Sexuality has always been a priority for human beings. We’ve talked recently about several ancient sex documents that shed some light on how ancient civilizations understood life and explored their sexuality. Cases like The Perfumed Garden for the Arabs, the Turin Erotic Papyrus, or even the famous Kamasutra are documented evidence of our never ending pursuit of pleasure. Just as we watch pornography or search the internet for tips to improve our sex life, in ancient times manuals were extremely popular for the same reasons.
That is the case of Philaenis’s sex manual. Thought to be born around the fourth century BC, Philaenis’s life is a mystery, but her manual became so famous that it’s mentioned in several ancient historical sources. For that reason, there are many variations of the story. The official one, based on the fragments that were found in the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, presents Philaenis as the author of the manual and says she comes from the island of Samos. But before going to the facts about her possible existence, let’s go directly to the manual.
According to the remaining fragments, the text was divided into three chapters including an introduction. Each chapter focuses on three different subjects: seduction, flattery, and kissing. Now, the fragments include only a few words and sentences, some of which are indecipherable, but scholars have made a thorough research of the sources to understand the manual. They found out this was a monograph of sexual positions that would help improve sexual life. According to people of the time, more than a pornographic text, this was a thesis on the art of lovemaking. However, contemporary scholars believe this wasn’t either a sex manual or book, but a parody of the many scientific texts of the time. It’s thought that the author wanted to poke fun at the seriousness and arrogance of several documents of those times by using the same format and language to talk about a subject that’s far from being scientific, but continues to be relevant to humanity: sex.
The fact that this is a parody increases the doubts regarding Philaenis’s identity. She was a sort of myth among ancient Greeks. It was said that she worked as a courtesan in her island or even as a prostitute, especially because Samos was popular for its prostitutes and “low moral standards.” This explains why many assumed she practiced the oldest profession in the world and had such an extensive knowledge on the art of sex. Moreover, Philaenis was a very popular name many prostitutes adopted as their, let’s say, alter ego. The word is the diminutive of philaina, the feminine term for philos, which means love. But now it’s widely believed that this was just a pseudonym chosen to disguise the real identity of the author, who even at the time was thought to be Polycrates of Athens, a contemporary philosopher with a very similar writing style. Thus, the whole story of the prostitute from Samos looks like the perfect way to mock and satirize these scientific treatises. Just think about how people of that time would’ve reacted to a text written by a woman and prostitute who had an elevated language, similar to that of the great philosophers.
However, in the end, the probable identity of the author or the real intentions of the text can be left aside, since the text was widely received and used as a popular manual to upgrade ancient Greece’s sexual activities. Just as the many documents of ancient civilizations focused on sexuality, this text also shows in a more direct way how people used to approach to intimacy and sex. It doesn’t matter if it’s a parody, because it was also used in a more literary way, showing us that in those days, sex wasn’t only an activity for reproductive purposes, but a moment in which foreplay, seduction, and tender passion played an important role.
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If you want to know more about how ancient civilizations understood their sexuality, take a look at these:
The Secret Sex Rituals Of Ancient Greece That Inspired Your Taste In Movies
The Story Behind Peru’s Fascination Towards Phallic Symbols
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