Erotic art: Encyclopedia II - Erotic art - Ancient erotica

Erotic art - Ancient erotica

Among the oldest surviving examples of art are paleolithic cave paintings and carvings. Among the more common images of animals and hunting scenes, depictions of human genitalia, thought to be fertility symbols, may be found. For example, a recently discovered cave art at Creswell Crags in England, thought to be over 12,000 years old, includes some symbols thought to be stylized versions of female genitalia. However we have no indication that these were made for erotic stimulation, it is far more likely that these were objects used in religious rituals. [1]

The earliest clearly salacious depictions of sexual behavior can be found on ancient Greek ceramics. Some of them are renowned because they contain some of the earliest known depictions of same-sex erotic behavior.

Another famous example comes from the Roman town of Pompeii which was simultaneously destroyed and preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Several of the houses excavated had rooms with detailed and sexually explicit murals. For more see: Erotic art in Pompeii.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ancient erotica", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki