Army of Lovers

Army of Lovers tells the untold saga of the world’s greatest military corps, made up of 150 male couples, whose story has only recently been uncovered.

This elite Greek army called the Sacred Band was formed by the city of Thebes in 379 BCE to end Spartan domination. Fighting for four decades undefeated, the army was annihilated by the forces of Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander in the Battle of Chaeronea.  Buried on the battlefield where they fell, the 300 were forgotten by history, until a Greek archaeologist discovered the mass grave in 1880.

The discovery was never made public and the grave was covered up, leading some historians to claim that the Sacred Band never existed.

It was only in 2019 that a missing skeleton was found in the basement of the Athens Archaeological Museum, as well as the excavation logs with detailed drawings of the mass grave: it depicted an army of 300 men lying in pairs, their arms linked together.

A team of international archaeologists and historians is re-examining the newly uncovered evidence, gaining unprecedented insight into the story of the Sacred Band. Their findings challenge us to rethink our understanding of Ancient Greece and our perceptions of heroism and masculinity across time.