Love & War: The Gay Army who Destroyed the Spartans!🏳️‍🌈

When Gerard Butler King Leonidas led his 300 warriors into one of the most notorious battles in history, The Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, his army became the ultimate symbol of strength, bravery and peak masculinity. This three-day bloody battle spawned countless iterations; paintings, statues, essays, novels, comic books, movies, memes and the fancy dress costume of choice for buff dudes.

BUT. What if I told you that just 100 years later an almost identical story played out that history has all but forgotten; an elite force of 300 men who fought to the last breath but THIS one defeated the mighty Spartans and THIS one...was gay.

THE SACRED BAND OF THEBES

In 378 BC, a division of 300 soldiers called the Sacred Band of Thebes was formed within the ancient Theban army. Assembled by commander Gorgidas, the men were chosen according to a strict criteria: they had to be exemplary soldiers, exhibit phenomenal physical prowess and they had to be in an existing romantic relationship with another man on the unit.

The premise behind it was quite beautiful; it was thought that the men would fight twice as hard to protect their lover and would battle to the death before they would admit defeat in front of their partner.

These male couples consisted of an older man called the erastes (‘the lover’) and a younger man called the eromenos (‘the beloved’). These pairings, as well as being a romantic partnership, had a ‘mentor and mentee’ dynamic, with the wiser man bestowing his knowledge of the world to the younger man - in an army environment like the Sacred Band of Thebes it would most likely have involved the erastes passing on his military wisdom. Accounts vary as to the ages of these duos but it is likely that the younger of the pair would be in his early 20s, the age when men were admitted into the Theban army, and the elder would be around 30, when soldiers were usually dismissed.

The band was considered ‘Sacred’ because of the sacred vows these lovers would exchange at the shrine of Iolaus, where male Thebans would go to swear their love to each other.

The theory that this deep bond shared by the men would encourage a greater performance on the battlefield appears to have been accurate as the 300 men, or 150 pairs of lovers, proved to be a formidable force. They were seemingly invincible, never backing down or retreating and taking on armies much greater in numbers than themselves.

Perhaps their most notable victory was the Battle of Tegyra (375 BC) where the band met with the Spartans. It is thought that the Spartan army outnumbered the Sacred Band of Thebes by up to five times the amount of soldiers. Up to then the Spartans were considered to be unbeatable. Through bold tactics and unwavering courage, the Sacred Band emerged the victors - making it the first time a Spartan force had been defeated in a pitched battle. This ‘David and Goliath’ victory was a huge boost to the Theban allies, giving them hope for the first time. Plutarch paid tribute to the remarkable bravery displayed by the army of lovers:

For in all the great wars there had ever been against Greeks or barbarians, the Spartans were never before beaten by a smaller company than their own; nor, indeed, in a set battle, when their number was equal. Hence their courage was thought irresistible, and their high repute before the battle made a conquest already of enemies, who thought themselves no match for the men of Sparta even on equal terms. But this battle first taught the other Greeks, that not only Eurotas, or the country between Babyce and Cnacion, breeds men of courage and resolution; but that where the youth are ashamed of baseness, and ready to venture in a good cause, where they fly disgrace more than danger, there, wherever it be, are found the bravest and most formidable opponents.

—Plutarch, Pelopidas, Chapter 17

The only recorded defeat of The Sacred Band of Thebes was the one which wiped them out; the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC) led by Phillip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. Despite his victory, Phillip was greatly impressed with the might of the Sacred Band and it is said that he wept over the corpses of the men when he learned that they were ‘Lovers and Beloved’. He is reported to have said:

May utter destruction fall upon those who suppose these men did or suffered anything disgraceful

In tribute to these heroic men, the people of Thebes erected a 20-foot-tall stone statue of a lion on the site of the fallen. One of the oldest standing war memorials in Greece, the monument can still be seen to this day. Excavations underneath the statue revealed a mass grave of 254 skeletons, believed to be the remains of the band of lovers.

Love is Love

Back in ancient Greece, same-sex love was observed without discrimination. In fact, there wasn’t even an equivalent word for same-sex love back then; it was simply a part of love, aphrodisia, relating to male/male, female/female and male/female partnerships collectively. Stories of gay and lesbian lovers abound throughout Greek mythology with no language distinguishing them or setting them apart as ‘other’ from the heterosexual partnerships in the texts - suggesting it was very much a ‘love is love’ kinda place. It’s probably quite an eye opener to people who think homosexuality is a ‘modern world phenomen’; it seems it’s actually homophobia that’s new!

As a gay woman (well, as a HUMAN), reading about the Sacred Band of Thebes is bittersweet. It’s sweet because it gives me hope - it’s comforting to imagine there was once a time as seemingly utopian as Ancient Greece sounds for gay people (well...if you ignore all the battles and stuff) and that there may be the chance of reaching that again. It’s bitter because it took me to fall down a very deep hole in the internet to learn about it; queerness is insidiously glossed over or edited out of our history if the individual recounting it finds it ‘distasteful’. So many incredible individuals, and groups like our Theban friends, have been denied their rightful place in our history books, on our gallery walls and on our movie screens because of the prejudices of societal times.

I cling to the sweet, though. Observances like LGBT History Month are painstakingly starting to put these historical figures and events back on our timelines where they belong, unearthing more and more stories of LGBTQI+ history which has been overlooked until now. May we celebrate them, honour them and be inspired by them!

🏳️‍🌈The Sacred Band of Thebes. The fiercest army in history!🏳️‍🌈