HOW IS SEX:
Prehistory | Modern Age | Today | In the future
In antiquity, prostitution was regulated, divorce began to exist and there were even sex gods! Documents from the Ancient Age, which goes from 4000 BC to the 5th century AD according to conventional dating, show curiosities about the sexual life of people such as the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians.
The Romans, for example, prized sex so much that there was a law to discourage celibacy: singleness and childlessness were punished, and people full of heirs had privileges. It was also in ancient times that scientific knowledge about rala-e-roll began to improve with Hippocrates, considered the father of medicine. The Romans also studied the human body and already knew about some venereal diseases, such as gonorrhea, a term coined by Galen in the 2nd century. Even so, some bizarre sexual beliefs remained. In Greece, for example, it was believed that contact with a menstruating woman would make new wine sour and make trees no longer bear fruit.
OLD FASHIONED
Prostitution and homosexuality were common, but there were severe laws to punish abuse.
MARRIAGE
The Greeks and Romans were monogamous – in the empire of Diocletian, in Rome, bigamy was declared a civil offence. But the Greco-Romans discovered that love is not eternal: it was at this time that divorce appeared. In archaic Rome, adulterous women could be sentenced to death – this only changed after a law by Emperor Augustus, who changed the penalty to exile.
POSITIONS
In Rome, sexual positions appeared in paintings, mosaics and everyday objects such as lamps, bowls and even coins. On one face was the sexual position, and on the other, a number. For some historians, the coins were brothel tokens, and positions with penetration had larger numbers, indicating that they could be valued more.
MASTURBATION
No condemnation of solitary sex: in ancient Greece and Rome, masturbation was seen as natural. In Egypt, masturbation was even part of the creation myth. One of the pyramidal sayings states that Aton, the sun god, would have created the god Shu and the goddess Tefnut through the semen of his masturbation!
HOMOSEXUALITY
Male-male and female-female couples were common in Greece. There were even myths to explain the origin of pederasty, the relationship between mature and young men: the first said that Orpheus, one of the beings of Greek mythology, ended up falling in love with teenagers after his wife, Eurydice, died. Another legend claims that pederasty began with the musician Tamiris, who was seduced by the beautiful Jacinto.
SCIENCE
The Greek Hippocrates, pioneer of medicine, thought that the uterus could move around the woman’s body in search of moisture and could reach the liver! But he also gave balls inside: he calculated the duration of pregnancy in 10 lunar months (about 290 days of our calendar), a time similar to the current 9 months, and prescribed carrot seed as a contraceptive and abortifacient.
FLIRTING
The courtships of the Romans followed a manual: the book The Art of Loving, by the poet Ovid, written between 1 BC and 1 AD Among the tips given by the writer, was the use of goró: “Wine prepares the hearts and makes them capable of amorous ardor”. Ovídio also encouraged people to improve their appearance: “Hide your defects and, as much as possible, hide your physical imperfections”.
ON COURT
The sexual legislation of ancient Rome was controversial! They were punishable by death: adultery committed by the wife, incest and sexual intercourse between a woman and a slave. In rape, the punishment even fell to the victim – if she didn’t scream for help, the virgin could be burned alive! Among the light penalties was the apprehension of properties for those who had anal sex. In Egypt, adultery was bad business: men were castrated and women were left without their noses.
PROSTITUTION
Rules for paid sex were different in Greece and Rome
GREECE
Life’s girls weren’t all the same – they followed a hierarchy. Most of them were slaves, but there were also women sold to brothels by their parents or brothers.
HIGH CLASS
First class prostitutes, with intellectual and cultural training.
MIDDLE CLASS
Flute players and dancers, specialists in gymnastics and oral sex. They were immigrants.
LOW CLASS
Sold by the family, they earned little and had few rights.
POMEGRANATE
Registered and paying taxes, the prostitutes dressed in flowery or transparent fabrics, and, by law, could not wear the stole, the dress of free women, or the color violet. The hair should be yellow or red. Their most common place of work was under architectural arches: the word fornication comes from the Latin fornice, which means arch.
CONTINUE: What was sex like in the Modern Age?