Explanation: Julius Caesar, of conqueror and dictator fame, was sometimes accused of having been the 'bottom' in a relationship with Nicomedes, the King of Bithynia, in his youth. For this reason, he acquired the lifelong (and undesired) nickname of "The Queen of Bithynia". Even his own beloved soldiers got in on it - singing, at Caesar's Triumph through the streets of Rome, "Caesar conquered Gaul, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar!" and it was once said that Caesar was "Every woman's man, and every man's woman" in reference to his well-known (and less denied) philandering through the aristocratic families of everywhere he spent more than a week in, the city of Rome not least of all.

Whether or not this particular accusation was true, it was considered normal for men to engage in same-sex relations in both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire - the distinguishing factor was who was 'on top'. The one 'on top' was actually considered more of a man and a Real Citizen(tm) for having sex with another man; the man on the bottom was considered to have been put in a moderately embarrassing (yet intermittently admitted as nonetheless sexually appealing) position, should the truth of who-was-where get out.

Other bicons of Roman history include:

• The entire slate of the first 200 years of Emperors, save only Claudius (who only had a taste for women who were bad for him, it would seem), Antoninus Pius, and possibly Marcus Aurelius and Vespasian. Every other Emperor is noted as having male sexual favorites - especially notably, Nero (a poor Emperor) who married two different men in addition to his marriage to women; Titus (a good Emperor), a noted party boy who was in love with a Jewish queen, but also notably had actor boytoys; Trajan (a good Emperor), who was once noted by a contemporary writer to have only two vices, neither of which he allowed to harm anyone but himself - handsome men, and alcohol; and Hadrian (a mostly good Emperor), whose affair with the Greek provincial Antinous remained a symbol of male-male attraction up into the 20th century. Talk about enduring symbolism!

• The republican-era conservative dictator Sulla, who carried on a lifelong affair with his actor boyfriend, Metrobius, and eventually retired to a nice Mediterranean isle with him.

• The Augustan-era patron of arts, architecture, public works, and celebrated statesman Maecenas, who had a weakness for his famously beautiful wife, but also was noted to have carried on affairs with actors.

In addition, quite a bit of Roman poetry, both romantic and satirical, addresses same-sex relations with a frankness that would not be matched in Europe until the decriminalization of homosexuality in the 19th and 20th centuries.