Turin Erotic Papyrus
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The Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001, also called the Erotic Papyrus or even Turin Papyrus) is an
ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
ian
papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...
scroll-painting that was created during the
Ramesside Period The New Kingdom, also called the Egyptian Empire, refers to ancient Egypt between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC. This period of ancient Egyptian history covers the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties. Through radioc ...
, approximately in 1150 B.C.David O'Connor
Eros in Egypt
'' ''Archaeology Odyssey'', September–October, 2001A A Shokeir and M I Hussein.

" ''International Journal of Impotence Research'' (2004) 16, 385–388. Discovered in
Deir el-Medina Deir el-Medina (), or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian workmen's village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of Egypt (ca. 1550–1080 BC). ...
in the early 19th century, it has been dubbed the "world's first men's mag". Measuring by , it consists of two parts, one of which contains twelve
erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...
vignettes depicting various
sex position A sex position is a positioning of the bodies that people use to engage in sexual intercourse or other sexual activities. Sexual acts are generally described by the positions the participants adopt in order to perform those acts. Though sexua ...
s. It is currently housed by the
Museo Egizio The Museo Egizio () or Egyptian Museum is an archaeological museum in Turin, Italy, specializing in Art of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian archaeology and anthropology. It houses List of museums of Egyptian antiquities, one of the largest collections of ...
in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, Italy.


Animal section

The first third depicts animals performing various human tasks. This part of the scroll-painting has been described as satirical and humorous.Erotic papyrus of Turin
" egyptancient.net


Erotic section

The final two thirds of Turin Erotic Papyrus consist of a series of twelve
vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...
s showing men and women in various sexual positions. The men in the illustrations are "scruffy, balding, short, and paunchy" with exaggeratedly large genitalia and do not conform to Egyptian standards of physical attractiveness. The women are nubile, and they are shown with objects from traditional erotic
iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
, such as
convolvulus ''Convolvulus'' is a genus of about 200 to 250''Convolvulus''.
Flora of China.
leaves and, in some scenes, they are even holding items traditionally associated with
Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...
, the goddess of love, such as
lotus flower ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as the pink lotus, sacred lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant taxon, extant species of aquatic plant in the Family (biology), family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a ...
s, monkeys, and sistra. The scroll was probably painted in the Ramesside period (1292–1075 BC). Its high artistic quality indicates that it was produced either for a wealthy audience or by and for a group of
scribes A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as secretarial and ...
or contour artists. No other similar scrolls have yet been discovered. Depictions of sexual intercourse were not part of the general repertory of ancient Egyptian formal art, but rudimentary sketches of heterosexual intercourse have been found on pottery fragments and in graffiti. The various male images have also been interpreted as a single protagonist, who has several encounters with a courtesan.


Uniqueness

The severely damaged Erotic Papyrus is the only known erotic scroll-painting to have survived. Modern audiences often misconceive that ancient Egyptian art is devoid of sexual themes. After
Jean-François Champollion Jean-François Champollion (), also known as Champollion ''le jeune'' ('the Younger'; 23 December 1790 – 4 March 1832), was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure ...
saw the papyrus in 1824 in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, he described it as "an image of monstrous obscenity that gave me a really strange impression about Egyptian wisdom and composure."The quote in th
original French
"Ici un morceau du rituel funéraire,... et là des débris de peintures d'une obscénité monstrueuse et qui me donnent une bien singulière idée de la gravité et de la sagesse égyptienne..."


Purpose

The real significance of the images is yet unknown since those fragments of text that have survived reasonably intact have so far not yielded any clear purpose for the Erotic Papyrus. The text appears to have been hastily written in the margins and would seem to express enjoyment and delight: According to French egyptologist Pascal Vernus, the papyrus is not intended to produce sexual excitement. Indeed, the apparent continuation between the animal section and the so-called "erotic" section suggests that the papyrus was intended to amuse members of the aristocracy by portraying absurd transgressions of aristocratic standards of behaviour. Pascal Vernus' lectur

at the Université Lille 3 on December 21, 2012.


See also

*
List of ancient Egyptian papyri This list of papyri from ancient Egypt includes some of the better known individual Papyrus, papyri written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, hieroglyphs, hieratic, Demotic (Egyptian), demotic or in ancient Greek. Excluded are papyri found abroad or cont ...
* A Love Song of Shu-Suen - an ancient Sumerian erotic poem *
Kama Sutra The ''Kama Sutra'' (; , , ; ) is an ancient Indian Hindu Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ''Kamasutra'' is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions ...
- an ancient Indian text on sexuality *
Khajuraho Group of Monuments The Khajuraho Group of Monuments are a group of Hindu and Jain temples in Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh, India. They are about 46 km (28.6mi) from Chhatarpur, Chhatarpur city, the district headquarter, 283 km (177mi) from Gwalior, southea ...
- Indian temples with extensive pornographic art * Chungongtu - a traditional erotic art in China * Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum


References


External links

* ; includes line art reconstruction of the scroll * {{imdb title, 1495937, Sex in the Ancient World: Egyptian Erotica (2009, History Channel) Museo Egizio Egyptian papyri containing images 12th-century BC literature 19th-century archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Egypt Erotic art in classical antiquity Anthropomorphic animals