Sex in Ancient Greece: How Kinky Were They?

Halloween isn't the only excuse to get dressed up and do naughty things. Need a bit of inspiration for some role play ideas or party themes? Take a look back at history with writer Kayla Lords at some ancient kinksters. Turns out sex in ancient Greece was a lot kinkier than you may have thought

Mainstream kink and BDSM as we know it today may have begun in the Old Guard leather movement post-WWII, but we were not the first people to get kinky. Not by a long shot. The first BDSM-like practices could be as old as 4000 to 3100 BCE - the Mesopotamian era. While there are art and evidence of kinky traditions that date back that far, sex in ancient Greece was really kinky.

Being gay doesn’t make you kinky

Greek and Romans both practised homosexuality, to varying degrees of derision and contempt. Roman poet Juvenal satirized the Roman culture of his day, including direct mention of homosexual practices among other things. Being gay doesn’t make you kinky, but some practices seem to come straight from bad kinky porn.

Around 300 BCE, Addeus of Macedon apparently said - “When you a meet a boy who pleases take action at once. Don’t be polite, just grab him by the balls and strike while the iron is hot.” Can you say ‘lack of consent?’ In much of the ancient culture, homosexual practices occurred with boys as young as 12 and with slaves. Neither of which makes the Greeks or Romans look good by today’s standards but the practices was (mostly) accepted at the time.

Sex in ancient Greece also included Greek hoplites, upper-class warriors, in Crete performed a ritual ***ing of 12-year-old boys to take as lovers and train to hunt and fight until they were 18 and considered men. Much earlier (and much kinkier) were the ritual floggings (aka flagellations) of Spartan warriors. Roman heretics were also whipped with thongs made from leather, oxtail, or parchment that were often weighted with lead. Ouch!

Sex in ancient Greece was kinkier than you think!

Sex in ancient Greece: poly and kinky?

Probably the kinkiest (by today’s standards) of all the ancient Mediterranean peoples were the Etruscans. Romans loathed and despised them. Of course, this could be because the Etruscans ruled over Rome for many years before finally being thrown out. They did make their mark on Rome bringing in Greek culture, building the aqueducts, and in many ways, forming the ancient Rome most of us are familiar with. But they were also pretty damn kinky.

Ancient historians, including Theopompus of Chios, wrote accounts of what the Etruscans were like. From Theopompus, we know a few interesting details about them. Sharing wives among men was very common, as was a lot of nudity among the women and ***. Women sat on the couches of men who were not their husbands (a no-no in Rome). All the *** born were accepted, even if no one could be sure of who the father was. Sex in ancient Greece was an open and natural experience that was not shielded from the *** - or anyone, as fucking with an audience was also common.

The Etruscans are known for tombs at Tarquinia, some of which depict their “immoral lifestyle” (according to ancient Rome).

The Tomb of the Bulls features frescoes of both heterosexual erotic imagery as well as homosexual erotic images. This includes men having anal sex.
The Tomb of the Bigas includes chariot races as well as sex occurring in front of an audience.
The Tomb of the Floggings is exactly what its name implies. In one scene, a woman bends over and holds the hips of a man while a youth stands behind her with a whip raised in the air. In another, a woman embraces a man while being penetrated from behind.

While these practices and the artwork were used as reasons for ancient Roman derision specifically against the Etruscans, they were not alone in the imagery or their kinky ways. They were fond of the Greek culture, and many of these practices were familiar to the Greeks, as well.

The Winged Whiptress

If the Winged Whiptress sounds like the name of mean and tough Domme, you’re not completely wrong. This figure comes from the Villa of Mysteries in Pompeii - a city built by the Etruscans (no surprise there). She was part of the rites of passage for youths, especially girls as they became women, at least officially in the eyes of ancient society. Young people would complete this initiation ritual in the Villa of Mysteries, passing from one step to the next. Toward the end, the initiate aka young person moving to adulthood is whipped by the Winged Whiptress.

We can never really know what sex in ancient Greece was like, what the ancients really thought of all of these practices, or just how out or closeted they were about the kinky, sexual pleasure. But this should make it clear that we’re not the inventors of kink or sexual deviance - only the inheritors of it.

Kayla Lords is a freelance writer, sex blogger, and a masochistic babygirl living the 24/7 D/s life. Find and follow her on Fuck.com.