 The Greeks also created the first well-known instance of lesbian eroticism in the West, with Sappho's "Hymn to Aphrodite" and other homoerotic works.There are numerous sexually explicit paintings and sculptures from the ruined Roman buildings in Pompeii and Herculaneum but the original purposes of the depictions can vary.On one hand, in the Villa of the Mysteries, there is a ritual flagellation scene that is clearly associated with a religious cult and this image can be seen as having religious significance rather than sexual.