Warning: Pornographic Imagery
Scholarship on sex in the Greco-Roman world was not a major focus until the nineteenth century (Halperin, 1990). It was not until about 35 years ago that the negative stigma surrounding sex was diminished enough that research could be conducted without as many of the previous omissions and biases (Voss, 2008). Of course it took even longer for research specifically on women to be a main focus among academics. It’s no secret that most scholars at the time were men so they primarily cared about topics which were most related to men. If you’ve ever been in a class which required any sort of research to be done, you will be well acquainted with the idea of biases. Although scholars are trained to limit their biases to the best of their abilities, they “are not impersonal assemblers of information but are ‘interested’ in their subject” (Halperin, 1990, pg.13). Meaning that no matter how objective they may try to be, there are still biases that will affect the research that it is done and the lens through which it is analysed. In short, the lack of scholarship on women’s sexuality and their own views on sex, can be attributed to the fact that the men doing the research simply didn’t care enough to delve deeper into the topic. With that being said, this page aims to shed light on aspects of women and sex in the Greco-Roman world that aren’t as commonly talked about and in my opinion, the more interesting stuff. There is a larger focus on the Greek side of things, but there are many ideas that relate to Rome as well.
Women and Sex (According to the men)
Before we can get to the more spicy topics, it is important to note some fundamental information on how the Greeks viewed sex and desire for women. Most of this information comes from the Hippocratic Corpus which is a collection of medical texts written in the 5th century BCE and are said to be the ideas of a man named Hippocrates (Totelin, 2021). You may have heard of the Hippocratic oath and yes, it is related. The Hippocratic Corpus explains female pleasure and sexuality through a comparison with male pleasure and sexuality. A large part of Hippocrates’ work involved observation and the theories are mainly based on a person’s internal climate and how it affected their physiological well being. The main thing to remember is that women had a wet temperament in comparison to men’s dry temperament and what a surprise, dryness was the optimal condition, making women inferior to men (Hippoc. Aer.).
Hippocrates thought that wetness was attributed to intense emotion and eros which is a strong feeling of erotic love that often drives people into a passionate frenzy. Women were thought to give in to their desires more frequently than men because of their wet nature and it’s association with eros (Hippoc. Aer.). One of the main concerns about sex for the Greeks was the idea of overindulgence because it showed a lack of ‘sophrosyne‘ – a term with no exact definition which encompasses ideas of temperance and modesty (Carson, 1990). Although they believed that men and women were equal in their desire for sex, women were unable to control their urges because they lacked the same degree of sophrosyne that men had (Dean-Jones, 1992). Hippocrates also notably said that women masturbated less than men which is surprising considering that he thought they were constantly seeking sexual pleasure (Hippoc. Aer.). The idea that women were sex crazed but did not masturbate implies that they were reliant on men for this form of pleasure rather than being able to pleasure themselves. It is important to note that these ideas about women were formed and perpetuated by men meaning that they were not true to the female experience. The narrative of women’s sexual experience was curated by men and tailored to align with the oppression of women in a patriarchal society.
Sex Toys
Now that we’ve gone through the basics of the male perspective of women and pleasure, we can move onto what we’ve all been waiting for – sex toys! The use of sex toys dates all the way back to the ancient world. There are many iconographic depictions of women using objects for sexual gratification and archaeological evidence to suggest the presence of sex toys (Voss, 2008). In fact, many modern words to describe sex acts come from antiquity. An example of this is the word “pornography” which originated when a German archaeologist was attempting to describe a group of artifacts that had been discovered at Pompeii (Voss, 2008). See, archaeology is sexy!
Dildos
“I’ve not seen a decent eight-inch dildo/Yes, it’s just leather”
(Aristophanes, 2020, pp.118-19).
Most of the iconography featuring sex toys shows women with dildos, which in works such as Herodas’ poem 6 and Aristophanes’ Lysistrata have been described as being made of leather. When talking to her comrades about the sex strike, Lysistrata says, “I’ve not seen a decent eight-inch dildo/Yes, it’s just leather”(Aristophanes, 2020, pp.118-19). There is evidence that points towards other materials being used to make dildos as well. Recently, there has been speculation about a wooden artifact found in Vindolanda – a Roman fort in Northern England – which was thought to be a darning tool since its discovery in 1992. Archaeologist Rob Collins has suggested that it is actually a phallic object which was perhaps used as a dildo. Other Classicists have been in support of this new perspective, citing Greek art forms such as comedy and poetry as textual evidence for the prevalence of female pleasure devices (Goodyear, 2023).
Read more about the wooden dildo here!
The prevalence of these depictions of women with phallic sex toys helped to perpetuate the idea that intercourse was the ultimate pleasure for a woman and that their sexual gratification was directly linked to a phallus and, therefore, a man. However, Herodas’ poem 6 presents a different view with its mention of “lace” and “straps” when talking about dildos – “the laces are like wool, not leather” (Diotima, 2019) which could be alluding to a strap on device to be used between two women. The presence of this sort of device contradicts the idea that women can only achieve pleasure with men, but it also supports the idea because it still involves a phallic shaped object despite the sex act being between two women. We know that sexual encounters did occur between two women, but in support of the phallocentric ideology it was thought that one of the women had the desire to be a man. This thought process is what led to the word “tribade“, which is used for the dominant woman in a homosexual relationship, being used as a derogatory term. The idea of there needing to be a masculine woman involved in lesbian sex makes the sex acts more catered toward the male ideal than what actually produces pleasure for women.
Other Sexy Stuff
This sort of male gaze is an important component to sex iconography. Much of the iconography that features the use of sex toys is from Attic red figure painting on drinking vessels which means that there is a chance that these depictions were not true to reality but rather artistic fantasies of men. It would be fair to assume that the drinking vessels would have been used at symposiums which were all-male dinner parties often involving women as a form of entertainment such as hetaira (prostitutes) or dancers. Given the context of the symposium, the iconography most likely existed to provide a source of pleasure for the men in attendance which is why the depictions may have been tailored to their desires and not accurate representations of sexual practices at the time.
Sex toys are not just limited to penetrative devices like the dildos that have been discussed but can also include anything that can assist with achieving sexual pleasure. Olive oil is categorised as a sex toy because it could be used as a lubricant, and olive oil may have been used for sex between newlyweds to enhance the woman’s experience (Stafford, 2022). In Aristophanes’ Archarnians there is a scene in which a new bride is given a pot, thought to have held olive oil, and told to use it on her husband’s penis to ease her anxiety about the impending consummation of the marriage – “And as to the manner of applying the balm, tell the bride… rub some in bed on her husband where most needed”(Aristophanes, 1064). The implication of this exchange is that the additional lubrication will lead to a more pleasant experience for the bride which will make her more comfortable about engaging in sex acts. This scene is an example of the androcentric nature of sex in antiquity because it shows that it is not the husband’s responsibility to make his wife more comfortable during sex and instead is something that she has to deal with on her own. The bride does not go to her husband about this matter because she needs to provide him pleasure and not the other way around.
“And as to the manner of applying the balm, tell the bride… rub some in bed on her husband where most needed”
(Aristophanes, 1064)
Another symbol that is thought to have erotic connotations is the sandal motif in iconography. There are many paintings of sexual scenarios that feature a raised sandal. Although it is not clear exactly how it is used in an erotic sense, the motif appears exclusively in erotic art which shows that there is some connection between the two. It could be an allusion to sadism and masochism, where the sandal is used as a form of punishment to evoke pleasure through the act of domination and establishing control over the other party (Stafford, 2022). The analysis of the sandal is a prime example of times when it can be unclear to scholars whether something is sexual or if that is just the way that they are interpreting it because of their own personal biases (Voss, 2008).
A well known example of this motif is the slipper slapper group which is a famous sculpture found on Delos featuring Aphrodite holding a sandal with Pan grabbing her and Eros flying above the two. The sculpture is thought to be sexual in nature because of the sandal which Aphrodite holds and the presence of Eros, who is the godly embodiment of erotic love. The presence of Pan (Greek God of the wild) also alludes to the sexual nature because he is a satyr and satyrs are known for their sexual proclivity. The scene is commonly read as Aphrodite using the sandal because Pan is making sexual advances. Even a goddess has to deal with men demanding sex and constantly lusting after her.
Paris, Musée du Louvre, G13. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Reproduced with permission Marie-Lan Nguyen; copyright © Marie-Lan Nguyen, all rights reserved.
Erotic Magic
Erotic magic is a form of magic used for amorous purposes. The use of erotic magic in the ancient world conveys information about the dominant attitudes that men had towards women and the way that it translated into man’s need for control over women in sex. The way that erotic magic was used is drastically different between men and women which reinforces the idea that for men, sex and love were about gaining power. Love magic was practiced by both men and women, but the variations lie in the manifestations of the spells and the desired outcomes for each. It is important to note that the Greeks had a negative outlook on love because they thought of it as being a destructive force that caused them to lose their inhibitions and self-control (Ormand, 2008).
There are two different types of love magic that are used to achieve different goals. One is eros, the erotic magic, and the other is philia, which is affectionate magic. The word philia originates from Ancient Greek and is commonly translated as meaning friendship or affection. It is not romantic or erotic in any way. So in terms of love magic, philia is used to invoke feelings of affection between an already existing couple to strengthen their relationship and connection to each other. It is practiced in a non-harmful way, such as bestowing jewelry on a loved on that has a spell cast on it. This approach to love magic which was more commonly used by women shows that for them, love was more about companionship and emotion. Eros, on the other hand, is likened to destructive lust that the Greeks feared, because it invoked intense sexual desire in a person that they were not in a relationship with. The way that it was practiced alludes to this malevolent nature because it uses invasive and destructive techniques, such as burning an effigy of the intended target (Nussbaum, 2022). In contrast to philia, this approach of love magic shows that for men, love was used for manipulative purposes and increasing their power over the intended victim.
Despite the fact that the Greeks had such a negative outlook on erotic desire and constantly worried that women were using this type of magic on them, they were the ones that typically exercised it. Their worries stemmed from the fear that women would potentially gain any sort of control over them and the reason for this would be incantations and sexual desire. The negative perspective that they had on love was because they recognised the power that desire had over them and thought that the people instilling this desire in them were the ones that they wanted to remain subservient. For this reason, the idea of women having agency when it came to sex and desire was seen as a threat to men and the persistent fear of women casting spells on them expressed the loss of control that they felt when lusting for a woman (Nussbaum, 2002).
How was it used?
The most common erotic magic took the forms of wax or clay figurines, curse tablets and jewelry. There are various kinds of spells that could be used as well such as obtaining and retaining, but the generalised version is the binding spell (Edmonds, 2019). A book from around the fourth century CE called the PGM IV, which has been referred to as a “magical handbook” (Collins, 2008, pp.88) was found to contain love spells from two hundred years earlier. The instructions for one of these spells told the reader to sculpt two figurines, a male one resembling Ares and a female in a kneeling position with her arms behind her back. The female is supposed to be inscribed with various parts of spells and the person conducting the spell must read aloud an incantation.The imagery of the female figurine already seems to be depicted as a sort of powerless victim (think hostage situation), but this idea is solidified by the fact that the male figurine is supposed to be stabbing her in the neck with a sword. The cherry on top is that thirteen needles were to be inserted into the female figurine in places like the brain, eyes, ears, and mouth. The purpose of this was to “stimulate the memory of the victim and keep him or her mindful of the magical practitioner” (Collins, 2008, pp. 89). If it wasn’t already evident enough, the use of the word “victim” here really amplifies the idea of men causing harm to women through their pursuit of sexual gratification.
Curse tablets are one of the basic necessities when it comes to erotic magic and involve some of the same fundamental steps used with the figurines. The actual curse tablet or “lamella” was made out of a thin sheet of metal, usually lead or pewter (Edmonds, 2019). The tablets are inscribed with binding spells calling upon a god to assist in their pursuit of the target (named on the tablet) and then the tablet is supposed to be nailed together or rolled up. The idea with this is similar to that of placing the needles into the clay figurine where it should force connection between the two by making them “bound” to each other. Also like the figurines, no curse is complete without the verbal enactment of the spell by either singing or speaking it. As mentioned before, binding spells were used for erotic magic, but also to cause harm to an enemy. The fact that the same practices can be used for both erotic and evil magic reinforces the idea that men attempting to invoke eros in women have malevolent intentions. In short, men only care about having their needs met by any means necessary.
Conclusion
Although there are many sources that speak about female sexuality, there are not that many that are purely focused on women, as most of them speak about female sexuality from a male perspective. The implication of this androcentric view is that women are defined by men and that they cannot exist as themselves without comparison to men. There are also not many sources that are written about female pleasure and enjoyment of sex. Scholarship of sex tends to focus on the roles of women during sex and the representations of them in society without exploring what sex meant for them. Despite the progression of society’s views on sex and a newfound awareness of the lack of research done on women, there is still a long way to go before scholarship on women is equal to that on men. Not only are women underrepresented in being the subjects of research, but also in terms of being the ones conducting it. This is one of the major barriers when it comes to scholarship on women. As mentioned throughout this whole page, the perspectives of men on female topics are inaccurate to the realities of many women. Even though male scholars can make a conscious effort to conduct their research from a less androcentric viewpoint, there are still some biases that cannot be eliminated because they have not had the lived experience of being a woman.
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Women in Antiquity 