Hidden history of homosexuality
The British Museum has released a new guide to exhibits in its collection which explore ideas of same-sex love and eroticism.
A Little Gay History, written by curator Richard Parkinson, draws on objects ranging from ancient Egyptian papyrii containing gay chat up lines to Japanese woodcuts depicting men having sex.
It is accompanied by an audio trail featuring actor Simon Russell Beale and artist Maggie Hambling, with the publication timed to coincide with this year's London Pride festival.
Both explore artistic portrayals of homoeroticism throughout the ages, with the book making special discussion of the difficulties in finding the often suppressed records of homosexuality.
'History has all too often been a list of the deeds of famous men who are implicitly 'heterosexual' and usually European,' he writes.
'Unsurprisingly, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have often felt excluded and silenced, and without a voice.'
Daily Mail
(is this really hidden? Ah yes...the Daily Mail!)
A marble bust of Hadrian, Roman emperor between AD117 and AD138, next to his lover Antinous.
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