TO PREVENT, TREAT AND CURE LOVE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. ASPECTS OF SEXUAL MEDICINE AND PRACTICE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

PAULA VEIGA Universidade de Lisboa

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Our Portuguese writer Eça de Queirós speaks of «the eternal fertility of the Nile»1; «the wide noise of the Nile called them eternally to natural, human, sweet ideas2» indirectly relating high temperatures as being conducive to sexual relations. But he also states that, considering ancient Egypt: «ancient Egyptians had only one wife, (…), polygamy was, in all times a social necessity for harmony3.» This expression may reflect the thought that ancient Egyptians considered sex a necessity for family procreation
and this was true.
Another expressing identifying the Egyptian landscape to sexual inclinations is this one: «the simple line (of the horizon) drives oneself to primitive feelings: reminds us of tranquility, quietness, a woman of beautiful lines, the abundance4». Pliny the Elder reports the increase of fertility in Egypt (cases of triplets) as being an effect of the Nile waters. Multiple births are ominous NB events. He reports some cases at his time and draws associations between twins and androgynous people5. There are expressions and words in the medical papyri that mention the private parts of human body. Having sex initiated a set of actions: cleaning, shaving, perfuming, moisturizing, and, in some cases as today, substances to prevent or avoid ill-effects.
Genitalia
Genitalia carved or shaped from natural materials were used as amulets; both male and female organs represented prosperity, fertility, and thus health, so they had to be cherished. Shells6 were occasionally used for ornaments and amulets. The cowrie shell,
because of its form suggesting female genitalia, was a symbol of fecundity. Fecundity figures often have exaggerated breasts and pubis.
The Hebrew word7, like the Greek peritome, and the Latin circumcisio, signifies a cutting and, specifically, the removal of the prepuce, or foreskin, from the penis.