Sexuality in ancient Greece

Aphrodite (, ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. Aphrodite's major symbols include seashells, myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. The cult of Aphrodite was largely derived from that of the Phoenician goddess Astarte, a cognate of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar, whose cult was based on the Sumerian cult of Inanna. Aphrodite's main cult centers were Cythera, Cyprus, Corinth, and Athens. Her main festival was the Aphrodisia, which was c

Greek god of the mountain wilds, shepherds, flocks, rustic music, fertility, spring, and theatrical criticism, with the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat

In Greek mythology, Priapus (; ) is a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his oversized penis, and his permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term priapism. He became a popular figure in Roman erotic art and Latin literature, and is the subject of the often humorously obscene collection of verse called the Priapeia.

Lysistrata ( or ; Attic Greek: , Lysistrátē, ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, first staged in early 411 BCE at Lenaea festival in classical Athens. The play is a comic account of a woman's – Lysistrata's – mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city states by denying sex from all the men of warring parties and occupying the Acropolis of Athens. Lysistrata persuades the women of the warring cities to engage in a sex strike as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace – a strategy that inflames the battle between the sexes.

thumb|200px|Greek and her client, approx. 430 BC. The fact that she is on the couch with him is telling, as wives were not allowed into the symposium. A ' (; , ; . , ), Latinized as ' ( ), was a type of highly educated female companion in ancient Greece who served as an artist, entertainer, and conversationalist. Historians have often classed them as courtesans, but the extent to which they were sex workers is a matter of dispute.

4th century BC Theban military unit

gay and lesbian sexuality in ancient Greece

thumb|Two Erotes, depicted on a Campanian [[hydria by the Danaid Painter, c. 340–320 BC]] In Ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Erotes (; , érōtes) are a collective of winged gods associated with love and sexual intercourse. They are part of Aphrodite's retinue, along with the Charites. Erotes is the plural of Eros ("Love, Desire"), who as a singular deity has a more complex mythology.

In Greek mythology and ancient Greek religion, Himeros () is a winged love deity who is part of Aphrodite's procession. Often described as "sweet", he is the god and personification of desire and lust.

aspect of ancient Greek society

overview about of friendhips and intimate relationships of Alexander the Great

antiquated euphemism for male homosexuality

myth in Greek mythology

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Orthanes or Orthannes () is a minor fertility and phallic god worshipped in Athens and the island of Imbros in the Aegean Sea. Little is known about Orthanes, his mythology and cult. Orthanes was seen as an ithyphallic god in the likes of Priapus, the fertility god with the enlarged genitalia. His imagery was used on coins from Imbros.

Anactoria (or Anaktoria; ) is a woman mentioned in the work of the ancient Greek poet Sappho. Sappho, who wrote in the late seventh and early sixth centuries BCE, names Anactoria as the object of her desire in a poem numbered as fragment 16. Another of her poems, fragment 31, is traditionally called the "Ode to Anactoria", although no name appears in it. As portrayed by Sappho, Anactoria is likely to have been an aristocratic follower of hers, of marriageable age. It is possible that fragment 16 was written in connection with her wedding to an unknown man. The name "Anactoria" has also be

dildo prepared using bread, allegedly made in the Greco-Roman era around 2,000 years ago