Greek Authorities Are Looking for Activists Who Shot a Sex Scene at the Acropolis

An anonymous activist group filmed a brief sex scene at Greece’s most visited historical site, the Acropolis, as a political statement on LGBTQIA+ rights—and the government is vowing to track them down and hold them accountable for “offending” the monument. 

According to AFP, a culture ministry spokesman said they’ve launched an investigation into the video, and wanted to "find as soon as possible those responsible for this illegal shoot.” 

"The archeological site of the Acropolis does not lend itself to activism or any other action that offends or shows a lack of respect to the monument,” the spokesperson said. 

The film is called “Departhenon,” and is 36 minute long. According to the website for the film, the plot involves a group traveling to see the Acropolis, including two male ex-lovers who want to reconnect. The group conspires to make it happen at the Parthenon. “A fissure is created in the public space, and specifically at the archaeological site of the Parthenon, which is symbolically charged with nationalistic and heteronormative elements, so that the saught eroticism can flourish,” the website says. “The film is an independent production with no commercial purposes. The goal is for the work to be shared with people and groups who wish so.” 

The group first screened the film to a small audience last month at the University of Thessaloniki. They posted it in full on the Internet Archive, and that’s when it caught the attention of authorities. 

The film itself is fairly tame. It’s shot as if the camera crew is one tourist with a Handycam. The first 15 minutes is just people talking and making craft masks. Things get lightly erotic around the 17 minute mark, with some making out and dancing. Eventually, the group goes to the Acropolis during the day, surrounded by actual tourists milling around, and makes a circle with their bodies around a couple who has sex standing up, with the others acting as cover. Later, at nightfall, there’s a dance party with the Parthenon illuminated in the far background. To call this pornographic is a real stretch; it’s an activist film project featuring less than one minute of thrusting ass cheeks.

"As a Greek, I'm ashamed," the president of the Greek Actors' Association, Spyros Bibilas, told broadcaster ANT1, the Strait Times reported. 

All of this is a little ironic, considering the ancient Greeks’ reputation for free love—especially male homosexual relationships. These guys are probably far from the first to fuck at the Acropolis over the centuries.