Picture / Helena Smith. "Nikasitimos was here mounting Timiona" reads graffiti which has been found on a remote Aegean island, which also includes two large inscriptions of penises. The engravings dating back to the fifth and sixth centuries BC were discovered on Astypalaia by specialist in prehistoric archaeology Dr Andreas Vlachopoulos. He’s told the Guardian the works are "so monumental in scale" and so tantalisingly clear, he was left in no doubt of the motivation behind them. "They were what I would call triumphant inscriptions," the Princeton-trained professor says. "They claimed their own space in large letters that not only expressed sexual desire but talked about the act of sex itself. And that is very, very rare." Dr Vlachopoulo says we know that in ancient Greece sexual desire between men was not a taboo. "But this graffiti … is not just among the earliest ever discovered. By using the verb in the past continuous [tense], it clearly says that these two men were making love over a long period of time, emphasising the sexual act in a way that is highly unusual in erotic artwork. " Read more here
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 9th July 2014 - 11:41am