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Simias
(circa 730 BC) Greece

oiphe

Lover

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"Krimon warms the heart of Simias"

This personal revelation is one of several lines of homosexual graffiti, dating back perhaps to the time of Homer, that constitute one of the earliest known uses of the greek alphabet. Both Simias and Krimon are male names.

Graffiti inscriptions were found in recent years on rocks and boulders at the site of the sanctuary of Apollo Karneios (Horned Apollo), on the Spartan colony of Thera island (modern Santorini), near which a gymnasium was also built. In the middle of the month Karneios (August-September) the Karneia, the worship of Horned Apollo, took place.

The ceremony included acrobatics and games involving naked ephebes ecstaticly dancing in the nude, apparently often followed by informal sex between the young males. At the height of the festivities and when the moon was full, the Gymnopaediae (which means "naked boy ritual") were held. On a specially dedicated square, close by the cliff edge, and watched by the citizens, naked boys danced and sang paeans to Apollo and apparently had sex

One nearby boulder inscription reads "Krimon, number one at qonialoi, has melted Simias", and is signed by the latter. Qonialoi was a dance in which naked young males portrayed fully erect satyrs.

The "number one at qonialoi" must have been much admired, as well as promiscuous. Another nearby inscription suggests, "Barbax dances beautifully and he's given me pleasure".

Another inscription reads, whilst using the verb oiphe to describe sodomy in crude vernacular terms, "By the Delphian god [Apollo], right here Krimon got fucked by the son of Bathukles...".

A further boulder records "Here Krimon fucked Amotion". On this same rock is a list of other ephebes that the "number one at qonialoi" had sex with, including Isokarthus, Pasiowhos, Euaiswros and Kresilas.

Below this list is inscribed "Euponos fucked...". However, the name of the recipient of this lucky sodomiser’s cock is lost to posterity.

Another boulder bears the lengthy inscription, "Pheidipidas fucked Timagoras. Empheres and I got fucked too." The "I" of this sentence is probably Enpulos who signed below this inscription with "Enpulos did this". Above his name, another young man has rather unkindly scratched the word pornos - whore! On the same rock another young man recorded, "Enpedokles did this. And he danced for Apollo."

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