Our understanding of the past is fluid. Very often things we think we know about the past turn out to be false or highly distorted. Historians aren’t perfect; sometimes they make mistakes, other...
Often referred to as the author of the Mediterranean Kama Sutra , little is known about Philaenis of Samos, who likely wrote this work around the 4th century BC. She is the most mentioned author of...
When people think about love and sex in ancient Rome, it tends to be pretty scandalous: orgies here, there, and everywhere! But the truth is rarely black and white. Were the Romans more sexually...
People often have the strange idea that people in the “olden days” were much more conservative when it came to sex than they are today. However, if modern history tells us anything it is that people...
The deep, emotional relationship that bonded David and Jonathan is related in the books of Samuel. The two are said to have formed a covenant of friendship, even though their situation essentially...
The true nature of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, characters in Homer’s Iliad , has long been a source of speculation. Were they friends or lovers? Brothers from other mothers or...
Elagabalus was a Roman emperor who lived at the beginning of the 3rd century AD. He is often considered as one of Rome’s worst emperors and is routinely placed in the same league as other notorious...
An exhibition at the British Museum promises to lift the lid on what beauty meant for the ancient Greeks. But while we gaze at the serene marble statues on display – straining male torsos and soft...
Alexander the Great was known as a womanizer – his list of romances quite extensive. However, some researchers suggest that he also fell in love with at least two men, one of them being Hephaestion,...
In the ancient world, the public were not so privy to information about the scandalous sex lives of central societal figures. Still, sexual rumors have always existed and, in this way, historical...
Sexual matters and practices are quite difficult to discern in the archaeological record. Unlike diet or diseases, sexual practices do not to leave traces on human remains. Additionally, objects used...
A Greek archaeologist has discovered a set of ancient erotic graffiti on a stone on the Aegean island of Astypalaia, believed to date back more than 2,500 years. Engravings of phalluses and...
In ancient Rome, there was no vocabulary to distinguish between homosexuality and heterosexuality. Sexuality instead was defined by behavioural mannerisms , whether active or passive, in both gay and...