Cavafy had sex for the first time with another man in 1883, when he was twenty years old and living in Constantinople. His first partner was apparently one of his cousins.

Living in Alexandria, Egypt, he frequented houses of prostitution where strong, well-built Greek boys (most of them poor and with wretched jobs during the day) earned extra money having sex with older men. He bribed his servants to ruffle up his bed sheets so that his mother wouldn't suspect he had been out all night.

The youngest of eight children, Cavafy had an older brother, Paul, who was also gay. However, because of differences in their characters - Constantine was pampered, introspective, obsessed with ancient history and poetry; Paul was something of an opportunist and social gadfly who spent much of his life in debt - the two were never particularly close.