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Chinese emperor Ai of Han, fell in love with a minor official, a man name Ding Xian, and bestowed upon him great political power and magnificent palace. Legend has it that one day while the two men were sleeping in the same bed, the emperor was roused from his sleep by pressing business. Dong Xian had fallen asleep across the emperor's robe, but rather than awaken his peaceful lover, the emperor cut his robe free at the sleeve. Thus "the passion of the cut sleeve" became a euphemism for same-sex love in China.- The samurai practice age-structured homosexuality, which was called shudo. Ordinarily a samurai served his daimyo with honor and was expected to follow his lord in death. However, Mitsushige dislike the custom and asked his beloved samurai Tsunetomo to reject it upon his own death. Ironically, this break with tradition led to the samurai code being written down. Tsunetomo lived to retire into the mountains, where he dedicated to a young visiting samurai. His commentary would become the Hagahure, a seminal guide to samurai culture. Mahmud of Ghazni founded the Gaznavid empire and ruled as a sultan. He fell in love with Malik Ayaz, a Turkish slave, and their relationship became the epitome of idealized love in Islamic legend and Sufi literature. As the story goes, Ayaz asked Mahmud who the most powerful man in the kingdom was. When the sultan replied that it was himself, Ayaz corrected him, claiming that in fact Ayaz was the most powerful, since Mahmud was his slave. The "slave to a slave" became a favorite trope in Persian literature. Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum were ancient royal servants who shared the tittle "overseer of the Manicurist in the palace of king Niaserre." The two men are dipicted on their joint tomb in one of the most intimate poses allowed by Egyptian artistic conventions: face to face, with their noses touching. Niankhkhnum means "joined to life" and Khnumhotep means "joined to the the blessed state of the dead" together their names means "joined in life and death." They are believed to be the first same-sex couple in recorded history. ~ R.G.L
