by Wild-Dream FilmsThe producers of an upcoming film for the History Channel – Sex in the Ancient World – Egyptian Erotica – claim they’ve recreated the world’s ‘earliest pornography’ – based on erotic Egyptian hieroglyphics.
The hieroglyphics in question, held in the Museo Egizio in Turin, are known as the Turin Erotic Papyrus and were discovered at Deir el-Medina near the Valley of the Kings. The parchments in question are fragmented, so the film production company used computer graphics to ‘complete’ the images and – in the words of Sion Hughes, head of business affairs at Wild Dream Films, ‘recreate the world’s first men’s magazine’.
Hughes told Wales on Sunday: “In those days there was no television or newspapers, so the men who built the Pyramids had to make their own entertainment. And we were surprised to find that they were making the equivalent of ‘top shelf’ men’s magazines in their spare time.”
Wild Dream Films filmed in Cairo, Deir el-Medina, Luxor and Italy for several weeks and worked with several experts to examine what is known about the sex lives of Egyptians. The programme draws the conclusion that Egyptian society was discreet when it comes to sex – although apparently ancient Egyptians were far less embarrassed about it than we are today. Hughes adds: “We discover that very little has changed in 4,000 years. Despite man’s advances in many areas of life and technology some things will always be the same and he still has an appetite for sexual images.”
While the upcoming film for History Channel may well be the first to examine Egyptian attitudes to sex through the means of a TV programme, lots of research has already been done on the subject. A book published earlier this year – Sex and Gender in Ancient Egypt: ‘Don your wig for a joyful hour’ edited by Carolyn Graves-Brown – brings together a collection of lectures given at a conference held at the University of Swansea, Wales, earlier this year. Some of the chapters of the book focus on the tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, the famous image that shows (possibly) two men kissing. A chapter by Jiri Janák and Hana Navrátilová takes a look at the Turin Erotic Papyrus, the Egyptian artefact examined and digitally created by Wild Dream Films.
Sex in the Ancient World – Egyptian Erotica is scheduled to be aired on the UK’s History Channel at a date still to be confirmed.
