none of those cultures embraced homosexuality, it would've spelled instant death for their civilizations. rich people within those cultures practiced a lot of strange behaviors, i think the wealthy romans ate until they were stuffed, vomited the food, then continued eating more, they only drunk wine so majority of people were always buzzed or drunk.
since these empires often spanned many centuries, people had time to reflect on what mattered, change their opinions and develop a complex set of rules about accepted social behavior.
male to male love is not sexual, it is the love of brothers in arms.
female to female love is not sexual, it is the love of the female form, youthful beauty.
fags were mocked and ridiculed at all points in history, because they are cowardly men who exhibit feminine love towards other men. the "exceptions" to this, say achilles and patroclus are not framed in the correct context. in the mycenean greek tradition of 800 BC, the greatest thing you could do was die gloriously in battle. men were trained from an early age on how to kill and avoid being killed. at night they slept together for warmth, and developed a form of bonding which transcends modern ideas about sex.
in the phalanx shield wall the guy to your right is protecting you with his shield. he holds your life in his hands, and you hold the life of the man to your left in your hands. women, children, your farm, your slaves, everything becomes irrelevant when you are in combat, it's the person to your right and the person to your left, shoulder to shoulder. after many years the bond that develops is unique, and a male male pairing occurs, which has nothing to do with physical pleasure or penis in asshole, it is more of an appreciation for humanity, and a deep understanding of brotherhood, loyalty, courage, sacrifice. you serve together for 20-25 years, the same people to your left and right, until they die. hundreds of campaigns, thousands of nights and days together on the field, in camp, drinking, gambling, fighting, eating.
there is something there, like when women gossip together or hug each other taking photos or talk about their feelings. you wouldn't call it lesbianism, it's the essence of being women, they display love and affection for each other in a feminine way.
as an aside, rape was not seen as sex, and men raped each other for sadomasochistic pleasure. it was very uncommon, but it should be noted, that we've had rapists, cannibals, serial killers, child molesters since the beginning of civilisation. no advanced peoples have ever accepted them or built a society accommodating to their violent delights, even the wealthiest man could not beat his slave and get away with it. the law (in principle) was above all men. the greeks felt the laws of man were important for stability, tradition and cultural cohesion, they did NOT see themselves as greeks, they were athenians, macedonians, spartans, cretians, corinthians, thebans, ithacans, etc.
romans invented the identity politics we still use today, and citizenship was eventually rewarded to those worthy, meaning they believed a roman mean what you did not in what position you were born, but this was a 800 year struggle between the patrician class and the plebian class, there were 3 slaves revolts, history here is very long.
i hope that explains it a little bit to you. male love was the idea of glory in combat, female love was the idea of worshipping the beauty of the female form. this is why the male statues had strong muscular development and emphasised movement and action, and the female statues were soft, curvy and more stationary or prone. women are more sedentary, carry more fatty tissue, are generally weaker, smaller, more beautiful. men must be active, strong, athletic, physically symmetrical and well conditioned (low body fat).
i think there is like one or two fat male statues of the ancient world? egyptian ones. so fat acceptance/ fat shaming is harder to rewrite into ancient history. it's a common marxist tactic to rewrite history, we revise history all the time, but to say ancient people held gay pride parades is extreme historical illiteracy.
the present anglo-american culture is the gayest that has ever been in human history.