[Antoninus]

It was well accepted in Homer’s time and shortly after that the two were lovers. Alexander the Great, for example, took it as a given when he and his lover went to a shrine for the two of them.

Alexander lived some 4-700 years after Homer. Hardly a short time. What evidence do you have that that the butt-buddy connection was established in Homer's time? I have never seen any such.

[allmendream]

In the culture Homer wrote for, in the language he wrote in, it was almost universally accepted that the two were lovers - and it was not at all thought a strange thing - it being Greece and all.

In classic Greek culture it was even opined that “love” could only exist between two men - because women were so inferior.

Moreover Homer was not the only source - Achilles being a semi-historic mythological figure before during and after Homer wrote - other sources (a play for example) clearly showed the two were lovers.