Although we now live in a world apparently without taboos when it comes to sex, many things were already done in ancient times.
Throughout history, society has evolved along with sex. Many of the customs in this area that now seem modern to us were already done 500 years ago, 1000 years ago, or even before Christ. You only have to take a look at Ancient Egypt or Rome to see how even back then they were trying to break the taboos of society. Today we are going to review some of the most curious and even terrifying customs of the time.
The main objective of the pharaohs was to preserve the lineage. This is why incest was allowed between brothers and, sometimes, between father and daughter. This condition was only allowed to monarchs, in order to protect the family organization. This practice would later be adopted by European monarchies, although marriage between cousins was more common.
It is curious to know that the Egyptians really had a pragmatic view of sex, that is, they saw more practicality than pleasure when it came to having sexual relations. For this reason, rapists were castrated, because it was considered that they acted on their baser instincts, unable to control them.
Orgies were quite common in their culture. In fact, it was an Ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, who discovered many of these rituals. He described in great detail some of the orgies that were practiced on the boats while they were sailing along the Nile River.
One of the best-known legends is the existence of the felatrices, prostitutes who were experts in fellatio, and who stood out for wearing red lipstick. An act that, for example, the Romans saw as something impure. Another tradition that has aroused curiosity is that the pharaohs went to the Nile River once a year to masturbate, in honor of the God Atum. It was said that this being emerged from “nothing” and that he masturbated, and all the gods that would help him govern emerged from his semen. Therefore, the pharaohs and their guests practiced this tradition, ensuring that the semen fell into the water and not on the shore.
However, one of the most disturbing customs was necrophilia, or sex with the dead. Although frowned upon in society, he was not punished by prison or any other means. Thus, many mummy embalmers took advantage of the moment in which they were alone with the bodies to carry out such acts. What's more, one of the stories from Egyptian mythology talks precisely about how the God Horus was born precisely by this act. Son of Osiris and Isis, he was fathered with a clay penis made by his mother, since Osiris had been murdered and dismembered by his brother Seth.
Ancient Greece: dark initiation into adolescence
It has been much discussed over time how the Greeks initiated young people into adulthood. They all received military, academic and sexual training. It was common for a mentor to have sexual relations with his pupils to initiate them into adult life, what today we would call pedophilia. Until this moment, none was considered a man either legally or socially. In Athens, the capital, pedophilia was quite common and accepted, especially among the aristocracy.