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ANCIENT

Ancient History | Early Civilizations

LGBTQ in the Ancient World

Examples of LGBTQ individuals and relationships in ancient history include the possible same-sex couple Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum from Ancient Egypt, the famed love affair between Emperor Ai of Han and Dong Xian in China, and the widespread acceptance of transgender and non-binary individuals in Ancient Mesopotamia through the clergy of the goddess Inanna. While understandings of gender and sexuality differ, these examples show that non-heteronormative identities and relationships have existed across various ancient cultures.

Ancient Egypt

Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum: These royal manicurists from the 5th Dynasty are thought to be the first same-sex couple in recorded history. Their tomb contains images of them embracing and touching noses, a gesture recognized as a kiss, and they were buried together.

Ancient China

Emperor Ai of Han and Dong Xian: The emperor had a celebrated love affair with his court official, Dong Xian, which led to the Chinese euphemism "cut sleeve" to describe homosexuality, after a story where the emperor cut off his sleeve rather than wake his sleeping lover.
Ancient Mesopotamia

Inanna's Clergy: The priests and priestesses serving the goddess Inanna (Ishtar) included individuals who are described as bisexual and transgender. The goddess herself was believed to have the power to transform people into a third gender, neither fully male nor female, and her clergy was respected as intermediaries between the divine and human worlds.

Ancient Greece

Achilles and Patroclus: Some ancient philosophers and writers, like Plato, interpreted their relationship as a loving one, though the Iliad itself does not explicitly state they were lovers.

Socrates and his students: Socrates' close relationships with his male students were a common feature of Athenian society, and he engaged in intellectual discussions with them in a manner that has led to modern interpretations of these relationships as potentially romantic.

Ancient Rome

Emperor Elagabalus: This Roman emperor, known for his flamboyant and unconventional behaviors, is considered by many historians to be a transgender or gay man. His relationships and actions were often seen as transgressive, and he was reportedly known to seek castration.

LGBTQ in the Ancient World
Ancient LGBTQ Facts You Need to Know
Historical Examples Of LGBTQ Culture Around The World
Homosexuality in Ancient Greece

LGBTQ History in India
History of Same-Sex Samurai Love in Edo Japan

LGBTQ Ancient History
Ancient Civilizations that Recognized the LGBTQ Community
Gay Rulers From Ancient History

Ancient LGBTQ People: A Look into Queer History
Homosexuality in the Ancient World
Just How Gay Were the Ancient Greeks?

Ancient

Plato - Greek Philosopher

Socrates - Greek Philosopher
Sappho - Greek Woman Poet
Aristotle - Greek Philosopher

Classics

Michelangelo - Italian Artist
Leonardo Da Vinci - Italian Artist and Scientist
Christopher Marlowe - British Playwright

Virgil - Roman Poet

Rulers

James I - King of England

Alexander the Great - Macedonian Ruler
Peter the Great - Russian Czar
Frederick the Great - King of Prussia

Hadrian - Roman Emperor

Nero - Roman Emperor

David - King of Israel

Marie Antoinette: Queer Icon

Ancient Civilizations that Would Celebrate Pride Month
Queer Couples Through History From Ancient Egypt to the White House
Historical Examples Of LGBTQ Culture Around The World

Ancient Queer Gods
Notable Same Gender Couples from History

Greek Gods Who Had Same-Sex Relationships
Homosexuality in Ancient Greece

LGBTQ Instances in History

History of Persecution... and Mainstream Acceptance...

LGBTQ history dates back to the first recorded instances of same-sex love, diverse gender identities, and sexualities in ancient civilizations, involving the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) peoples and cultures around the world.

Throughout history, LGBTQ individuals have faced widespread persecution, including the systematic persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany where they were sent to concentration camps, the "Lavender Scare" in the United States involving mass dismissals from government employment, and centuries of legal statutes criminalizing same-sex acts in various countries. These incidents range from state-sponsored policies and mass executions to the murder of individuals and the institutionalization of discrimination, demonstrating a long and painful history of violence and prejudice against the LGBTQ community.

Nazi Germany

Holocaust & Concentration Camps: In 1933, the National Socialist German Workers Party banned gay organizations and sent homosexuals to concentration camps, using pink triangles as a symbol of their persecution.

Legal and Political Repression: A 1935 revision of Germany's Paragraph 175 criminal code led to increased arrests and convictions for homosexual acts, with persecution intensifying in annexed territories and prior to World War II.

United States

The Lavender Scare: During the mid-20th century, homosexuals were deemed national security risks and faced mass dismissal from government service, a witch hunt often paralleling the anti-communist McCarthy era.

Acts of Violence: The United States has also seen numerous individual acts of violence and murder motivated by homophobia. In 1993, Colin Ireland was convicted of murdering five gay men in London. The Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016 was one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history.

Other Regions and Periods

Ancient Rome: The Lex Julia de adulteris in ancient Rome prescribed death for those committing homosexual acts.

Medieval Europe: The 589 conversion of the Visigothic kingdom to Catholicism led to revisions in its laws to include the persecution of homosexuals.

Spain: In 1936, the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca was executed by right-wing rebels who established the dictatorship under Francisco Franco.

Early 20th Century: Homosexual acts were recriminalized in the USSR in 1933, and while Uruguay decriminalized them in the same year, the Soviet Union later reimposed penalties.

Oscar Wilde Scandal (late 19th Century): The arrest and trial of playwright Oscar Wilde in the 1890s brought homosexuality into the public eye, though discussions in the press often focused on "immorality" rather than homosexuality itself.

What survives after many centuries of persecution—resulting in shame, suppression, and secrecy—has only in more recent decades been pursued and interwoven into more mainstream historical narratives.

In 1994, the annual observance of LGBTQ History Month began in the United States, and it has since been picked up in other countries. This observance involves highlighting the history of LGBTQ people, LGBTQ rights and related civil rights movements. It is observed during October in the United States, to include National Coming Out Day on October 11. In the United Kingdom it has been observed during February since 2005.

Section 28, which had prohibited local authorities from "promoting" homosexuality was repealed in England and Wales in 2003, and by the Scottish parliament in 2000.

A celebrated achievement in LGBTQ history occurred when Queen Beatrix signed a law making Netherlands the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001.

LGBTQ in the Ancient World
Ancient LGBTQ Facts You Need to Know
Historical Examples Of LGBTQ Culture Around The World
Homosexuality in Ancient Greece

LGBTQ History in India
History of Same-Sex Samurai Love in Edo Japan

LGBTQ Ancient History
Ancient Civilizations that Recognized the LGBTQ Community
Gay Rulers From Ancient History

Ancient LGBTQ People: A Look into Queer History
Homosexuality in the Ancient World
Just How Gay Were the Ancient Greeks?

LGBTQ Culture in Ancient Civilizations

Rome... Greece... India... Egypt...

The presence of LGBTQ identities and expressions is not a modern phenomenon but a deeply rooted aspect of human societies across history. In ancient civilizations, gender and sexuality were understood in ways that differ significantly from contemporary frameworks. This essay offers a concise exploration of LGBTQ culture in select ancient civilizations—namely Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, and China—highlighting their diverse attitudes and representations.

In ancient Mesopotamia, the earliest records from Sumerian and Akkadian cultures suggest the presence of non-heteronormative roles, especially within religious contexts. In Sumer, the gala priests—assigned male at birth—performed lamentations for the goddess Inanna and often adopted feminine speech and mannerisms. Some texts also allude to same-sex relations among deities and mortals, indicating a nuanced cultural space for gender variance.

In ancient Egypt, sexuality was closely tied to myth, fertility, and the afterlife. While explicit records of same-sex relationships are limited, notable figures such as Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum—royal manicurists buried together in an intimate tomb—have been interpreted by some scholars as evidence of a possible homosexual relationship. Egyptian mythology also includes gender-fluid deities like Atum and Hapi, further complicating rigid binaries.

Classical Greece offers one of the most documented examples of same-sex relationships, particularly between adult men and adolescent boys (pederasty), which was institutionalized as part of elite male education. Philosophers such as Plato explored same-sex love as a noble pursuit in works like the Symposium. However, these relationships existed within hierarchies of age and status, and women's same-sex relationships, though less recorded, are evidenced in the poetry of Sappho of Lesbos.

In ancient Rome, attitudes toward same-sex behavior were shaped by power dynamics rather than gender alone. Roman men were generally permitted to engage in same-sex acts as long as they assumed the dominant role. The emperor Hadrian’s grief over the death of his male lover Antinous, whom he deified, is a prominent example of same-sex affection being publicly acknowledged and memorialized.

Ancient Indian texts and traditions reflect complex views on gender and sexuality. The Kama Sutra discusses homosexual acts without moral condemnation, and Hindu mythology contains numerous gender transformations and same-sex unions. For instance, the god Shiva transforms into Ardhanarishvara—a composite of male and female aspects—symbolizing a divine androgyny that reflects fluid conceptions of gender.

In ancient China, historical records and literature from the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) mention same-sex love among men, often using poetic metaphors like "the cut sleeve" or "bitten peach." Emperors such as Ai of Han openly had male lovers, and these relationships were, at times, socially accepted, especially among the elite.

Ancient civilizations exhibited a wide array of LGBTQ-related practices and beliefs, often tied to religion, mythology, and social hierarchy. While not directly analogous to modern identities, these cultures demonstrate that gender and sexual diversity are deeply embedded in human history. Rather than being peripheral, LGBTQ expressions were integral to the social, religious, and artistic fabrics of many ancient societies. Understanding these historical contexts broadens our perspective on the cultural contingency of sexuality and challenges the assumption of heteronormativity as a historical constant.

Egyptian Tomb Contains First Gay Love Story Recorded in History
Famous and Not-so-Famous Same-Sex Couples in Ancient History
LGBTQ Love Stories From Ancient Greece and Rome
Iconic Same-Sex Couples Through History
LGBTQ Rulers Through History

Ancient Egypt Was Totally Queer

Queer Gods Who Ruled Ancient History
Embracing Queer Sex and Love in Ancient Times

Tribute to Sappho

“Sweet mother, I cannot weave. Aphrodite has overcome me with longing for a girl.”

The word "lesbian" is derived from the name of the Greek island of Lesbos, home to the 6th Century poet Sappho (Circa 630 BCE - 570 BCE). From various ancient writings, historians have gathered that a group of young women were left in Sappho's charge for their instruction or cultural edification. Not much of Sappho's poetry remains, but that which does reflects the topics she wrote about: women's daily lives, their relationships, and rituals. She focused on the beauty of women and proclaimed her love for girls. Before the late 19th Century, the word "lesbian" referred to any derivative or aspect of Lesbos, including a type of wine.

Sappho is the most famous female poet of antiquity, but only incomplete poems and fragments remain of her work. Most of Sappho's lyrical love poems were addressed to women. She was sometimes considered the female counterpart of Homer. The Greek philosopher Plato called her the Tenth Muse.

Sappho: Poems and Quotations

Poetry Foundation: Sappho

New Yorker: Who Was Sappho?

Ancient History Encyclopedia: Sappho of Lesbos

Origin of the Word Lesbian

Wikipedia: Sappho

Facts about Sappho's life are scant. She was an aristocrat, who wrote poetry for her circle of friends, mostly but not exclusively women. She may have had a daughter. The term lesbian, her presumed sexual orientation, is derived from the name of her island home, Lesbos. The ancients had seven or nine books of her poetry. Only fragments survive. The longest is an invocation to Aphrodite asking her to help the poet in her relation with a beloved woman. Her verse is a classic example of the love lyric, and is characterized by her passionate love of women, a love of nature, a direct simplicity, and perfect control of meter.

In 1890, the term "Sapphism" was used in a medical dictionary as an adjective to describe tribadism and as the sexual gratification of two women by simulating intercourse. "Sapphism" was used for a long time, in a positive way, to mean "lesbian love." The use of the term "lesbianism," to describe erotic relationships between women, had been documented in 1870. The terms "lesbian" and "lesbianism" were interchangeable with "Sapphist" and "Sapphism" around the turn of the 20th Century. The use of "lesbian" in medical literature became prominent. By 1925, the word was recorded as a noun to mean the female equivalent of a sodomite.

LGBTQ in the Ancient World
Ancient LGBTQ Facts You Need to Know
Historical Examples Of LGBTQ Culture Around The World
Homosexuality in Ancient Greece

LGBTQ History in India
History of Same-Sex Samurai Love in Edo Japan

LGBTQ Ancient History
Ancient Civilizations that Recognized the LGBTQ Community
Gay Rulers From Ancient History

Ancient LGBTQ People: A Look into Queer History
Homosexuality in the Ancient World
Just How Gay Were the Ancient Greeks?

Transgender History

Many Americans who are uninformed on the subject have said, "There weren't any transgender people when I was young."

However, for more than 300 years before the arrival of white settlers, the native population on this continent revered trans people as "Two Spirit" and regarded them as wise.

In ancient Mesopotamia, trans people were revered as priestesses in service to the Goddess Inanna. That was 4500 years ago.

Transgender people are older than our country, our god, and our bigotry.

Ancient Egyptians: Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep

2400 BCE

In Egypt in 1964, archeologists found two male groomers (manicurists) named Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep buried together in a shared tomb, similar to the manner in which married couples were often buried. Their epitaph reads, "Joined in life and joined in death." Having lived in 2400 BCE, they are believed to be history's oldest recorded gay couple.

They were ancient Egyptian royal servants. They shared the title of Overseer of the Manicurists in the Palace of King Nyuserre Ini, sixth pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty, reigning during the second half of the 25th century BCE. They were buried together at Saqqara and are listed as "royal confidants" in their joint tomb.

Carved in stone, were the images of the two men embracing with their names inscribed. Though not of the nobility, they were highly esteemed in the palace as key personal attendants of the king. Grooming the king was an honored occupation. Archaeologists were taken aback. It was extremely rare in ancient Egypt for an elite tomb to be shared by two men of apparently equal standing. The usual practice was for such mortuary temples to be the resting place of one prominent man, his wife and children. And it was most unusual for a couple of the same sex to be depicted locked in an embrace. In other scenes, they are also shown holding hands and nose-kissing, the favored form of kissing in ancient Egypt.

They are notable for their unusual depiction in Egyptian records, often interpreted as the first recorded same-sex couple, a claim that has met considerable debate.

Ancient Egypt Was Totally Queer

Queer Gods Who Ruled Ancient History
Embracing Queer Sex and Love in Ancient Times

Ancient Roots

Goddess of Love

Aphrodite is a well-known ancient Greek goddess associated with love, affection, desire, beauty, pleasure, passion, fertility, and sex. She was physically stunning but also wore a magic girdle that made everyone fall in love with her. She represented all manner of erotic and carnal attraction. She was also the patron goddess of prostitutes. Her Roman counterpart was the goddess Venus. The Greek male deity of love, passion and sex was Eros. His Roman counterpart was Cupid.

Aphrodite (Venus) was known for her remarkable beauty and artistic representations of her always show a stunning young woman. She is usually dressed in elegant clothing and wearing golden jewelry. She had long, wavy hair and a voluptuous figure. If Apollo represented the ideal of the perfect male body to the Greeks, Aphrodite was certainly his most appropriate female counterpart. Beautiful and enchanting, she was frequently depicted nude, as a symmetrically perfect maiden, infinitely desirable and as infinitely out of reach.

Aphrodite Explained

Mythology: Aphrodite

Aphrodite Info

Beautiful Facts About Aphrodite

Aphrodite's symbols include myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. There are three main symbols associated with her that include the girdle, the seashell and the mirror. It is speculated that the biological female gender symbol is a tribute to Aphrodite. The circle on top is said to represent the mirror while the lower half is meant to be the handle.

Marie Antoinette: Queer Icon

Ancient Civilizations that Would Celebrate Pride Month
Queer Couples Through History From Ancient Egypt to the White House
Historical Examples Of LGBTQ Culture Around The World

Ancient Queer Gods
Notable Same Gender Couples from History

Greek Gods Who Had Same-Sex Relationships
Homosexuality in Ancient Greece

Kama Sutra

Ancient Sex Manual

The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian Hindu text written by Mallanaga Vātsyāyana. It is believed to have been composed between 400 BCE and 200 CE. It is widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sexual intercourse.

Gay Kama Sutra

Lesbian Kama Sutra

While the Kama Sutra is not exclusively a sex manual, it is presumed or depicted as a synonym for creative sexual positions. It presents itself as a guide to a virtuous and gracious living that discusses the nature of love, family life, and other aspects pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life. The majority of the book is about the philosophy and theory of love, what triggers desire, what sustains it, and how and when it is good or bad.

The popular content of the Kama Sutra relates to amorous advances and sexual union, which devotes ten chapters to stimulation of desire, types of embraces, caressing and kisses, marking with nails, biting and marking with teeth, on copulation (positions), slapping by hand and corresponding moaning, virile behavior in women, superior coition and oral sex, preludes and conclusions to the game of love. It describes 64 types of sexual acts.

LGBTQ in the Ancient World
Ancient LGBTQ Facts You Need to Know
Historical Examples Of LGBTQ Culture Around The World
Homosexuality in Ancient Greece

LGBTQ History in India
History of Same-Sex Samurai Love in Edo Japan

LGBTQ Ancient History
Ancient Civilizations that Recognized the LGBTQ Community
Gay Rulers From Ancient History

Ancient LGBTQ People: A Look into Queer History
Homosexuality in the Ancient World
Just How Gay Were the Ancient Greeks?

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