One of my characters is bisexual, but I'm not sure how to have it revealed as it's set in 500 AD and no one would be ok with it. He's not a POV character at any point but his wife is.
Do you mean publically revealed from him to the people or just how to incorporate it in your book? Because if you're talking about the former, I'd think this was very unlikely for him to do, even if he knew that was how he felt. If it's the latter case, you should begin with small, subtle hints such as when being around other men add thing such as "his eyes were blue" or overall noticing things you wouldn't normally notice unless you were attracted to the person. I'm assuming he's going to fall in love with a man since you want him to have a "coming out" of sorts. Then you can move on to heavier things such as how he talks, make him flirtatious towards said person and eventually have him tell his wife he's in love with another man (I'm assuming that's what you're going at here.) If the above is not in fact what you are planning with for your novel and your guy plans to stay with his wife, I'd say it's very unlikely he'd ever bring it up to her at all. Not sure why you'd have him do this, a little more context would be nice.
Are you sure about that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_ancient_Greece https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_history_in_China#Ancient_China
Before his marriage, was he involved with any of your other male characters? It might come out through them.
1) "Homosexuality continued to be practiced openly and without much restraint up through the 11th century. Throughout the middle ages, not only did the open practice of homosexuality continue, but it flourished in the monasteries of the time." 2) I would make it as casual as possible, maybe just have the wife mention that she and her husband had both had boyfriends before meeting each other
My understanding is that "homosexuality" and certainly "bisexuality" as overall identities is a pretty recent phenomenon. Historically, people might engage in behaviour that we would classify as homosexuality, but it wasn't used as a way to label them overall. This may be a controversial interpretation, though. But if your character's wife is a POV character, you could just have her thinking about his lover (assuming he has one) either affectionately or with resentment or whatever. I certainly wouldn't use the word bisexual - seems totally anachronistic. I guess the important question will be what role the character's sexuality plays in your story - once you know that, you'll have a better idea of how to reveal it. (For modern audiences, I'd say you want to avoid the use of the word "admit" - makes it sound like a fault.)
The Romans slandered the Celts by calling them homosexuals, as propaganda. The Celts themselves hd an unfavourable view of it. An example of a 9th century Scottish rap battle (yes, they existed back then) had the line, paraphrasing slightly, "You are so depraved you fornicate with men." Moreover, lesbianism in Celtic culture wasn't frowned upon, but homosexuality was. Gildas, who though a Christian would have had a very Romano-British viewpoint, said people who practice sodomy (read: homosexuals) should serve penance for three years regardless of rank.
I don't think bisexuality as we understand it existed in the past. It might be better if he doesn't have to "admit" anything. You can show he is bisexual by having him engage in bisexual relationships or show him attracted to/flirting with both sexes. How his society reacts can be seen in their talk or how they react to people who are rumored to be bisexual.
I've got one that's gay and one that's bi. I've been discussing it in PM's with a couple of other members. I wish I knew how to add you to that conversation.
If you open the conversation you should find an 'add member' box/button (to the right, if I'm not mistaken). Eta: Just make sure the others in the discussion are okay with it first.
He said 500ad. That's not really medieval. And anyway, it got worse in the middle ages because in the 16th century, at the end, they made it officially punishable by burning at the stake. And the bible in both versions condemns same-sex activity as have it's clergy, sure it goes up and down, but it's never being an okay Christian thing.
Officially they did, but a lot of them read Ancient Greek literature from Athens which speaks of what they called "Greek Love' being homosexual love. So some of them decided it was fine. It was an underground subculture.
There is far from general agreement on this. This is not the thread for that debate, but I need to say that there is far from general agreement that this is an accurate interpretation of the Bible.
It wasn't illegal, but they certainly hated gay people. It's just like how they tolerated transvestites but hated them too.
According to The Bible, Sodom and Gomorrah were burned for being dens of rapists and murderers. Little bit of a difference there.
