November 06, 2006

Radio Expedition Into Ancient Egyptian Garbage What would you expect to find among the papyrii that were discovered in an ancient Egyptian landfill? Can you say Porn? What about alternative interpretations of the Bible (The number of the beast isn't 666, btw, ymmv). This downloadable radio show (available in whole or in part) is an entertaining listen, and you just might learn something. Like what ancient porn sounds like.
posted by petebest 18 years ago
  • Egyptian Pr0n? Try the Turin Erotic Papyrus (NSFW)
  • Ah, the number is 616. Just in case anyone's counting.
  • I'm actually quite surprised that there isn't a lot more of this type of thin out there - I mean, the whole Egyptian superstition that if it wasn't depicted in an image it wouldn't be there in the afterlife. It meant that all images of people had two arms and two legs showing - but no wangs. Who wants an afterlife with no sex? (and no I did not mean that dead corpse sex is OK. Unless it's Quidnunc. He seems to be an exception by local rules.)
  • Oh, they had their wangs showing, my laddio. Sex, & the phallus in particular, was a big part of their symbology. Check out the Osiris death myth and the way Isis resurrected him. Then there's Geb & Nut. ;) Even one of the hieroglyphic symbols is a penis. :D
  • Some of Sappho 's (poetic) remains found in the rubbish heaps of Oxyrhynchus.
  • I need a full transcription of that ancient greek porn. For research purposes, naturally.
  • I heard the Genghis Khan piece on the radio. Fascinating. He put Wilt the Stilt to shame.
  • It sounded more like a romance novel than porn, but then is there really a difference? Neat style to this radio program, bookmarked, thanks. The Genghis Khan one was interesting, too. 16 million descendants in 1000 years? So that implies how many children for him? To what extent were those numbers helped by his happily multiplying descendants (and perhaps emphasis on male children)? Wilt didn't have conquered nations going for him. Not to derail...back to your regularly scheduled dead leaf porn.
  • Yeah I thought Genghis wasn't, y'know, big on the ladies.
  • Are you kidding?
  • Genghis was big on the ladies. Genghis Khan lived from about 1162 to 1227 and fathered hundreds or even thousands of children as his armies swept across the continent.
  • Yeah, see? It was his son that was the big poof.
  • Huh. I thought it was Genghis that had the male partner who slept in his tent and, y'know, was his partner. Am I thinking of the younger Khan? Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! sorry.
  • Were you thinking of Alexander and Hephaestion?
  • Were you thinking of Alexander and Hephaestion? No, baby, I swear I was thinking of you the whole time! I was, saying, er, "That's a randy, fast one!" Yeah, that's it!
  • Arg. Stupid random history channel or some such cable show documentaries!
  • Huh. I thought it was Genghis that had the male partner who slept in his tent and, y'know, was his partner. I think that's Achilles and Ajax, who was probably also his cousin. Or Alexander and Bucephalus? (All those Hollywood movies have caused me to mix up the names of ancient heroes, so I hope I got them right. Curse you, Brad Pitt and Colin Farrell!)
  • No no it was definitely one of the Khans and I thought it was Genghis. Stupid Internets! Cough it up!
  • bucephalus was alexander's horse (-: it was achilles and his cousin patroclus, i think. ajax was a very big chap.
  • Yes, I knew Bucephalus was his horse. :P Ah, Patroclus (Petrokles?), thank you!
  • Oh sure, tell Monkeybashi what she wants to know, but it's all mums-the-word for ol' petebest and his request for information eh, roryk?? Well! We'll see who has the last link! of laughs. On the . . list. !
  • Kubla Khan?
  • In Xanadu did Kublan Khan A manly pleasure dome decree Oh, excuse me, there's someone at the door...