(Getty/ Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Archaeological Museum/ DeAgostini)
“Sexual acts were a zero-sum game – the person penetrating always won.” Symposium scene, circa 480-490 BC, decorative fresco from the north wall of the Tomb of the Diver at Paestum, Campania, Italy. “The person to penetrate was dominant, the person to be penetrated was submissive. “Positionality and power are two key concepts that defined ancient understandings of same-sex relations,” he added. “Same-sex relations were both legally and culturally accepted, and commonly engaged in within Ancient Greek and Roman societies,” Oatley told PinkNews.
