Dandelion Moon - Wilfred Wong by Baldovino Barani x FACTORY Fanzine

Serhii Filimonov, and friend

Alfredo Furiati (b. 1977), The Wind of the South

Roman terracotta grotesque figure, likely a pitcher or votive item dating from the 1st to 2nd Century AD

Aryan Migrations

What are the implications of the two theories about the Proto-Indo-European homeland? Were they farmers in one place (Anatolia) or riders, hunters or warriors from elsewhere (such as the Steppes)?

The "mainstream" theory is that they were horsemen from the Steppes c 4,500 BC, who spread their culture comparatively quickly. The alternative view is that they were farmers in Anatolia who had been there since c 6,500 BC and whose influence only spread slowly.

One would like to imagine of course that they might have been both - that they could have been the people who lived at Çatalhöyük and who then became the fearsome horse-lords of the Caucasus.

But that is almost certainly fanciful.

Jean Delville, École de Platon (School of Plato)

Lord Leighton, Daedalus and Icarus (1869)

Frederick Walker, The Seasons: 2. Summer Days

Pre-Columbian Basalt Sculpture of a Copulating Male Couple (1000-1500), Costa Rica 🇨🇷 (Barakat Gallery, London)

This unusual Costa Rican sculpture is of two naked males wearing flat headdresses engaging in a homosexual activity. Carved of basalt stone, the sculpture is highly stylized and created in a simple, minimal manner. The larger man stands behind, with his hands firmly holding the shoulders of the smaller man. Such pose generates the feeling of tension, more of a power play between the men than the sexual connotation. Although such scene of homosexual activity may have a certain connotation for people today, the people of Ancient Costa Rica had a quite different interpretation. Wearing little clothing was a symbol of high class for Ancient Costa Ricans because only people who worked in the fields had to wear clothing to protect their sensitive areas such as the genital area.

Costa Ricans also considered sex as the unpredictable force, which often leads to tension and destruction. Thus, sex was naturally analogized with beings of aggressive power, such as human males who were often warriors, the fighting force in their culture. Moreover, such activity had a ritualistic significance. During ceremonies, a strong, masculine warrior engaged in the sexual act with another warrior of lesser power to transfer his strength and virility.

The basalt sculpture, then, embodies more conception and symbolism than just sex itself. Looking at this sculpture, we realize that symbolism can be interpreted in a myriad of ways depending on the culture and context in question. It behooves us to look below the surface to understand the intricacies of symbol systems and their use within a given culture during a given period. It only expands our understanding of the beauty and complexity of the overall human experience and its infinite expressions.

[Archaeo - Histories on X]

Photo by Jörg Brücker

[H/T: Gay Cults: Love by the Water]

Laurent Jacquot-Defrance, “A Spartan Shows his Sons a Drunken Helot” (1900)

Elihu Vedder, Study for his painting 'The Last Man'

Eddy Varekamp, "Swimmers"

Roman mosaic of Bacchus from Antioch

Henry Scott Tuke painting Donald Rolph on a beach in Cornwall, c. 1921–1922.

Frank Kirchbach, born Johann Frank Kirchbach (1859 - 1912), ''The Abduction of Ganymede'' (1892), engraving after a painting seen at the Palazzo Grimani, Venice

A Seiðr drum

Vulcan Chaining Prometheus. 1881.  Vasili Yevmenievich Savinsky Russian 1859-1937. oil/canvas. Museum of Fine Arts Academy, Saint Petersbourg.

Andrea Galad

Bertel Thorvaldsen, "Genius of Death"

The image is a variation of the Vitruvian Man combined with a pentagram, often associated with occult symbolism from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's De Occulta Philosophia.

Maquenda, 'The Return'

‘1000 Flowers of Solace’ unfurls like a medieval tapestry about rediscovering innocence amidst Kashmiri flora and fauna. (Image Credits: Mazahir Hussain)

James Timothy Gleeson, "The Awakening"

Nikolas Brummer

Wilhelm Bottner, Daedalus Tying the Wings of Icarus

Otto Bache, A Centaur Playing with His Son

Henri-Lucien Doucet, 'Reunion of Odysseus and Telemachus'

"Bacchus leaning on a Satyr"(2nd-century Roman copy of a Greek original, Uffizi Gallery) 

Alexandre Haefeli, 'Two boys in the grass'

"Pythagoras trained the Samian athlete Eurymenes, who though he was of small stature, conquered at Olympia through his surpassing knowledge of Pythagoras' wisdom. While according to ancient custom the other athletes fed on cheese and figs, Eurymenes, by the advice of Pythagoras,… pic.twitter.com/X2DREXs6uN

— Frater D∴ T∴ (@frater_dt) February 18, 2026

swordfighting tactics, germany, 16th century pic.twitter.com/hWOnsuy3yE

— weird medieval guys (@WeirdMedieval) February 19, 2026

Adolphe Thabard, Le Vainqueur

Nir Arieli, 'Flower He Is'
(Headpiece design by Philipp Shchekin and Anthony Brownie)

The artist writes

In this project I am using flowers as a metaphor for the male dancer, evoking questions about youth, decay, fragility and innocence. When a dancer turns from a boy into a man, he is in the peak of his physical ability. Like a flower in full bloom that will soon wilt, this point in a dancer's life is both beautiful and tragic.

Carl Larsson, Amor Mercurius

Alexander Adams. Argonaut (for RC) (2025)

Matteo.twink

Adamo Tadolini, Ganymede and Zeus