From magic spells to dirty graffiti: 16 surprising facts about sex in the classical world

Orgies and olive oil. Lucky willies and leather dildos. Polyamory and pigeon-powered love potions. Forget prudish Victorian attitudes towards the ancients, says Dr Jean Menzies, the Greeks and Romans had rich and imaginative sex lives that tell us much about their societies

Graphic photomontage layering a classical marble statue of two leaning lovers over red-figure ancient Greek vase paintings depicting figures and winged Eros

Published: October 18, 2026 at 3:30 PM

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If it were up to the Victorians, we’d all believe the ancient Greeks and Romans were a bunch of sexless prudes, too busy composing poetry even to think about getting down and dirty. And while, yes, they did write a lot of poetry, they certainly made time for sex too – after all, a lot of that poetry was erotic. In short, pleasure and desire were important parts of ancient life.

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For centuries, historians and archaeologists, guided by their contemporary social mores, tried to hide the ancients’ interest in sexual matters away from the public gaze. Scholarship concerning the phallic fertility god Priapus was relegated to pornographic magazines. Museums in Britain and Italy banished explicit vase paintings and statues to secret rooms that women and the working classes were forbidden from entering. Trust me when I say that’s a lot of vases and statues.

In recent decades, however, scholars have begun the task of freeing the classical world from the prejudices of the 18th and 19th centuries by asking the question: what did sex really mean to the ancients?

It is too easy, lazy even, to dismiss sex as unimportant when trying to understand the past. History is more than just battles and royal successions. It’s about what happened in day-to-day life and, if you’ll allow me, night-to-night life too, what occurs between the sheets. That’s why I have pulled together some of my favourite facts (and rumours) concerning sex and pleasure in ancient Greece and Rome, in the hopes of pumping up your curiosity in the erotic lives of those who came before.

1. Olive oil was the ultimate all-purpose product

There wasn’t much the Ancient Greeks couldn’t (or wouldn’t) do with olive oil. Not only was it a delicious ingredient, a handy base for perfumes, and an appropriate offering to gods and goddesses, but it also served numerous functions in the bedroom. For one, it was an excellent and readily accessible lubricant. Meanwhile, and more surprising perhaps, the second-century physician Soranus of Ephesus recommended olive oil be used as contraception in his treatise Gynaecology.

(Warning: do not try this at home!)

Ancient Greek black-figure terracotta amphora pottery vessel featuring a scene of men harvesting olives from trees with long sticks

An amphora from c520 BC shows men gathering olives. In ancient Greece, olive oil was used as a lubricant during sex – and suggested as a contraceptive by Soranus of Ephesus | Credit: Getty Images

2. ‘Pussy licker’ was a favourite insult

Unfortunately for many, cunnilingus was frowned upon across the ancient Mediterranean. The Roman poet Martial called it “repugnant”, while the Greek physician Galen described it as akin to eating faeces (On Simple Drugs). This resulted in ‘pussy licker’ becoming a popular way to insult someone, especially men in antiquity. One third-century BC stonemason even went so far as to inscribe the words “Euphiletos, pussy licker” on a brick before firing it. Personally, I like to hope Euphiletos’ partners were very happy with him.

3. Sex was a matter of life and death

According to the Hippocratic Corpus, a body of Greek medical texts attributed to the students of the physician Hippocrates, women needed to have sex, or else they might simply keel over. Their theory was that the womb was not attached to anything else (it is) and that when it got too dry it wandered around the body looking for moisture (it doesn’t). This in turn could lead to a number of health problems. Your womb floats too low? Leg pain. Your womb floats to high? Indigestion. Higher still? Suffocation.

If women had regular sex, however, the resulting wetness made sure their wombs stayed put and such dire consequences were avoided. This belief was so ingrained that a Roman man named Apuleius even stated in court that he married his wife to bring an end to the many illnesses she had suffered since her first husband died. Unfortunately, respectable women were not supposed to have sex outside of marriage even for their health.

Ancient Greek red-figure ceramic kylix tondo featuring an erotic scene of a bearded man and a woman embracing intimately on a couch, framed by a decorative meander border

An erotic moment is depicted on this fifth-century BC bowl. According to certain medical circles in ancient Greece, sex was essential to women’s health, preventing an untold number of ailments | Credit: Getty Images

4. The ancients loved romance novels too

Love it or hate it, romance is the number one bestseller when it comes to literary genres in the modern world. However, our appetite for love stories is nothing new. During the Roman empire we see the emergence of a new literary form now known as the ‘ancient Greek romance’. These were narratives written in prose that followed the adventures of various fictional lovers. From pirate ships to near-death experiences, these novels were as trope-filled as contemporary stories – and no less entertaining. If you’re curious, I suggest starting with Daphnis and Chloe by Longus (my favourite of the five complete examples that survive).

5. Some believed magic could get you laid

When all else failed it seems, some men and women in antiquity turned to magic to attract a lover. Examples of such ‘attraction’ spells have been preserved on papyri fragments written in Greek but found in Egypt, and dating to the third and fourth centuries. One favourite of mine instructs the spell caster to take the eyes of a bat and insert them into a dog made of dough or wax. They should then attach a label to said dog that includes the name of the one they want to attract, as well as their own name. Finally, they must take their model and leave it where three roads meet. Just in case they later change their mind, they are reminded to make a note of the spot. The outcome of such spells we will sadly never know.

Ancient papyrus scroll with handwritten Greek text arranged in vertical columns, featuring small geometric diagrams and a circular illustration near the bottom

Fragments of papyri that feature many ‘attraction’ spells, now kept in the British Library. People often partook in these supposedly magic rituals – all in hope of finding a lover | Credit: Bridgeman Images

6. Aphrodite was more powerful than any other god

According to such sources as the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, the goddess of love was considered by some to be the most powerful of all the ancient Greek deities. Due to her dominion over sex and desire, she was able to influence all living creatures, from animals to mortals and the gods themselves. We even see her fellow gods and goddesses turn to her for assistance on a number of occasions in Greek mythology.

WATCH | Ruth Goodman on love, sex and marriage in Tudor England

7. One statue of Aphrodite was just too sexy

In the fourth century BC, the people of Kos commissioned the Greek sculptor Praxiteles create a life-sized statue of Aphrodite. He created two, one of which eschewed tradition by depicting her in the nude. The people of Kos refused the naked statue, considering only the clothed version to be decent. The people of Knidos were not as fussy, and they happily purchased the other statue from the artist. According to the Pseudo-Lucian Erōtes, this turned out to be a great move in terms of tourism, as the nude Aphrodite drew visitors from far and wide.

Unfortunately, not all her visitors were happy simply to observe. One man was even said to have hidden in her temple overnight and, when no-one else was around, attempt intercourse with the statue. In the end, he managed to ejaculate on her thigh leaving a permanent mark on the marble (the mark was probably already there).

Full-length marble statue of a nude woman, the Aphrodite of Cnidus, standing beside draped fabric resting on a water jar against a plain background

A Roman marble copy of Praxiteles’ Aphrodite statue. At first, the work caused a stir for being nude, but later became a popular tourist attraction

8. Birds were sexy?

In his Natural History, the Roman historian and naturalist Pliny the Elder recommended aphrodisiacs specifically for men. These included but were not limited to: an amulet made from the lung of a vulture worn around the neck; a tonic made from the yolk of five pigeon eggs; another amulet, this time containing a cockerel’s right testicle; and sparrow eggs.

9. Ancient dildos were probably made of leather

We know the ancient Greeks and Romans used dildos. This fact is undisputable. They are depicted in art and described in literature. They may even survive among the archaeological record if objects such as the wooden phallus from Vindolanda are anything to go by. Unfortunately, we’ll never know how common dildos were because many were likely made of a less long-lasting material: leather. Or at least that’s what writers such as Aristophanes and Herodas tell us.

Ancient Roman carved wooden phallus artifact resting horizontally on a clear acrylic display stand in a museum case

The wooden phallus found at Vindolanda, near Hadrian’s Wall. This was initially thought to be a sewing tool but has since been re-classified as an ancient sex toy | Credit: The Vindolanda Trust

10. Some dildos were double ended

It is not uncommon to find women depicted using dildos on themselves in archaic Greek vases. Yet one vase from the sixth-century BC stands out from the rest. Unlike its fellows, the red-figure cup attributed to the Nikosthenes Painter depicts not only a man using a dildo on a woman, but the dildo in question is doubled ended! If you’d like to look for yourself, it is currently owned by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.

11. Adultery could get you killed

At the end of the first century BC and beginning of the first century AD, new legislation aimed at ‘protecting the family’ – known as the Leges Juliae – was introduced. This included the possibility of exile or death for women who had sex with men other than their husbands. Men, meanwhile, were welcome to have extra-marital sex, so long as it wasn’t with married women. Then they risked similar punishment.

Ancient Greek red-figure ceramic kylix tondo showing a bearded man in draped robes gently embracing and kissing a youth near a classical column, enclosed in a geometric meander border

A Greek vase depicting a man and a woman kissing. Legislation introduced by emperor Augustus meant that in some circumstances, women who committed adultery could be killed, while men had much more sexual freedom | Credit: Alamy

12. The emperor Tiberius loved an orgy

All right, so this is just a rumour, but ancient literature is so full of rumours that I had to include at least one. According to The Lives of the 12 Caesars by the Roman historian Suetonius, the marriage between Julia the Elder, daughter of Augustus, and Tiberius broke down prior to his appointment as emperor. Tiberius abandoned Rome for the island of Capri. Here, he was said to have decorated his villa with erotic art and filled his library with sex manuals, which his guests then used as inspiration during their endless orgies. Julia, meanwhile, was exiled for her extra-marital affairs.

13. Spartan society may have been polyamorous

According to the Greek historian Xenophon, ancient Sparta was said to have practiced “wife-sharing” (The Constitution of the Lacedaemonians). This meant that Spartan men might give other men permission to sleep with their wives so they could procreate. Their reasoning being that if a woman produced healthy sons for one man, she might be able to do so for another – and healthy sons were Sparta’s top priority. The only problem with this information is that none of it comes from Spartan sources, since the Spartans didn’t tend to write things down. We therefore cannot say how common wife-sharing really was – or how Spartan women felt about it.

Ancient Greek red-figure pottery tondo showing a bearded man and a woman reclining together on a dining couch during a symposium, with the woman holding a small drinking cup

A man and a woman share an intimate moment on this drinking cup from c490 BC. According to one Greek historian, ancient Spartans may have practiced polyamorous “wife-sharing” to promote procreation of healthy sons | Credit: Alamy

14. Dirty graffiti was just as common 2,000 years ago

Today you can wander into any public bathroom cubicle, and read a litany of sexual innuendos, declarations of ‘love’, and dirty jokes at your leisure. Don’t be fooled, however, these are no modern invention. Examples of similar graffiti can be found throughout the historical record. The ancient Roman city of Pompeii is a particularly rich source for such material. There, you will find numerous men’s names carved into the walls of different buildings, along with the words “fucked well”. Oh, to have your sexual prowess memorialised for millennia. Some graffito meanwhile is more practical. Take, for example, advice that simply reads “thrust slowly”.

15. The penis was considered lucky

Whether you lived in ancient Greece or Rome you would have been hard pressed not to be familiar with the penis or, at least, its image. The phallus was everywhere in antiquity and for very good reason. It was considered by many to serve an apotropaic function, that is, it could ward off bad luck. Today, such symbols survive in various forms, from jewellery to wall carvings. A miniscule bronze penis was even found by archaeologists as far north as Cumbria, during the excavation of a Roman site in 2026.

Close-up of an open human hand holding a small, weathered bronze Roman phallic amulet with a green patina and a attachment loop at one end

A bronze penis-shaped amulet found during an excavation in 2026. The phallus was a common symbol in the ancient world, associated with warding off bad luck | Credit: Pete Savin

16. Sex was not inherently shameful

It is true that there are many caveats to this statement – I’ve discussed a few in this article – but I think it important to make clear that sex for sex’s sake was not considered shameful in the ancient Mediterranean. Prior to the rise of Christianity in ancient Greece and Rome, most people did not consider the purpose of sex to be purely reproductive. So long as it was conducted according to contemporary social mores, sex was deemed a normal, healthy and enjoyable part of life.

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Jean Menzies is an author, ancient historian and presenter. Her latest book is Aphrodisia: Women, Sex and Pleasure in the Classical World (Monoray, 2026)

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