The Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001, also called the Erotic Papyrus or even Turin Papyrus) is a famous ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll-painting that was created during the Ramesside Period[1] (approximately in 1150 B.C.E.[2]). Discovered in Deir el-Medina in the early 19th century, it has been dubbed "world's first men's mag."[3] Measuring 8.5 feet (2.6 m) by 10 inches (25 cm), it consists of two parts, one of which contains twelve erotic vignettes depicting various sex positions.[1] It is currently held by the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy.[3]
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The first third depicts animals performing various human tasks. This part of the scroll-painting has been described as satirical and humorous.[1][4]
Containing twelve successive scenes, the erotic section takes up two-thirds of the Turin Papyrus.[1]
Not conforming the convention of bodily perfection in ancient Egyptian art, the men depicted on the papyrus are "scruffy, balding, short, and paunchy" with exaggeratedly large genitalia.[5] In contrast, the women are nubile and appear with canonical erotic images of convolvulus leaves, Hathoric imagery, lotus flowers, monkeys and sistra.[5] Overall, the artistic merit of the images is high, suggesting that the Erotic Papyrus had an elite owner and audience.[1]
The various male images have also been interpreted as a single protagonist, who has several encounters with a courtesan.[4]
The severely damaged Erotic Papyrus is the only known erotic scroll-painting to have survived.[1]
Modern audiences often misconceive that ancient Egyptian art is devoid of sexual themes.[1] After Jean-François Champollion saw the papyrus in 1824 at Torino, he described it as "an image of monstrous obscenity that gave me a really strange impression about Egyptian wisdom and composure."[4][6]
The real significance of the images is yet unknown since those fragments of text that have survived reasonably intact have so far not yielded any clear purpose for the Erotic Papyrus.[2] The text appears to have been hastily written in the margins and would seem to express enjoyment and delight: