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Maria Spassova

Did you know that… in Ancient Greece people used to put male genitalia, made out of clay, on top of their roofs in order to protect them from evil? That same sex intercourse was absolutely equal to sex between a man and a woman up until 475 BC? That pedophilia – intercourse with children was believed to be an educational act and was not punished according to ancient laws? Maybe you didn’t know all that. Exactly for that reason the Cycladic Art Museum in Athens is presenting the exhibition “Love and sex – from the birth of Gods till the late ancient period”. The exhibition will open in the middle of December and will continue until April 2010. It will consist of 280 exhibits from 48 museum s around Greece, Cyprus, Italy and France, in which included is the Louvre – sculptures, bas-reliefs, pottery, cult figures, jewelry, metal sculptures and they are all dedicated to love and sex.

The Ancient Greek erotic life scenes are so extreme that even Sacha Baron Cohen and his shocking film “Bruno” seem like a Christmas tale compared to the sexual fantasies of peers of Homer, Herodotus, Pericles, Phidias and Praxiteles. Prostitutes, homosexuals, pedophiles, sodomy, doctors, who are trying to relief a couple of lovers from a long-lasting a painful erection. All this can be seen in about a month in one of the most stylish but at the same time most conservative buildings of intellectual Athens. Do not take your children with you. Not only that you risk feeling absurd in front of your kid… you will have to answer uncomfortable questions and keep in mind that part of the exhibition is forbidden for children under 16 years of age.

This part of the exhibition is the one, which shows the mastery of ancient Greek prostitutes. It is interesting to note that ancient Greeks had six different words for six different categories of the most ancient profession. As you can imagine, most of them cannot be translated into another languages. Prostitutes used to walk around streets and seek for customers. The second lowest category were the ones who services clients in something like tents – on the ground but not in front of the eyes of others. After that come the chosen prostitutes, who used to work in brothels. The fourth category includes the merciful ones – those who satisfied sexual desires of priests and of the ones visiting the churches. The fifth category were owners of the brothels, who were choosing the prostitutes, educate them and after that offer them to the most prestigious clients. The highest in the prostitute hierarchy were the hetaeras, who were not only beautiful and voluptuous but also smart and used to participate in philosophical discussions with men.

When speaking of sex in Ancient Greece we cannot not mention Eros, the God of love. According to mythology he was the son of Aphrodite and according to Socrates – of Penia and Poros—in other words the son of innovation. He points his arrows towards the mortals and the Gods, where the most frequent victim is Zeus. He puts wreaths on newlyweds during weddings but also comforts widows on funerals. Unforeseeable, naughty and intriguing, he loved to whisper in his victims ears “Talk to me dirty…”.