Army of Lovers, film premiere

Army of Lovers tells the untold epic saga of the Sacred Band, an elite force of 150 pairs of male lovers who became the most formidable warriors of the ancient world.

This Greek army was formed by the city of Thebes in 379 BCE to end Spartan domination. Fighting for four decades undefeated, it 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.