qur’an and ḥadīṯs, described by Muslim treaties of medicine, and celebrated in the literature and visual arts, effeminates have a central place in Persianate culture, as indicated by the fact that Persian language has a rich vocabulary to define them. Poetry also abounds of aesthetic and erotic descriptions that turn effeminates into objects of desire, at time sublimating them with mystic fervour, at other times celebrating them more prosaically and physically. Through a diachronic approach, the essay places these figures in a theoretical, socio-cultural and artistic-literary perspective.