The Notorious Sexual Practices of the Ancient World

Ancient sexuality has a notorious history of making people uncomfortable.

From the Romans of the classical world to the Indians of the Kamasutra times, sexual norms were radically different and sometimes even revolting from what we see today.

From erotic arts and sculptures of Khajuraho temples to the disgusting child porn indulged by the Romans, some of these practices were so immoral and controversial that it was even difficult to believe in their truth.

And here are some practices from the perverted past with some of them even cringe-worthy now after 3000 years.

Sex festivals

The Greek historian Herodotus, writing about Cyprus in the 5th Century BC talks about some weird sex customs that need to be followed by the women of the land.

"The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger at least once in her life. It applied to all women high and low. A woman could not refuse payment. Once a stranger had made his choice and cast money into her lap she would be forced to have intercourse outside the temple.”

Herodotus here is talking about Paphos, a city in Cyprus; the birthplace of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sex and love. Paphos was famous in the ancient world as the sex capital of the world where thousands of pilgrims from all over the world were drawn towards the celebrations held for Aphrodite which included a four-day long festival Aphrodisia, replete with sex orgies, exquisite fornications, and rituals conducted to appease the goddess.

The purpose of the festival was just to have sex with as many people as humanly possible and the four days were the ‘heavenly days’ where pilgrims met, danced themselves into ecstasy, and then fell into frantic copulation irrespective of whom or with how many they are doing it.

Sacred prostitution

The purpose of sacred prostitution was to placate the gods and prevent the land from famine and drought.

In ancient Babylon, there was a custom that all women had to perform a sacred duty to the goddess Mylitta. And as the custom goes, sex with strangers was obligatory. It applied to all women high and low though rich ladies often drove to the temple in covered carriages. As Herodotus talks about it in his writings.

“They wore special headscarves and sat in a line waiting to be chosen. Men paraded up and down and when a woman took his fancy, they threw a small silver coin in her lap. No woman can refuse.”

The earnings were dedicated to the goddess and while beautiful would go through the deed quickly, less beautiful ones have to wait for years until a stranger selects them.

Irrumatio

The Romans did not consider homosexuality bad or demeaning provided they are doing the penetrating act. But the Roman military took it to a different level by indulging in the barbaric act of Irrumatio on the defeated soldiers of the enemies.

After being captured, an enemy soldier is subjected to a painful process called dentifrangibus in which a dental physician is called on the battlefield to remove all the teeth of the soldier until his mouth is as smooth as that of a baby. The work obviously happens without any anaesthesia as the physician removes the teeth one by one using a small hammer and sponge to clean the blood.

The next step after this brutal act is really insane and perverted. The Roman soldiers will then have sex with the toothless soldier as a way to humiliate him completely. Orgies are also not uncommon as the soldier would be subjected to both mouth and anal sex.

This act called irrumatio by the Romans is considered a legitimate way to assert their superiority and break the morale of the enemies.

Child porn

Although not common across the world, children were exploited to perform sexual acts by many debauched emperors, the most notorious being Emperor Tiberius of Rome.

Known as spintriae, the children were of various age groups from newborn babies to teenagers. Their role was to perform erotic sexual practices in groups and excite the elderly Emperor's flagging libido.

While the teens were told to directly perform acts on the debauched king, it were the little children called ‘tiddlers’ who performed the most disgusting activities.

Their job was to swim along with the emperor, chase him naked and nibble and lick his private parts thus making him feel ‘ecstatic’. In case some child exceeded Tiberius’s expectations, his/her parents would be rewarded and the family gets to stay in the royal palace.

Another disgusting version of this debauchery is baby sex. Newborn babies would be made to cling to his organ and made to suck it performing a blowjob. Babies who cry would be thrown to death and babies clinging on would be rewarded.

Normally Roman historians praise their emperors exceedingly but Tiberius was one of the exceptions whose death was celebrated as historian Suetonius writes.

“The people were so glad of his death, that at the first news of it some ran about shouting "To the Tiber with Tiberius!" referring to a form of punishment reserved only for common criminals - that their corpses would be thrown straight into the River Tiber, without the dignity of a resting place.”

Erotic sculpting of live acts

Picture a scenario: A couple having passionate sex oblivious of the world around them and a sculptor silently working in the background, observing their expressions, their acts and their passion, and immortalizing everything exactly into stone.

It is believed that the erotic sculptures of Khajuraho in India or most commonly known as the Kamasutra temples appear so lifelike because they were believed to be made by artisans observing live acts being performed before them.

Though the temples were well-known to Indians for centuries beforehand, The western world only discovered them through the writings of Alexander Cunningham, a British archaeologist working in India in the 1860s.

Most of the erotic sculptures can be found either on the outside or inner walls of the temples and it is believed that they were created to celebrated womanhood as they show heavily ornamented, busty, athletic women indulging in various sexual acts with their male counterparts. The well-contoured bodies also show various other actions besides sex like washing their hair, applying makeup, and also indulging in massages.

And despite the remoteness, Khajuraho is one of the most popular destinations in India with millions of tourists visiting every year to indulge in the erotica spread all around. But the question that has puzzled historians till now is that, why were they created? Were they a sex-education manual for men and women or the product of the perverted mind of some king who had them built?

The sensuous poses and pouting expressions of the well-proportioned men and women and the humongous effort that had been put in to create the lifelike statues during the live acts leave us with a lot of questions, unanswered.

About the author-:

Mythili is a programmer by passion and a connoisseur of fine arts like painting, calligraphy, and pottery. She writes in the twilight between relationships, creativity, and human behavior.