Depictions of a sexual nature have existed since the dawn of times. From rock art, the so-called Venus figures and ancient Mesopotamian artefacts depicting explicit sex, humans were drawn to sex and driven by sex.
The Egyptian Turin Erotic Papyrus, probably painted in the Ramesside period, consist of a series of twelve vignettes showing men and women in various sexual positions.
The ancient Greeks and Romans produced much art and decoration of an erotic nature, much of it integrated with their religious beliefs and cultural practices.
There has been a long tradition of erotic painting in the East. India, Japan, China, Persia and other lands produced copious quantities of art celebrating the human faculty of love. The works depict love between men and women as well as same-sex love. One of the most famous ancient sex manuals was the Kama Sutra, written by Vātsyāyana in India during the first few centuries CE.
The modern concept of pornography did not exist until the Victorian era. When large-scale excavations of Pompeii were undertaken in the 1860s, much of the erotic art of the Romans came to light, shocking the Victorians. They did not know what to do with the frank depictions of sexuality and endeavoured to hide them away from everyone but upper-class scholars. The moveable objects were locked away in the Secret Museum in Naples and what could not be removed was covered and cordoned off as to not corrupt the sensibilities of women, children, and the working classes.
After the modern invention of… more at https://www.patreon.com/posts/42882812
The Banned Tarot
