He addresses the iconography of vase paintings, the speeches in the law courts, and the comedies of Aristophanes, as well as the content of other literary and philosophical source texts.

The first modern scholarly work on its topic, Greek Homosexuality received some negative reviews but was enormously influential, helping to shape the views of other classicists.

[1] The conclusions drawn are that the Greeks regarded homosexuality in general to be natural, normal, and salutary, and their actual practices were circumscribed by cultural norms.

Traditionally, the young beloved, when he reached the age of manhood – indicated in the iconography by his growth of a beard – would switch roles and become a lover himself, seeking out a younger male for a love relationship.

Dover extensively quotes from the records of the trial to demonstrate, among other things, that while the Athenians attached no stigma to same sex relations per se, they did adhere to certain conventions; in this case, that no citizen could be permitted to sell his sexual favors, which they regarded as the proper function of a slave, not a free man.

[8] Halperin called the work "the first modern scholarly study" of its subject and "a triumph of empirical research", and identified it as one of the key intellectual influences on his One Hundred Years of Homosexuality (1990).

[10] Cantarella has criticized some of Dover's conclusions, concluding that there was no restriction on anal intercourse in pederastic relationships, a claim rejected by the classicist Bruce Thornton.