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    Sex and Erotism in Ancient Egypt
    Sex and Erotism in Ancient Egypt
    Sex and Erotism in Ancient Egypt
    Ebook108 pages1 hour

    Sex and Erotism in Ancient Egypt

    By Benjamín Collado Hinarejos

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    About this ebook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBenjamín Collado Hinarejos
    Release dateJul 24, 2016
    ISBN9781536559767
    Sex and Erotism in Ancient Egypt
    Author

    Benjamín Collado Hinarejos

    El amor por la historia y la arqueología me ha acompañado desde niño, y he tenido la suerte de crecer en una zona rica en restos procedentes de diversas culturas pasadas; algo que me ha dado la oportunidad de participar en numerosas excavaciones arqueológicas en yacimientos de época ibérica y romana en la Comunidad Valenciana (España). Soy licenciado en Historia, especializado en Historia Antigua y Protohistoria, y hasta ahora he publicado en papel los libros “Los íberos” (Akal, 2013), y “Los íberos y su mundo” (Akal, 2014). Además de este libro también he autopublicados los e-books “La tumba de Tutankamon y la maldición de las momias” (2014), y “Los íberos y la guerra” (2014).

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    • 5/5
      LOVED IT! Fascinating!!! And the erotic love poetry from Ancient Egyptians is wonderful to read! Most of all, I loved how readable the book is... it is not dry or boring, it keeps your attention and I also love that it's a decent sized ... too many books just fill the pages with wordy fluff to make the book longer, this book provides lots of information, lots of inspiration but keeps the length very readable and enjoyable! I hope the author writes plenty more!

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    Sex and Erotism in Ancient Egypt - Benjamín Collado Hinarejos

    About the Author

    My love for history and archeology have accompanied me since childhood, and I’ve been fortunate to grow up in an area rich in remains from various past cultures; something that has given me the opportunity to participate in numerous archaeological excavations in ruins of the Iberian and Roman period in Spain. I graduated in History, specializing in Ancient History and Protohistory, and so far I have published the books The Iberians -Spanish- (Akal, 2013), The Iberians and their World -Spanish- (Akal, 2014), The Iberians and the War -Spanish- (Amazon, 2014), Tutankhamun Tomb and the Curse of the Mummies -Spanish- (Amazon, 2014), The Royal Mummies' Hideout -English- (Amazon, 2015), The Silver Pharaohs -English- (Amazon, 2016), and the one you have in your hands/screen.

    © Benjamin Collado Hinarejos, 2016. All rights reserved. The total or partial reproduction of text and images owned by the author without express authorization is prohibited. If you need any of these images, please contact the author.

    ––––––––

    Sex and Erotism in Ancient Egypt

    ––––––––

    About the Author

    1.- Introduction

    2.- The Study of Sexuality in Ancient Egypt

    3.- The Gods and Sex

    4.- Marriage: Of Love and Heartbreak

    5.- Gynecology, Aphrodisiacs, Contraception and Abortion

    6.- The Sexual Practice: What did Egyptians Like in Bed

    7.- The Erotic Papyrus of Turin

    8.- Homosexuality

    9.- Prostitution

    10.- Erotic Poetry

    11.- Conclusion

    Bibliography

    Images Credits:

    1.- Introduction

    What ideas do we have of eroticism in ancient Egypt? Surely most people whom we might ask this question would say that the first thing that comes into their heads is the image of scantily dressed dancers, twisting lewdly before the pharaoh who, pleased, watches the show from his throne as young maids, half his age, serve him wine naked, or just covering themselves with some transparencies.

    These images are certainly real as they are widely represented in Egyptian art. But a lot of

    tendentious information was added by other ancient, mostly Roman sources, and has entered our collective imaginations. Stories like those tales of the depraved Cleopatra, the queen that shocked Rome by seducing some of its most illustrious sons (Julius Caesar and Mark Antony), whose sex lives people then took the time to air and amplify to absurdity. This is likely why an idea permeated in popular imagination of a sexually uninhibited Egypt, if not perverted and degenerate, where all possible sexual behaviors, including those considered more reprehensible, took place.

    The truth is that, beyond these apparent exaggerations and distortions, we are faced with a paradox that despite being a culture where sexuality was seen more naturally and freely than in other ancient peoples such as the Greeks or Romans, there are barely any examples of erotic art or explicit mentions of the sexual practice beyond that which developed between their gods; quite the opposite of the other two aforementioned cultures where we find numerous written stories of openly erotic subject and sexual representations in paintings, sculptures, jewelry etc.

    Yet the evidence suggests that in ancient Egypt sex in general was seen as an open activity, far from the negative connotations and feelings of guilt that we see in other cultures, both ancient and current. But we can't forget that the Egyptian culture developed over more than 3,000 years, and it's very likely that during that vast period of time, the views on sexuality and eroticism were changing and going through periods of more or less freedom and permissiveness as trends. This is something that has been seen on many occasions, for example in the decoration of a tomb of the XVIII Dynasty, where a naked maid was originally painted, but several decades later the new owner felt that the image was not appropriate and had it retouched by adding clothes that would cover her body. This is just a sample and could simply be a matter of personal taste, but it is not the only sign.

    Both in paintings and reliefs of the tombs and monuments, as well as in some papyruses, it is relatively common to find scenes with men and women totally naked or barely covered; something that has contributed to the image of a society steeped in eroticism and sensuality. But even though some current authors have insisted on the idea that perhaps for Egyptians these images may not have the same erotic implications we perceive, the references found in various texts, especially in the love poetry of the Ramesside times, we find the opposite. For them, the half-naked bodies, the exposed breasts and transparent dresses had the same erotic value as with us.

    Nor should we forget that the Egyptian people were a very religious people, and the fact that their texts and sacred images have frequent allusions to sex, including incest, adultery, masturbation, homosexuality, and even acts of necrophilia, would have contributed in a decisive way to see sexuality as something completely natural, both in this life and in the other, though still far from this vision of excesses that some later sources wanted to portray.

    In the following pages I intend to draw a rough sketch of how this ancient culture approached such an important aspect of human relations, and how that was reflected in their artwork and their writings. And I am aware of the difficulty, if not impossibility, to address the issue moving away from the biases and constraints imposed by the culture in which we now live, very far in all aspects to that which developed along the Nile more than 5000 years ago.

    2.- The Study of Sexuality in Ancient Egypt

    When studying this important aspect of Egyptian life we must draw on two sources. On one side we find a series of artistic representations in many different formats, and on the other side we have an important number of texts.

    When analyzing the texts we have to make a distinction between those that are engraved on the monuments and tombs, which tend to be a little more prudish, and papyrus writings, which can be of very diverse subjects: from practical books on medicine, teachings, travel stories, dream interpretation, etc., to purely literary works such as stories or poems. Some of these texts can be the most explicit.

    With regard to

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