But kissing’s innocent pleasures really lost popularity after the bathroom habits of Roman citizens from Spain became common knowledge: a great many brushed their teeth with human urine.Ĥ. Their goal? (Female) wine detection, not affection. The curious role of kissing: Male-female public kissing was frowned upon among Greek and Roman aristocrats, although husbands did routinely kiss their wives upon returning home after a hard night of male partying.
Diminutive was dandy anything larger called for (gulp) surgery.ģ. Medicos (and intimidated husbands) also had dire opinions about the female clitoris. Thus, doctors applied bad smells and loud noises to scare wombs back into position. One of the most bizarre beliefs held that women’s wombs vagabonded about the body, causing hysteria. Result of this taboo? Human anatomy, largely unexplored, was guesswork. Nevertheless, no one tinkered with human bodies after death. where Greeks especially admired beautiful buttocks, male and female gorgeous rear ends even had their own goddess cult. Wandering wombs and other private parts: Relaxed about nudity, Greeks and Romans adored the human form. The old perv called them “his little fishes.”Ģ. Even grosser activities took place in his bathing pools, where toddlers were trained to nibble and fellate him underwater. There, youngsters performed elaborate daisy-chains of sexual acts, the emperor by turns voyeur and participant. According to his biographer Suetonius, in later life, Tiberius built himself a porn central on Capri. Most sexually twisted ruler: Emperor Nero? Or Caligula? Mere runners-up. With Tip Sheet, she shared some carnal curiosities and extraordinary stories of sex and love, encountered while researching The Joy of Sexus. Her book's topics range from orgasm to the long-ago fear of hermaphrodites, from circumcision to the wide acceptance of a variety of gay relationships.
“Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians had erotic preferences and sexual taboos we’ve seldom heard about,” says California author and historical detective Vicki León in her new book The Joy of Sexus: Lust, Love, & Longing in the Ancient World.