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"A band cemented by friendship grounded upon love is never to be broken,

and invincible; since  the lovers, ashamed to be base in sight of their

beloved, and the beloved before their lovers, willingly rush into

danger for the relief of one another."

        

                                                            Plutarch, Life of Pelopidas

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Thus was the motivation for the Sacred Band of Thebes, an elite Greek

fighting force was 150 pairs of homosexual lovers.  For forty years, from

their creation in 378 B.C.E, until the gallant end on the blood-drenched

field of Chaeronea, in 338, B.C.E, at the hands of Alexander the Great,

they were considered the fiercest fighting force ever created.  Even at the

end, when the rest of the army, faced with overwhelming forces fled, the

Sacred Band held their ground, dying where they stood.  Upon seeing their

lifeless bodies mingled one upon another and learning that this was the

band of lovers, Alexander said, “Perish miserably they who think that

these men did or suffered aught disgraceful!”  He then proceeded to

bury their bodies with honor, erecting the Lion of Chaeronea

over them, a monument that stands to this day.

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