There are many questions related to sexuality that all of us lovers of ancient Egypt have asked at some point: was the image of depravity that the Romans spread, especially referring to Queen Cleopatra, true? How did they deal with homosexuality? What were their favorite positions in bed? Did they practice bestiality, necrophilia, incest, pedophilia, and other rumored deviancies? The truth is that by studying this aspect of Egyptian life we find truly amazing items, like a pornographic papyrus that scandalized the very Champollion himself, a pharaoh who slips through the night in the bed of one of his generals, a goddess who sleeps with her dead husband, a god who praises the buttocks of another while trying to sodomize him, or a festival in which women copulate with a ram in-front of a crowd. This work pinpoints these issues and many others, including the use of aphrodisiacs and contraceptives, love spells, erotic poetry or the attitude towards adultery, in an entertaining and concise but rigorous way, and accompanied by more than 30 images that will help us understand this important facet of life and social relations of the ancient Egyptians.
There are many questions related to sexuality that all of us lovers of ancient Egypt have asked at some point: was the image of depravity that the Romans spread, especially referring to Queen Cleopatra, true? How did they deal with homosexuality? What were their favorite positions in bed? Did they practice bestiality, necrophilia, incest, pedophilia, and other rumored deviancies? The truth is that by studying this aspect of Egyptian life we find truly amazing items, like a pornographic papyrus that scandalized the very Champollion himself, a pharaoh who slips through the night in the bed of one of his generals, a goddess who sleeps with her dead husband, a god who praises the buttocks of another while trying to sodomize him, or a festival in which women copulate with a ram in-front of a crowd. This work pinpoints these issues and many others, including the use of aphrodisiacs and contraceptives, love spells, erotic poetry or the attitude towards adultery, in an entertaining and concise but rigorous way, and accompanied by more than 30 images that will help us understand this important facet of life and social relations of the ancient Egyptians.
