Erotic Papyrus

Probably written and illustrated by a painter from the Dair-El-Medina village, the papyrus is divided in two sections: the satiric one and the erotic one.
It goes back to the XX Dynasty (1186-1069 BC) it has in the satiric part, humanized animals, the comicality is based upon the overturn of the situations: the hawk tries to clib with a ladder, on a tree, where there is a hippopotamus; a for presided by cats is attacked by mice guided by a leader-mouse. The protagonist of the erotic part is a bearded man, with the peasants’ short skirt, during the encounter with a courtesan, which is described with many details and a surprising sense of humor.
Very famous, because one of its kind, it has always been kept in the Egyptian Museum in Torino. Discovered in the first years of 1800 it amazed a lot, giving an image of ancient Egypt, that loved life and pleasures. This papyrus tells about a moment of royal life: the Egyptian woman is preparing herself for an erotic encounter, adding various elements such as the wig, flowers in her hair and putting on make-up.
The lotus flower on the head had a particular symbol: the one of beauty and of desire. The jar on which she was sitting, probably held ointments for hair and for intimate parts.
Jean-François Champollion who saw it in Torino, in 1824, commented in his notes: “There were an image of monstrous obscenity that gave me a really strange impression about Egyptian wisdom and composure…”.
Egypt was in that time very open, with a sane erotic sense, love songs and lyrics, of course more refined, nevertheless had a sexual background and the women of could inherit, divorce, the had guarantees and rights.