The following images are a few select examples displaying how sex was portrayed in Mesopotamian art. Herodotus explains this particular custom was meant to ensure the fertility and continued prosperity of the community although his interpretation, and whether this practice even existed as he described it, have been challenged. Each woman had to perform this type of prostitution at least once in her life and it involved sitting outside the temple of Ishtar ( Inanna) and agreeing to have sex with the person who chose her. Many ancient cultures created erotic art, for example, ancient Greeks made vases showing pederastic relationships between adult men and young boys. Archaeology Odyssey, SeptemberOctober, 2001A A Shokeir and M I Hussein. Erotic works of art have at times been created with the intent to arouse the viewer, to express the power of the artist or the owner, or to serve as amusements. For example, there was the marriage market, where women were auctioned off as brides, and a particular form of sacred prostitution. The Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001, also called the Erotic Papyrus or even Turin Papyrus) is an ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll-painting that was created during the Ramesside Period, approximately in 1150 B.C.David O'Connor. While sex was a part of one’s personal life there were also a couple of, what we would consider, odd customs observed. In Mesopotamia, sex was just another aspect of life and there was no shyness, or taboo involved in it. Pan copulating with goat, one of the best known objects in the Naples Museum collection.

The following are a few select images of the artwork and artifacts found in the secret cabinet collection. A brick wall was even built over the doorway to keep the scenes from corrupting people. It is said when King Francis I of Naples visited with his wife and daughter in 1819 he was so shocked by the contents of the collection he had them locked away. The secret cabinet collection is now part of the Naples National Archaeological Museum. One of the most famous collections of erotic art from Roman culture is the artwork featured in the secret cabinet ( gabinetto segreto). The Secret Cabinetįor the Romans, sex was a part of their everyday lives, state affairs, religious rites, myths, even warfare, and featured prominently in their art. In ancient Rome there were artworks in living rooms or studies depicting erotic images of lovers performing various sexual acts and in ancient Mesopotamia mass-produced terracotta plagues would show couples having sex. To the causal observer, it seems the ancients were more open about their sexuality then we are today. The Scribe of the Necropolis, with some boats under his command, is indeed charged with collecting taxes, in the form of.

Ancient art and archaeological remains have provided archaeologists and historians today with clues to how the ancients practiced their sexuality and their overall attitude toward sex. In this document, dated the twelfth year of the reign of Ramesses XI, is compiled the report of tax collecting south of Thebes, undertaken by Dehutymes by order of the pharaoh.

Erotic papyrus