LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology

Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the Greek pantheon. He is a sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.

thumb|right|280px|Poseidon greeting Theseus (on the right). Detail, Attic red-figured calyx-krater by Syriscos Painter, 450-500BC from Agrigento. BnF Museum (Cabinet des médailles), Paris

In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's Iliad, he was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, king of Phthia and famous Argonaut. Achilles was raised in Phthia along with his childhood companion Patroclus and received his education by the centaur Chiron. In the Iliad, he is presented as the commander of the mythical tribe of the Myrmidons.

In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards, fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Greeks (a name later adopted by the Romans) for a frenzy he is said to induce called baccheia. His wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His thyrsus, a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wan

Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite.

In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; Agamémnōn) was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Iphianassa, Electra, Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. Legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. Agamemnon was killed upon his return from Troy by Clytemnestra, or in an older version of the story, by Clytemnestra's lover Aegisthus.

hunter in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Orpheus (; , classical pronunciation: ) was a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, and descended into the underworld to recover his lost wife, Eurydice.

son of Tros in Greek mythology

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

thumb|upright=1.2|Patroclus on an antique fresco from the House of the Tragic Poet in [[Pompeii, 1st century AD (Naples National Archaeological Museum)]] Patroclus (generally pronounced ; ) was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and close companion of the hero Achilles in Greek mythology. Patroclus is an important character in Homer's Iliad. Although Homer does not explicitly describe Patroclus and Achilles as lovers, later ancient authors often interpreted their relationship in this manner.

thumb|315x315px|Depiction of Rhadamanthys in the Tomb of Judgement, Lefkadia, c.300–250 BC

thumb|upright=1.1|Orestes being purified by Apollo on an Apulian red-figure bell-krater, 380–370 BC, now in the Louvre.

In Greek mythology, Hypnos (; Ancient Greek: , 'sleep'), also spelled Hypnus, is the personification of sleep. The Roman equivalent is Somnus. His name is the origin of the word hypnosis. Pausanias wrote that Hypnos was the dearest friend of the Muses.

Polyphemus (; , ; ) is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's Odyssey. His name means "abounding in songs and legends", "many-voiced" or "very famous". Polyphemus first appeared as a savage man-eating giant in the ninth book of the Odyssey. The satyr play Cyclops by Euripides is dependent on this episode with some differences in the story and while also being more comedic in nature. Later Classical writers that presented him in their poems linked his name with the nymph Galatea as he tried to seduce her. Often he was portrayed

Phaethon (; , ), also spelled Phaëthon, is the son of the Oceanid Clymene and the sun god Helios in Greek mythology.

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.

thumb|Herculaneum fresco 1–50 AD, [[National Archaeological Museum, Naples]] In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Hermaphroditus (; , ) is a child of Aphrodite and Hermes. According to Ovid, he was born a remarkably beautiful boy whom the naiad Salmacis attempted to rape and prayed to be united with forever. A god, in answer to her prayer, merged their two forms into one and transformed him into a being of two sexes, both male and female. His name is compounded of his parents' names, Hermes and Aphrodite, and is the origin of the term hermaphrodite.

nymph in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology and religion, Zephyrus () (), also spelled in English as Zephyr (), is the god and personification of the West wind, one of the several wind gods, the Anemoi. The son of Eos (the goddess of the dawn) and Astraeus, Zephyrus is the most gentle and favourable of the winds, associated with flowers, springtime and even procreation. In myths, he is presented as the tender breeze, known for his unrequited love for the Spartan prince Hyacinthus. Alongside Boreas, the two are the most prominent wind gods with relatively limited roles in recorded mythology.

right|thumb|300px|The Murder of Laius by Oedipus, by [[Joseph Blanc]]

thumb|Winged "" armed with a stone. Obverse of silver Ancient drachma|didrachma from [[Phaistos, Crete ( 300/280–270 BC) (Cabinet des Médailles, Paris)]] In Greek mythology, Talos, also spelled Talus (; , Tálōs) or Talon (; , Tálōn), was a man of bronze who protected Crete from pirates and invaders. Despite the popular idea that he was a giant, no ancient source states this explicitly.

thumb|upright|220px|''Marsyas receiving Apollo's punishment'', Istanbul Archaeology Museums|İstanbul Archaeology Museum

thumb| Statue of Daphnis, 1st-2nd century CE, Parian marble In Greek mythology, Daphnis (; , from , daphne, "Bay Laurel") was a legendary Sicilian cowherd who was said to be the inventor of pastoral poetry. According to Diodorus the Sicilian (1st century BC), Daphnis was born in the Heraean Mountains of central Sicily.

In Greek mythology, Anteros (; ) is the god of requited love (literally "love returned" or "counter-love") and also the punisher of those who scorn love and the advances of others, or the avenger of unrequited love.

thumb|300px|An antique fresco in Pompeii depicting a scene from 'Iphigenia among the Taurians' showing [[Orestes, Pylades and King Thoas]]

thumb|A wall painting in Pompeii, depicting a youth with a nimbus, who some scholars have identified as Hesperus. It dates to the reign of [[Vespasian (69–79 AD).]] thumb|right|180px|Hesperus as Personification of the Evening Star by Anton Raphael Mengs (1765).

thumb|Antilochus on an Red-figure pottery|Attic red-figure [[amphora ca. 470 BC from the Louvre]] In Greek mythology, Antilochus (; Ancient Greek: Ἀντίλοχος Antílokhos) was a prince of Pylos and one of the Achaeans in the Trojan War. He was the youngest prince to command troops.

thumb|Calaïs et Zétès délivrent Phinée des Harpies ("Calais and zetes rescuing Phineus from the Harpies") by Bernard Picart.

alt=A helmeted figure emerges from behind a fountain, topped with two lions. That is being approached from the other side by an unarmoured rider. Below the horse is a setting sun. Painted underneath this scene are trees shown in different seasons of the year.|thumb|300px|right|Achilles (left) ambushing Troilus (on horseback, right). Etruscan art|Etruscan [[fresco, Tomb of the Bulls, Tarquinia, 530–520 BC.]]

thumb|Phrygia#Culture|Phrygian statue of Cybele/Agdistis from the mid-6th century BC at or near [[Hattusa|upright=1.2]] Agdistis () is a deity of Greek, Roman, and Anatolian mythology who was a hermaphrodite, having been born with both male and female reproductive organs. The deity was closely associated with the Phrygian goddess Cybele.

son of Pelops

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, Thamyris (Ancient Greek: Θάμυρις, Thámuris) was a Thracian singer. He is notable in Greek mythology for reportedly being a lover of Hyacinth and thus to have been the first mortal male to have loved another male, but when his songs failed to win his love from the god Apollo, he challenged the Nine Muses to a competition and lost.

Greek mythical character

Greek mythology character, son of Laodamia

son of Minos

mythical founder of Miletus

250px|thumb|right|Bacchus e Ampelus (Uffizi, Florence) Ampelos (, lit."Vine") or Ampelus (Latin) was a personification of the grapevine and lover of Dionysus in Greek and Bacchus in Roman mythology. He was a satyr that Dionysus either turned into a constellation or the grape vine.

king of Liguria, son of Sthenelus

mythical seer, who revived Glaucus son of Minos

figure of Greek mythology; son of Achilles

son of Apollo in Greek mythology

In Roman and Greek mythology, Carpus (; ) is a minor character, son of Zephyrus the west wind-god. Carpus drowned in a river, causing his distressed lover Kalamos to end his life as well.

Pair of friends/lovers in the Aeneid, the Augustan epic by Virgil

relationship in classical culture

Greek mythological figure

ancient Greek musician

Kalamos (; ) is a Greek mythological figure. He is son of Maiandros, the god of the Maeander river.

In Greek mythology, Argynnus () is a young and handsome boy from Boeotia. He is said to have been a lover of the Greek king Agamemnon, and to have later died in the Cephissus river. Agamemnon subsequently establishes the worship of Aphrodite under the epithet "Argynnus".

episode in Greek mythology

Eurybarus or Eurybaros (Ancient Greek: Εὐρύβαρος), Eurybatos (Εὐρύβατος) or Eurybates (Εὐρυβάτης) was a Greek mythological hero, son of Euphemus and a descendant of the river god Axios.

mythological demigod

antiquated euphemism for male homosexuality

In Greek mythology, Prosymnus (), also called Poly(hy)mnus () or Hypolipnus, is a shepherd associated with the god Dionysus and Bacchic rites. Prosymnus helped Dionysus navigate the hazardous Alcyonian Lake in the Argolid on his way to bring his mother Semele back from the dead. Prosymnus asked for sexual favours as a reward, but died before Dionysus could keep his oath.

mythical craftsman emulous of Athena

son of Diomus in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Atymnius (Ancient Greek: Ἀτύμνιος derived from atos and hymnos which means "insatiate of heroic praise") may refer to: