| C.600 BC |
Lucretia is quoted as saying “The sole love potion I ever used was kissing & embracing, by which alone I made men rave like beasts & compelled them to worship me like an idol” |
| 581 BC |
Sappho is able to return to Lesbos, after spending years in exile |
| C.500 BC |
Greek priests use dildos to deflower virgins (because they believe the hymen is dangerous to mortals) |
| C.500 BC |
Socrates is recorded as saying “If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy, if you get a bad one, you’ll become a Philosopher” |
| C.440 BC |
The Greeks, recognizing more than one type of love, invent the word “eros” to describe carnal love, and “agape” to mean a spiritual love |
| C.400 BC |
Hippocrates writes that a woman’s pleasure ceases, as soon as her partner’s sperm enters her womb. And theorizes that a woman’s pleasure ceases as soon as her partner is no longer enjoying himself |
| 385 BC |
Plato writes “If there were…an army…made up of lovers and their loves…Who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of danger? The veriest coward would become an inspired hero, equal to the bravest at such a time; Love would inspire him” |
| C.350 BC |
Olive oil is first used as a lubricant |
| 323 BC |
Egyptian men must pay a fine to their first wives if they want to marry a second woman |
| 56 BC |
Claudia Pulchra Tercia (Clodia) takes a number of lovers, including the poet Catullus & his friend Marcus Caelius Rufus. Clodia is later accused of being a seducer and a drunkard |
| 48 BC |
Cleopatra VII Philopator of Egypt allies herself with Julius Caesar, they become lovers |
| 41 BC |
Cleopatra VII Philopator of Egypt allies herself with Mark Antony, they become lovers |
| 1 BC |
Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid) writes a series of books “Ars Amatoria”(The Art of Love), the guiding theme being seduction |
| 1 AD |
First written Chinese Herbal states that Ginseng functions as an aphrodisiac |
| 2 AD |
Oysters are documented as an aphrodisiac food by the Romans |
| 4 AD |
Brahmin priest Mallanaga Vatsyayana writes “The Kama Sutra” |
| 40 AD |
Valeria Messalina challenges a Roman prostitute named Scylla to an all-night sex competition. Scylla gave up at dawn when each woman had taken 25 lovers, but Messalina saw no reason to stop until late the next morning |
| 50 AD |
Pliny the Elder writes that Ginger is an aphrodisiac |
| C.100 |
Plutarch calls love a “frenzy” and believes that “those who are in love must be forgiven as though ill” |
| 162 |
Claudius Galenus writes that “Hysteria is a disease caused by sexual deprivation in passionate women” & prescribes intercourse or masturbation |
| C.200 |
Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens) emphasizes that intercourse should to be passionless, and should occur only after supper (daylight hours should be devoted to studies or prayer) |
| 270 |
St.Valentine is martyred on February 14th |
| 325 |
The First Council of Nicea decree that sex is “for procreation only” |
| 380 |
Coelia Concordia is the last known Chief Vestal Virgin |
| 384 |
St.Augustine prays “Da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo” (Make me chaste and pure, but not yet) |
| 390 |
Maverick monk, Jovinian is excommunicated on grounds of heresy and blasphemy for calling marriage superior to celibacy |
| 391 |
Pope Theodosius I disbands “The College of Vestal Virgins” |
| 496 |
Pope Gelasius replaces the Roman festival of Lupercalia (a giant orgy) with St. Valentine’s Day (a day of Saintly adoration) |
| C.500 |
Buddhists & Hindus in India begin to practice Tantrism |
| C.500 |
Emperor Justinian makes adultery a capital offence and divorce nearly impossible |
| C.500 |
Marriage between blood relatives is outlawed |
| C.655 |
Mirrors introduced as sexual accessories (Lady Wu Chao, wife of Emperor Tai Tsung, places sheets of reflecting glass around their bed) |
| 814 |
Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus) dies after producing 12 children by five women he married & a further 8 children by at least five concubines |
| C.900 |
Tristan and Isolde fall in love after inadvertently drinking a love potion, for which there is no cure |
| 904 |
Start of The Rule of the Harlots |
| 955 |
Papacy of Pope John XII |
| 963 |
End of The Rule of the Harlots |
| 994 |
In ‘The Dove’s Necklace’, Ibn Hazm describes the many symptoms of love, such as “drinking the remainder of what the beloved has left in his cup, seeking out the very spot against which his lips were pressed” |
| C.1000 |
In ‘The Tale of Genji’, Lady Murasaki Shikibu describes the refined and libidinous court life of Japan |
| C.1000 |
Chinese philosophers start to interpret the Yin & Yang symbols not as opposed, but interdependent – like man and woman |
| C.1000 |
“Cortezia, courtesie” is invented in southern France. This later develops into courtly love |
| C.1100 |
Eleanor of Aquitaine holds mock trials judging “proper” love behaviour in her Court of Love at Poitiers |
| C.1100 |
The death of poet Nizami’s beloved, Afaq, inspires him to write Leyla and Majnun, a romance about the tragic death of a lover |
| C.1100 |
Medieval doctors believe that a woman’s orgasm is necessary if the woman is to be impregnated, since women release a sperm that must mingle with their partner’s sperm, in order to conceive |
| 1115 |
Scholar & cleric, Peter Abelard seduces Heloise, his fourteen year old student. When discovered by Heloise’s uncle, Abelard offers to marry the pregnant Heloise, but the bitter uncle has Abelard castrated instead |
| 1135 |
Henry I of England dies, setting a record for the English monarch with the most Illegitimate Children (about 20-25) |
| 1152 |
Birth of Richard I of England |
| 1161 |
Henry II of England organises the “Stews” (Bathhouses with opportunity for sex) |
| 1174 |
Henry II of England acknowledges Rosamund Clifford as his mistress. His other mistresses included Ida, Countess of Norfolk, and a woman named Ykenai |
| 1177 |
Andreas Capellanus writes “The Art of Courtly Love” |
| 1199 |
Richard I of England dies, leaving two illegitimate children by two different mistresses |
| 1205 |
John I of England marries off his illegitimate daughter Joan to the Welsh prince Llywelyn the Great. His mistresses included a woman named Clemence, his first cousin, a woman named Hawise & several unknown mistresses |
| 1228 |
In Scotland, women first gain the right to propose marriage |
| 1244 |
Sufi teacher Rumi meets Shams of Tabriz & abandons himself to divine & earthly love, saying “There’s no studying, no scholarly thinking having to do with love, but there is a great deal of plotting, and secret touching and nights you can’t remember at all” |
| 1272 |
Thomas Aquinas publishes “Summa Theologica” which lays foundations for witchcraft trials, by claiming that men & women can have sex with demons |
| 1275 |
The Statutes of Westminster establish the age of consent for girls as 12 |
| 1308 |
Dante Alighieri (in his Inferno) writes that Seducers will be sent to the 8th level of Hell, where they will be “whipped by horned demons” |
| 1327 |
Edward II of England is sodomized to death with a red-hot poker |
| 1382 |
The word “Sex” is invented |
| 1382 |
Geoffrey Chaucer makes the first association of “seynt Volantynys day” in his “Parlement of Foules” |
| 1385 |
Rape (as an adjunct to warfare) is prohibited |
| 1386 |
Geoffrey Chaucer coins the word “Sluttish” to describe a slovenly man |
| 1396 |
John of Gaunt (1st Duke of Lancaster) marries his mistress, Katherine Swynford |
| 1405 |
Konrad Kyeser von Eichstätt is credited with the first known description of a Chastity belt, in his book “Bellifortis” |
| 1458 |
Papacy of Pope Pius II |
| 1472 |
Richard III of England marries Anne Neville, younger daughter of the late Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick. He later produced a number of illegitimate children with Katherine Haute |
| 1477 |
Archduke Maximillian of Austria presents the first diamond engagement ring to Mary of Burgundy |
| 1477 |
The earliest known Valentine is written by Margery Brews, to her “Right Worshipful and well-beloved Valentine” |
| 1484 |
Papacy of Pope Innocent VIII |
| 1486 |
The Malleus Maleficarum claims disbelief of witchcraft is heresy, and women are more likely to become witches than men because “the female sex is more concerned with things of the flesh than men” |
| 1492 |
Papacy of Pope Alexander VI |
| 1494 |
Christopher Columbus’s sailors return from Haiti with Syphilis (Treponema Pallidum) |
| 1498 |
Lucrezia Borgia has an affair with Perotto, she later has another affair with poet Pietro Bembo |
| 1500 |
‘Ananga Ranga’ is published, an Indian book that shows couples how to keep a marriage lively, with thirty-two sexual positions |
| 1500 |
Martin Luther, believing that sexual impulses are natural and irrepressible, persuades a group of Nuns to leave the convent and helps them find husbands |
| 1501 |
Don Cesare Borgia gives “The Ballet of Chestnuts” |
| 1503 |
Papacy of Pope Julius II |
| 1518 |
Ko-uta, short lyric songs of the geisha world, are compiled into a collection called the Kanginshu |
| 1533 |
The Buggery Act makes any non-procreative sexual activity a crime (including masturbation, anal and oral sex) |
| 1533 |
Thomas Cranmer declares the marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon void, on the grounds of affinity |
| 1534 |
Papacy of Pope Paul III (Cardinal Petticoat) |
| 1534 |
Sir Francis Weston enjoys a secret affair with Margaret Shelton, the one-time mistress of Henry VIII |
| 1536 |
John Calvin (Head of Geneva’s religious government) creates a code of morals which limits engagements to six weeks and bans revelry, minstrelsy, dancing & tambourines at weddings. (If the bride or groom arrive late, the wedding is cancelled) |
| 1542 |
Pope Paul III establishes the Universal Roman Inquisition (The Congregation of the Holy Office) to examine and condemn heretical or immoral works |
| 1547 |
Henry VIII of England dies, leaving a number of illegitimate children |
| 1557 |
Pope Paul IV sends a list of books that he has banned to the Inquisition |
| 1559 |
Papacy of Pope Pius IV |
| 1564 |
In “De Morbo Gallico” Gabriello Fallopio describes the linen sheath (condom) he claimed to have invented |
| 1564 |
The Council of Trent of the Catholic Church issues the “Index librorum prohibitum” (Index of Prohibited Books) |
| 1586 |
Ralph Fitch writes of the use of Ben-Wa balls, in the Shan States of Burma |
| C.1600 |
The modern penis ring and clitoral stimulator are invented (in China) |
| 1605 |
Shakespeare writes that Alcohol “…provokes the desire but takes away the performance” |
| 1610 |
Elizabeth Báthory (The Bloody Lady of Cachtice) is imprisoned in solitary confinement, after killing and torturing around 600 maidens and virgins |
| 1615 |
Tirso de Molina creates the first artistic depiction of the legend of Don Juan, in his play “The Joker of Seville” |
| C.1625 |
Puritan William Gouge advises wives to address their spouses only as ‘Husband’ & never as “sweet, sweeting, heart, sweetheart, love, joy, dear, duck, chick or pigsnie” |
| 1626 |
Thomas Morton establishes ‘Merry Mount’ a plantation where whites & Native Americans openly engage in sexual relations |
| 1631 |
After the wife of Indian Emperor Shah Jahan dies, while giving birth to their fourteenth child, the grieving Emperor devotes himself to building the Taj Mahal, a monument to her, requiring over twenty years to complete, and twenty thousand labourers |
| 1632 |
Birth of Antonin-Nompar de Caumont (Duc de Lauzun) |
| 1634 |
The first recorded description of a Turkish Harem |
| 1650 |
Marion Delorme dies in her salon, her lovers included Charles de St Evremond, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham & Cardinal Richelieu |
| 1659 |
Parisian doctors consider Cocoa to be an aphrodisiac |
| 1660 |
John Garfield is imprisoned for writing “The Wandering Whore” |
| 1664 |
Samuel Pepys describes his servant girl as “an admirable slut” who “pleases us mightily” |
| 1667 |
Anne “Ninon” de l’Enclos retires from her courtesan lifestyle. Her lovers included Gaspard de Coligny & François, duc de La Rochefoucauld |
| 1668 |
Eleanor “Nell” Gwynne becomes Charles II of England’s mistress, her previous lovers included Charles Hart & Charles Sackville |
| 1670 |
Lord Roos wins the first divorce on the grounds of adultery |
| 1672 |
Spanish fly (Lytta Vesicatoria) is used as part of a love charm |
| 1675 |
John Wilmot (Earl of Rochester) writes “Sodom”, the earliest example of written pornography, in the English language |
| 1677 |
A student of Antonij van Leeuwenhoek discovers Human sperm, in semen |
| 1685 |
Charles II of England dies, acknowledging 14 illegitimate children by mistresses including Margaret de Carteret, Lucy Walter, Elizabeth Killigrew, Catherine Pegge, Barbara Palmer, Eleanor “Nell” Gwynne, Louise Renée de Penancoet de Kéroualle, Mary “Moll” Davis, etc. |
| 1687 |
Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo observes Sarcoptes Scabiei, the agent of “Scabies” |
| 1703 |
Nicholas Rowe creates “Lothario”, a character in his play “The Fair Penitent”, who seduces and betrays the female lead |
| 1716 |
An anonymous pamphlet distributed in London warns that “masturbation causes Impotence, Gonorrhoea and Epilepsy” |
| 1738 |
Birth of George III of England |
| 1746 |
Sir Francis Dashwood establishes the “Hellfire club” |
| 1748 |
“Thérèse Philosophe”, a novel about the initiation of a lustful young woman, becomes a bestseller |
| 1748 |
John Cleland writes “Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure” (Fanny Hill) |
| C.1750 |
Some New England towns attempt to prohibit “bundling” – courting couples being allowed to sleep together, so long as they remained fully dressed and/or with a “bundling board” between them |
| 1750 |
Mrs.Goadby introduces the famous “Seraglios” |
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