| 600s 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 |
| 500 BC |
Greek priests use dildos to deflower virgins (because they believe the hymen is dangerous to mortals) |
| 350s BC |
BC Olive oil is first used as a lubricant |
| 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 the art of seduction |
| 1 AD |
First written Chinese Herbal states that Ginseng functions as an aphrodisiac |
| 2 AD |
Oysters 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 |
| 162 |
Claudius Galenus writes that “Hysteria is a disease caused by sexual deprivation in passionate women” & prescribes intercourse or masturbation |
| 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) |
| 391 |
Theodosius I disbands “The College of Vestal Virgins” |
| 655s |
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 |
| 904 |
Start of The Rule of the Harlots |
| 955 |
Papacy of Pope John XII |
| 963 |
End of The Rule of the Harlots |
| 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” |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 sent |
| 1484 |
Papacy of Pope Innocent VIII |
| 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 |
| 1501 |
Don Cesare Borgia gives “The Ballet of Chestnuts” |
| 1503 |
Papacy of Pope Julius II |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 1600s |
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 |
First recorded story of Don Juan |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 1750 |
Mrs.Goadby introduces the famous “Seraglios” |
| 1751 |
Public sex in a flat, Brothel, Massage parlour or for an Agency becomes illegal under the Disorderly Houses Act |
| 1758 |
Linnaeus describes and names Pediculus Pubis (Pubic Lice) |
| 1760 |
Samuel-Auguste Tissot writes that Semen is an “essential oil” that, when lost, causes “a perceptible reduction of strength, of memory and even of reason, blurred vision…” |
| 1762 |
Voltaire’s poem “La Pucelle” (The Maid) sparks scandal, & the wrath of the King and the Pope |
| 1763 |
The Marriage Act raises the minimum age for marriage from 12 to 16 |
| 1766 |
Voltaire writes “It is amusing that a virtue is made of the vice of Chastity” |
| 1773 |
“The Covent Garden Magazine” becomes the first erotic periodical in the UK |
| 1774 |
Catherine II of Russia begins an affair with Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, her other lovers included Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov (40 years her junior) |
| 1779 |
John Graham invents The Celestial bed |
| 1782 |
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos publishes “Les Liaisons dangereuses” |
| 1785 |
Donatien Alphonse François (Marque de Sade) writes “120 Journées de Sodom” |
| 1787 |
George III of England issues “A Proclamation for the Encouragement of Piety & Virtue, & for the Preventing & Punishing of Vice, Profaneness & Immorality” |
| 1787 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart previews his opera “Don Giovanni”, in Prague |
| 1789 |
Giacomo Casanova begins writing his memoirs “Histoire de ma vie” (Story of My Life) |
| 1791 |
William IV of England begins an affair with the Irish actress Dorothea Bland (Dorothy Jordan) resulting in at least ten illegitimate children |
| 1792 |
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”, advocating the social & moral equality of the sexes |
| 1794 |
In his book “The Golden Age”, Erasmus Darwin writes “plants now can convey more knowledge about human sexuality than women can” |
| 1795 |
Donatien Alphonse François de Sade writes “120 Journées de Sodom” |
| 1796 |
Jane Austen writes “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” |
| 1798 |
Mary Wollstonecraft’s “The Wrongs of Women” is published, acknowledging the existence of women’s sexual desires |
