![\"Ancient](\"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/art48\/graphics48\/ancientporn.jpg\")
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Who saw the History Channel program last month about the \u201chidden Egyptian sex papyrus?\u201d Apparently, a lot of people. Sex in the Ancient World is a hot topic for the channel. The series is a hit, R rating and all. This particular episode focused on a little discussed and badly disintegrating papyrus owned by an Italian museum. The artwork in question, the \u201cForbidden Papyrus of Turin,\u201d is along the lines of the Kama Sutra – except that it was created 1800 years before India\u2019s definitive sex manual.<\/p>\n
Participating in the program was Lise Manniche<\/span>, a well-known archeologist and specialist in the field of plants, perfumes, sex and musical instruments of the ancient Egyptians. She has written four widely published books on these subjects and is highly respected, even by Zahi Hawwas,<\/span> head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. Given the explosive nature of the subject matter, the channel was wise to bring in such a distinguished talking head.<\/p>\n The \u201csecret\u201d scroll was found at the beginning of the 19th century in the ancient workers quarters of Deir al-Medina, across the Nile from Luxor. It dates from the New Kingdom, probably the reign of Ramsses II (1278 BC to 1213 BC). But once discovered, the papyrus was quietly hidden away for over 150 years – because its Playboy-like erotic illustrations offended Victorian sensibilities.<\/p>\n With a deft hand, the original artist had sketched Hathorian musicians, in 12 different positions, fornicating with hairy, and often old, men. Perhaps these customers were disreputable priests of Amun, or even the old pharaoh himself. No one is quite sure. The women,on the other hand, appear bored. Some have a lyre and sistrum. Others make fun of the performance issues of their partners. All wear a wig, elaborate jewelry and a dancer\u2019s\tbelt. None wear clothes.<\/p>\n To these people, sex was not dirty, shameful, frightening or forbidden. It was a natural part of daily life and the essential prerequisite for birth – on earth or in the Afterlife.<\/p>\n![\"Hathor\"](\"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/art48\/graphics48\/hathor.gif\")
The History Channel program implied that these women could have been ancient belly dancers. After all, their mistress, Hathor, was the goddess of both music and dance. She was also the Lady of the Vulva and the Lady of Drunkenness. She was the Celestial Cow, the Golden One and the Mistress of Life, Love and Death. Her adepts trained in the art of stimulating the life force of creation. To them, sexual arousal was a matter of life or death, literally. Ancient Egyptians firmly believed that without a strong desire to procreate, i.e. sexual energy, the dead would not be reborn into the next plane of existence. Since the ultimate goal of the gods, pharaoh\tand later, anyone who could afford a proper burial, was life after death, and the only way to get there was to excite their regenerative forces, the priestesses\u2019 movements had to inspire desire.<\/p>\n\n\n
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