Image Details

From Joseph A. Omlin, Der Papyrus 55001 und seine satirisch-erotishcen zeichnungen und inschriften

Exquisitely carnal, the badly damaged Turin Erotic Papyrus (1292‒1075 B.C.E.) is 8.5 feet long and reads from right to left. (In this reconstruction drawing, the papyrus begins at the right side of the top segment and ends at the left side of the bottom segment.) On the first third of the papyrus, animals engage in various human activities, such as playing a harp. On the other two thirds of the papyrus is a series of extremely graphic erotic vignettes, showing a brutish man in dalliance with a young woman. These erotic scenes, suggests author David O’Connor, probably satirized the highly romanticized poetry popular in the pharaonic court of the day.