The Most Homoerotic Scenes in Sword-and-Sandal Movies, Ranked

As much as I loved The Odyssey, one thing it wasn’t was homoerotic. I would really have to do quite a lot of imaginative labor to write fan fiction about Matt Damon’s Odysseus and Himesh Patel’s Eurylochus being together romantically. Maybe they’d get stranded on an island together. A cold island ruled over by Boreas, the Greek god of the cold north wind. They’d be so cold they would have to rely on each other for warmth. And while they were snuggling in their sleeping bag... OK, look, I can do it, but the text doesn’t actually invite this interpretation.By contrast, a great many of the so-called sword-and-sandal epics are fairly homoerotic on their face. Between the exposed abs, the body oil, and the charged conversations between men, it’s a subgenre that usually has no problem coming across as pretty gay — especially in the run of mid-20th century, Italian-made sword-and-sandal affairs known as peplum movies. And honestly, that’s a little more historically accurate given what we know about homosexuality in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.It’d be impossible to list every single gay-coded sword-and-sandal movie here, so instead I decided to compile a “greatest hits” list of homoerotic scenes and moments for your viewing pleasure. Find my ten favorite below.10. The spike torture device in Samson (1961)There are many scenes from Samson to choose from, but I am partial to the one in which Brad Harris’ Samson holds back a spiked wall with his huge glistening back muscles.9. The wrestling scene in Hercules Unchained (1959)Steve Reeves was Hercules to an entire generation — and probably awakened an entire generation of gay men with grunt-heavy, naked, wrestling scenes like this one.8. Commodus caresses a chained Maximus in Gladiator (2000)Just before the final battle in Gladiator, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) pays a chained Maximus (Russell Crowe) a visit, gently runs a finger down his chin, and then slowly inches toward him. Kiss, kiss, ki