Exhibit reveals 'racy' 4000-year-old porn

Pornographic pictures adorned the walls of homes, libraries and temples of the ancient Middle East, a new exhibition has revealed.

The display, housed in the Israel Museum's archaeology wing, contains some 4000-year-old erotic tablets which shed light on some the region's kinky pastimes.

Hailing from ancient Mesopotamia, the clay plaques show couples engaging in various forms of anal sex while swilling beer through a straw - said to be symbolic of the favoured birth control of the time.

Western Asiatic Antiquities curator Laura Peri said drinking from straws was meant to be interpreted as oral sex, adding another peculiar element to the erotic relics.

"Mesopotamian erotica was really something racy. It's not all, you know, missionary and that's it," she said.

Despite the tablets' graphic depictions, Ms Peri denied they should be labelled porn; rather, ancient "pop art".

The pieces were found amongst the ruins of temples, private homes and libraries of the Old Babylonian period.

Ms Peri said while it was difficult to generalise about their intended use, the locations in which they were uncovered inferred that they were accessible to both men, women and children.

The exhibit also features Caananite art to show a drastic reduction in sexuality following the institutionalisation of Judaism in the 8th century BCE.

Source: Inquisitr
Author: Chloe Ross, Approving editor: Simon Black