Queen Hatshepsut

Sex life in Pharaonic Egypt

Sex in Pharaonic Egypt is a topic that must be delved into with caution. We cannot view sexual behavior in this historical era in terms of our contemporary / Western understanding of sexual identity, since many civilizations - whether in the present or the past - do not adopt certain categories and types of sexual activity similar to what we have. We also have to be careful when interpreting written and visual / artistic texts of sex, so that we do not project our assumptions and biases - such as our propensity to bias a straightforward sexual identity of the individual - on categories and types of sexual activity that do not clearly and completely align with our view of the sexual identities of our time.

Sex
In art, sexuality is not shown explicitly, although many works of art, whether in cemeteries or temples, can be considered depicting sexual acts but not as explicit sexual acts to avoid desecrating these holy places. This does not mean that the ancient Egyptians did not draw sexual pictures at all. Rather, one side of the sexual relationship was often painted as an animal as a kind of censorship, since the ancient Egyptians did not like artworks that depicted the sex between two people. Other than this, the ancient Egyptians didn't seem to be very shy about sex. Pharaonic mythology relies heavily on sexual themes, and there are numerous (possible) messages loaded with sexuality within the artworks. For example, King Tutankhamun appears in a drawing on a chest, with a bow in his hand, and his wife stands at his feet with an arrow in her hand that she brings to him. The verb “release” in the ancient Egyptian language also means “tossing”. This is a message indicating the need for sexual intercourse in order to be resurrected after death. In addition, the ancient Egyptian religion itself is full of sexual motifs, including the Lord "Min", which is shown by temple drawings with an erect penis.

As for art that shows humans in explicit and unambiguous sexual situations, there is a famous example, a mural of a pharaoh and a man, believed to be Hatshepsut and Senenmut. Perhaps it was taboo to paint the queen like this.
Another, more professional work, is the Turin Erotic Papyrus, which depicts scenes of either animals or humans in various sexual acts and poses. Some consider this papyrus “a work that mocks human behavior and desires, as shown by the inscriptions of small animals in the first third of the papyrus,” and papyrus also mocks the children of the wealthy class. Others consider the papyrus to be an erotic act and that was its purpose.

Virginity
It seems that ancient Egypt did not have a specific concept of virginity, or expectations of any kind regarding virginity. Individuals could enter into free sexual relations as long as the two parties were not related.
Masturbation
There is a creation myth that details how the first God (Atum or Ra), who created himself, became the father of the next generation of gods who came through masturbation. There was apparently an event that witnessed the pharaoh being ejaculated into the Nile - in a ceremony - simulating the process of creating Atum / Ra for Shu and Tefnut, that is, to bring fertility to the Nile. (This information is not confirmed, as I did not find an article that is supported only by the book “The Intimate History of Orgasm”). In the Turin Erotic Papyrus a woman can be seen sitting on a vase to enjoy herself, while it is believed that Cleopatra might have created a "vibator" for herself using bees.

Contraception
The ancient Egyptians had a history of using contraception. There are several methods of contraception listed in the Cahn Gynecology Papyrus. One of the mentioned contraceptives is the use of acacia gum, which has been known to kill sperm when crushed and taken. There are many other substances used inside the vagina, including a paste made from crocodile dung.

Fornication
Adultery was a major taboo in Pharaonic society, and men and women were punished for this act. Perhaps the man’s punishment for raping a married woman was his eunuch, while the consensual relationship between the two parties was punished with flogging or mutilation, and possibly execution. This is with regard to entering into a relationship with a married woman, and then the relationships of men outside marriage, with unmarried women, did not reflect very negatively on their image, as it was if their relationship was with married women. Tolerance was not great with men, however, as it was recorded in some areas that cheating husbands suffered from social stigma.

incest
In Egyptian mythology, many gods married their sisters. Shi and Tefnut, Geb and Nut, Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys. The pharaohs imitated this tradition. The father and mother of King Tutankhamun, for example, were brothers. This interbreeding within the family led to the suffering of genetic abnormalities and diseases. However, there is little evidence of the prevalence of sibling marriage among the commoners. Sex between a brother and sister was a strange affair, but not a taboo.

Homeopathy
Set and Horus
Both Set and Horus have a long history of rivalry, as well as some sexual tensions. Set - who wanted to become the greatest of the gods - tried to assert his dominance over Horus by sleeping with him, and had planned a sexual encounter with Horus. He was thinking that if Horus was forced into a "female" or "negative" position, he would bring about the wrath of other gods. However, this did not happen thanks to Isis's help, who helped her son keep Set's sperm away from his body, and planned to turn the magic over the sorcerer, so Set appeared as the negative side, by tricking him into eating Horus's sperm. (But some sources say that the two men were equal, as each managed to penetrate the other.) What can be understood from this story is that same-sex relationships were not in themselves a source of hatred, but rather - as was the case in ancient Greece - the “negative” partner in the relationship was the one who was hated and despised.

Ni Khnum and Khnum Hotep
When archaeologists discovered the tomb of Ni Khnum and Khnum Hotep in Saqqara, they were shocked to find these two men sharing one cemetery, but they also found in the cemetery artwork depicting them in very intimate situations, in close proximity. Instead of believing that they were in a romantic and / or sexual relationship, a theory has been proposed that they were brothers, and nothing else. Some went so far as to assert that Ni Khnum and Khnumhotep are conjoined twins, to explain their contact thus in the work of art. They are depicted embracing each other in the same way as husband and wife in pharaonic murals, which carries the same connotations of closeness in the context of sexual relations. This discovery led to heated debate.

The theory that they are brothers is a bizarre, biased approach to traditional sexual relations in understanding this relationship that, in all honesty, seems mind-boggling: they may not be lovers, since each of them has wives and children painted on the walls of the cemetery. But this is not a sufficient explanation. First, let's unpack: Behavior does not equal sexual orientation. Because children are important to the continuation of life after death in the ancient Egyptian religion, wives may have been there to achieve this goal no more. Perhaps they were attracted to both sexes, and they might have romantic and / or sexual relations with wives, while being attracted to one another at the same time.


Nefar Kare and Sassenet
This story, which is likely to have no origins in reality, goes back to the 18th, 19th or 20th dynasty. Nefer Krai was the pharaoh and Sassenet was one of his leaders. The story goes that a man named Shetty saw a Nefar Karate walking at night and decided to watch him. The pharaoh went to Sassenet's house, where he stayed for a long time, embracing his lover before returning to his home, and this process was repeated. This story is an approach to the relationship between Osiris and Ra, as the latter rises in fulfillment of his duties as Lord of the Sun as the night embrace with the former ends. As if it were a story that mocked the myth, and it is useful to understand that same-sex relations, in that historical period, have become rejected, and if they have not yet turned into a taboo, it should not be mentioned at all.
Lesbianism
It is not clear whether it was common in ancient Egypt to stigmatize women who enter same-sex relationships. There are some sources that stated that Nephthys was a lesbian, due to her husband's sterility and his sexual orientation lacking clarity. Although I am not entirely convinced that Nephthys was a lesbian - even though she had a strong relationship with Isis - I believe that homosexuality among women was not considered strange or threatening.

Bestiality
It seems that the ancient Egyptians sometimes engaged in the beast race, from cows to dogs, and even crocodiles. This practice was illegal and punishable by heavy penalties, but it was strange that people continued with it anyway.

 Marriage of the dead
In Pharaonic myth, Set kills Osiris and cuts off his penis, forcing Isis and Nephthys to collect his body parts. They were able to recover all parts of Osiris' body except for his penis, so Isis made a new organ for him. After recovering it, Isis slept with her husband and Horus came to her. This helped create the belief that a person, even after his death, still had sexual powers that, if not exhausted, would lead to devastation. Herodotus wrote that some bodies were delayed for several days to prevent them from sleeping with the deceased.