Sources of knowledge

When attempting to piece together a picture of sexual behavior of the Egyptians during 3000 y or so before Christ, one must review literary sources and representations in relief, paintings and, above all, sketches of erotic scenes. Erotic matters were often displayed in temples, tombs and statues. Turin erotic papyrus contains no less than 12 positions of sexual intercourse and will be discussed later in some details. Texts vividly describe the passions and desires of Gods and men. Many aspects of sexual life have come to light in the tales, the factual books and in the poems. The literary sources are fairly uncomplicated; there are tales of the conflicts of Gods and the adventures of men, love poems and wisdom books. Dream books give the solution to the subconscious adventures of men and women.¹

Concepts of sex

The belief in an afterlife was all important to the Egyptians;² they believe that as the union of male and female was a necessity for the creation of a new being, the erotic force also enables a person who had departed from this life to continue existing in the afterlife. Therefore, the sexual power of the mummy had to be maintained and stimulated. This is always visualized as pertaining to the mummy of a man, never that of a woman. In Egyptian art, the idea is expressed in a symbolic way that is straightforward once the coded language is understood.³ The creation of the world was instigated by the Sun God creating himself in the beginning, when this first step had been completed he produced two other Gods, Shu, the air, and Tefenet, humidity, by masturbation. In one of the creation legends, it is described how the God of creation created the other Gods with his hand, that is, by masturbation. In another papyrus, a variant to this account is depicted; the God uses his mouth instead of his hand (Figure 1). Whether this technique was in use among moral men remains an open question.¹

Figure 1.

Papyrus British Museum 10 018. The God is doing masturbation with his mouth (reproduced from Hussein³).

Full figure and legend (10K)

Turin erotic papyrus

One day around the year 1150 BC a draughtsman at Thebes in Upper Egypt was busy working a scroll of papyrus filled with scenes of sexual games. When the papyrus scroll reappeared 3000 y later, these drawings were subject to many interpretations and suggestions. The sexual sketches of the Turin erotic papyrus are reproduced from Der Papyrus 55001 und Seine Satirishe-erotischen Zeichungen und Inscriften.⁴

All 12 of vignettes show similar participants, the events take place indoors and the room is equipped with the necessary furnishings to enhance an erotic atmosphere. The sistrum, the rattle especially devoted to Hathor, Goddess of love, has also been brought. The jars are full of wine or beer, and careful search reveals objects that may add to the pleasure anticipated. Most of the scenes also have a third party, a huge phallus that swings pendulously between the couple, even, on occasion, being supported by some helping handmaidens. Some of the reproduced sketches are depicted in Figure 2. The comments scribed quickly in the margins express enjoyment and delight: 'come behind me with your love, Oh! Sun, you have found out my heart, it is agreeable work'.

Figure 2.

A sketch of Turin erotic papyrus (reproduced from Hussein³): The Geb and Nut position. The girl is bent over in a position reminiscent of that of the Goddess Nut, the sky, when during the creation of the world she was separated from the Geb, the earth. The man carries a sack over his shoulder and takes her from behind.

Full figure and legend (37K)

It has been suggested that the pictures represent the amorous adventure of a priest of Amun, God of universe, and a priestess of Hathor, Goddess of love, or that they were intended as an imitation of events at a higher level, in the world of the Gods. Some have attempted to identify the chief male character as the king in whose reign the scroll was written.

In spite of the fact that at some stage the scribe had tried to imagine what was going on and had a reconstructed dialogue wherever there was room to spare, the texts that have survived reasonably intact have not yet yielded a clue to the real significance of the pictures.⁵

Impotence

Prescription 663 of the Ebers papyrus has the title of a weakness of the male member (ie impotence). Treatment is by hyoscyamus, willow, juniper, acacia, zizyphus, myrrh, yellow and red ochre, etc. It is a local remedy applied to the penis.⁶ Passage 663 of Ebers papyrus is given in Figure 3. A papyrus from the end of the Middle Kingdom (1700 BC) prescribes the following poultice for impotence: 'leaves of Christ thorn, 1, leaves of acacia, 1, honey, 1; grind the leaves in the honey and apply as a bandage'.¹ Alan Gardiner in his Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum⁷ gives some prescriptions to increase sexual powers, although none of the preserved headings explicitly state this aim. One prescription is for revivifying the limb of one dead (Vs 1,4). Perhaps 'dead' here means impotent and 'limb' means penis, since the compound is used as an ointment applied to the man's member. Not only local remedies were applied but also potions were used.

Figure 3.

Passage 633 of Ebers papyrus (read from right to left). It is translated as (Another for weakness of the male member (ie impotence): hyposcyamus /, beans /, bran (?) ", d3rt :, sawdust of pine /, sawdust of mri /, sawdust of willow /,sawdust of zizyphus /, sawdust of sycamore /, sawdust of juniperus /, juice of acacia /, juice of zizyphus | juice of tamarix /, juice of sycamore /, flaxseed /, fuit of tamarix /, white oil /, goose-fat /, pig's dung /, pignon /, myrrh /, onion /, colocynth /, ? of pjt /, water-melon /, tjw /, bsbs /, ? /, njt of flax /, northern salt /, salt from oasis /, i nb /, red ochre, yellow ochre /, natron /, grease of ox, S3S3/, are mixed together and (it) is bandaged therewith.

Full figure and legend (56K)

Medical treatment was often accompanied by magic formulas. A papyrus written around 1000 BC includes recipes for love potions. Unfortunately, it is very fragmentary. One of the remedies was to be applied while a spell was recited, most appropriately alluding to Khnum (one of the Gods of creation who did not, however, create by means of his phallus, but on a potter's wheel!). 'Hail to thee (?), great God, who created the upper class. Thou (?), Khnum, who established the lower class. Mayst thou test (?), the mouth of every vulva, be erect, be not soft, be strong, be not weak ... Thou thy (?), strengthen testicles with Seth, son of Nut'. To be recited over, the member to be anointed with it (Papyrus Chester Beatty X).

A papyrus written as late as the 3rd Century AD contains a prescription for aphrodisiacs of various kinds. Part of the scroll is in the British Museum (No. 10070) and part in Leiden (J. 383). The scroll contains prescriptions for the following: love potion to win a woman's love, how to make a woman love her husband, how to force a woman to enjoy intercourse and how to separate a man from a woman, and a woman from her husband.¹

Siegerist described the way in which the laymen physicians in ancient Egypt used magical spells to affect the sexual power of their clients.⁸ A disease of the male genital organ caused by an enemy, man or spirit, was to be thrown back to its author by having a mythological incantation made of cake, inscribed with the name of the enemy, his father's name and his mother's name. To be put in the midst of fat meat, to be given to the cat. The magician came or the patient was brought to him. After some preparation, some purification, the magic words were spoken, some rites were performed, and all was over. In many cases this was probably enough for the patient who was under great nervous tension to feel suddenly improved or even cured. Siegerist⁸ added that 'we all have seen miracle cures since there is still a great deal of magic religious medicine in our present Western World and our knowledge of psychiatry makes it possible for us to understand the psychological processes involved much better than in the past'. It may be astonishing that at present time some cases of psychogenic impotence are improved by the 'secret acts' of these laymen physicians, still found in Egypt, in spite of the failure of treatment by professors of modern westernized psychiatry!.³ Amusingly enough that the Egyptians still use the term 'secret diseases' instead of 'venereal diseases'.³

Min, Egyptian fertility God

Sometimes given as either the son or consort of Isis. He was depicted in human form with an erect penis. He generally held a flail in his raised right hand and wore a crown surmounted by two tall plumes. Min was pre-eminently a god of male sexuality, and in the New Kingdom (1567–1085 BC) he was honored in the coronation rites of the pharaohs to ensure their sexual vigor and the production of a male heir. The 'White Bull' appears to have been sacred to him, as was a type of lettuce that bore a resemblance to an erect penis and had a white sap that resembled semen (Figure 4).

Figure 4.

Min, the Egyptian fertility God.

Full figure and legend (128K)

Conclusions

Judging from the books available on erotic life in the ancient world, the Greeks and Romans would appear to be pioneers in the field of describing and, especially, depicting this aspect of human behavior. This may be so in some respects, but Egyptians had prepared the ground. Along the banks of the Nile, erotic life flourished in ancient Egypt at all levels of society and, contrary to what is generally thought, it was recorded in words and pictures. The ancient Egyptians described impotence and recorded several methods to increase the sexual power. In addition to magical spells, ancient Egyptians used aphrodisiacs of various kinds. They described various medicines not only taken by mouth but also applied to the penis as local remedies.

References

1. Manniche L. Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt. KPI Ltd: London and New York, 1987.
2. Kamal H. The Ancient Egyptian Medicine (in Arabic). National Board for Books: Cairo, Egypt, 1998.
3. Hussein MI. Mental Health and Psychological Medicine at the Time of the Pharaohs, MS Thesis Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, 1993.
4. Omlin J. Der Papyrus 55001 und seine satirisch-erotischen Zeichnungen und Inschriften Turin 21. Berlin Akademic Verlag: Berlin, 1973.
5. Romer J. Ancient Lives—The Story of the Pharaohs, Tomb-Makers. Weidenfeld & Nicolson: London, 1984.
6. Ebbell B. The Ebers Papyrus, the Greatest Egyptian Medical Document. Levin and Munksgaard: Copenhagen, 1937.
7. Gardiner A. The Egyptian word for 'Dragoman'. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archeology, Vol. XXVII 1915, pp 117–125.
8. Siegerist HE. A History of Medicine, Vol. I Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1951, pp 282–299.