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Zephyros and Hyakinthos

Attic red figure cup from Tarquinia, circa 480 BCE.
Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Zephyros and Hyakinthos


Attic red figure cup from Tarquinia, circa 480 BCE.
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
.

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One of the most beautiful examples of frontal sex (between the thighs) from ancient Greece that we have. Zephyr, the god of the West wind, bears his beloved boyfriend Hyacinth through the air while making love to him. Frontal sex was favored by the Greeks over anal sex as it did not "feminize" the boy and was seen as more restrained and not abusive. This cup also shows the closeness in age between youths and their lovers, and the relative maturity of the "boys," a common theme as a great age difference was seen as an obstacle to the relationship

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