The Greek word paiderastia ( παιδεραστία) is an abstract noun. Erastês should be distinguished from Greek paiderastês, which meant "lover of boys" usually with a negative connotation. In Dover's strict dichotomy, the erastês ( ἐραστής, plural erastai) is the older sexual actor, seen as the active or dominant participant, with the suffix -tês (- τής) denoting agency. Both words derive from the Greek verb erô, erân, "to love" see also eros. Since the publication in 1978 of Kenneth Dover's work Greek Homosexuality, the terms erastês and erômenos have been standard for the two pederastic roles. Kouros representing an idealized youth, c. 530 BCE The English word " pederasty" in present-day usage might imply the abuse of minors in certain jurisdictions, but Athenian law, for instance, recognized both consent and age as factors in regulating sexual behavior. Scholars have debated the role or extent of pederasty, which is likely to have varied according to local custom and individual inclination. The argument has recently been made that idealization was universal in the Archaic period criticism began in Athens as part of the general Classical Athenian reassessment of Archaic culture. Pederasty was both idealized and criticized in ancient literature and philosophy. It has no formal existence in the Homeric epics, and seems to have developed in the late 7th century BCE as an aspect of Greek homosocial culture, which was characterized also by athletic and artistic nudity, delayed marriage for aristocrats, symposia, and the social seclusion of women. Some scholars locate its origin in initiation ritual, particularly rites of passage on Crete, where it was associated with entrance into military life and the religion of Zeus.
The influence of pederasty on Greek culture of these periods was so pervasive that it has been called "the principal cultural model for free relationships between citizens." It was characteristic of the Archaic and Classical periods. Pederasty in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged romantic relationship between an older male (the erastes) and a younger male (the eromenos) usually in his teens. The man on the right tries to kiss the youth with whom he is sharing a couch. Pederastic couples at a symposium, as depicted on a tomb fresco from the Greek colony of Paestum in Italy.