ahencyclopedia:

LOVE AND SEX IN THE ANCIENT WORLD: 

LOVE in antiquity, just as today, expressed itself in all kinds of relationships, meanings, connotations and expectations. There were representations in art, literature and religion of heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual love, the temporary and often misguided madness of desire, the lasting love of family, friends and pets, and even the love of learning, music and wine. In short, anything we think ourselves capable of today in the love department has already been tried, tested, eulogised and abused by peoples living millennia ago from Akkad to Zakros.  

In this collection, we look at the Greek and Roman personifications of love and desire, the rules and conventions concerning sex and marriage in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and look at some example literature on the subject, including possibly the world’s first love poem and the first romantic novel.  

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