Sex And Taboo in Ancient Egypt

The word and all of creation came into existence through nothing but masturbation. That is, according to an ancient Egyptian myth.

Ancient Egypt was one of the marvels of the ancient world, and they were a lot less prudish when it came to sex than what we are today.

The ancient Egyptian creation myth details how the first God, Atum, created himself. Since he had no wife, he ­fathered the next generation of deities through masturbation. How many children would you have if you conceived one every time you masturbate? Can you even roughly estimate?

From this creation myth came sexual practices and ceremonies that involved masturbation.  The pharaohs of ancient Egypt are said to have ceremoniously masturbated into the Nile River, which was revered for its life-giving properties. There’s no evidence to support this claim, but masturbation was such a big part of their culture that it’s said that Cleopatra used bees to power the world’s first vibrator.

Ancient Egyptians were obsessed with growth, birth, creation, and that which gave life, so there were many myths and legends around the concept of fertility.

The god Min was the primary male fertility god and was always associated with sex in ancient Egypt. He was known for his permanently erect penis and for wearing a feathered headdress. Men who have impotence would make offerings of phallic figurines to the god. These figures of Min are now worn down or darkened since they are still the focus of magic rites in Egypt. Men and women suffering from fertility problems visit ancient temples and rub Min’s erection for good luck.

Have you ever had someone rub your erection for good luck?

Horus and Seth were a pair of gods always fighting over who would inherit the throne of ancient Egypt from Osiris, Seth’s brother, and Horus’ father. I’ll tell you more about how homosexuality was viewed after this but for now, keep in mind that the receiving party was considered the submissive, and the giving party, or the party pleasured, was the dominant party. I guess some things haven’t really changed that much.

Seth and Horus were battling for the throne one day and were trying to pin one another- forcing the other to be a submissive sexual partner. Seth was trying to shame Horus by making him accept the female sexual role and garnered support from the other gods.

However, Isis managed to keep Seth’s semen from coming in contact with Horus. She tricks Seth into eating Horus’ semen, making Horus the winner.

Another fact that makes their acceptance of sex evident is that the Egyptian language had many words for sexual intercourse; they talked about it a lot.

Ancient Egyptians were big fans of romance and poetry. They used sexual euphemisms in poetry like ‘to unite oneself with,’ ‘to know,’ ‘spending a pleasant hour together,’ ‘entering a house,’ ‘to sleep with,’ or ‘to enjoy oneself with.’

I found this example of a “love song” that unmarried lovers sang:

The one, the sister without peer,
The handsomest of all!
She looks like the rising morning star
At the start of a happy year.
Shining bright, fair of skin,
Lovely the look of her eyes,
Sweet the speech of her lips,
She has not a word too much.
Upright neck, shinning breast,
Hair true lapis lazuli;
Arms surpassing gold,
Fingers like lotus buds,
Heavy thighs, narrow waist,
Her legs parade her beauty;
With graceful steps she treads the ground,
Captures my heart by her movements.

Art, including poems, songs, and paintings, leaves us with the impression that sex was not always private and certainly a part of everyday life.

Source: https://brewminate.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/SexualityAncientEgypt02.jpg

The Turin Erotic Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll painting that has been of great interest to Egyptologists for a long time because it deals with the subject of sex very graphically. It is believed to have been created during the time of Ramesses III (around 1184-1153 BCE), making it about a thousand years older than the Kamasutra.

Source: https://www.amusingplanet.com/2020/11/the-turin-erotic-papyrus.html

In this recreation of the papyrus scroll, it is easier to appreciate the illustrations. There’s a sequence of twelve couples in various sexual positions.

As I notice the scruffy, balding men with exaggeratedly large penises and the ideally beautiful women, I can’t help but wonder who the artist might be.

There are a few things that were normal and now are taboo.

Prostitution was considered a divine act for the gods, so prostitutes were part of the high social class. So much so that they would wear red lipstick and other makeup and get tattooed to differentiate themselves.

Most of society enjoyed the liberal lifestyle that was common in Ancient Egypt, so they made condoms from sheep intestines to prevent unplanned pregnancies. They also used acacia gum which we now know acts as a spermicide and introduced substances (like crocodile poop) into their vaginas. Zoophilia was common, and they apparently engaged in bestiality with cows, dogs, and even crocodiles (I can’t really visualize that one!). The practice was illegal, but that didn’t stop this practice.

There is abundant evidence that shows that sex and marriages between parents and children were common among royalty and certain priests since they were the representatives of the divine on earth.  DNA analysis revealed that King Tutankhamun was the son of a brother and sister and was wed to his half-sister. Today we know more about all the health problems different royal families from around the world have had as a consequence of incest.

Necrophilia happened so frequently in ancient Egypt that people used to wait four days after their loved ones died before taking them to the embalmers. They hoped that the fact that the bodies were beginning to rot would dissuade the embalmers from having sex with the corpse.

According to the myth, Atum, the one who masturbated the universe into existence, had a lot of sex with the dead body of Osiris. And even crazier than that, Horus (the god that won Osiris’ throne after Isis made Seth eat Horus’ cum) was created through the union of Isis and the dead body of Osiris. So, Horus was a god born out of necrophilia.

Basically, Atum masturbated the universe into existence. Then Osiris dies, and Isis has sex with his dead body. She gives birth to Horus, who later has the ‘who is going to submit’ fight for the throne, and it all ends with cum eating… as it often does.