I grieve for you, my brother Johnathan; how dear you were to me! How wonderful was your love for me, BETTER EVEN THAN THE LOVE OF WOMEN. 2 Samuel 1 v26. This passage has always intrigued me and led to the study of pederasty, an Ancient Greek custom of homosexual love between an older man, often a soldier, and an adolescent youth. We may frown upon this in our modern society but it is important to understand that it was a totally accepted and not related to pedophilia.