The meaning of erômenos is passive (one who is sexually desired) while erastês is active (to sexually desire). “To be penetrated was to be placed within the inferior and feminising position,” Oatley explained. You can see the power play even in the words themselves. Their ‘tops’, meanwhile, were typically older, bearded men called “erastês”. The closest thing in Ancient Greek culture to the modern bottom was the “erômenos,” Oatley said, an adolescent male who couldn’t grow a beard. (Getty/ Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Archaeological Museum/ DeAgostini) “Sexual acts were a zero-sum game – the person penetrating always won.” Symposium scene, circa 480-490 BC, decorative fresco from the north wall of the Tomb of the Diver at Paestum, Campania, Italy. “The person to penetrate was dominant, the person to be penetrated was submissive. “Positionality and power are two key concepts that defined ancient understandings of same-sex relations,” he added. “Same-sex relations were both legally and culturally accepted, and commonly engaged in within Ancient Greek and Roman societies,” Oatley told PinkNews.