The so-called “Turin Satirical-Erotic Papyrus”

Both sides of the papyrus show typical Egyptian satiric subjects. On one side animals are shown wearing clothes and parodying human behaviour. In the other scenes, Egyptian humour finds another outlet in what may actually be a form of “pornography”. This must not be regarded as Egyptian “Kamasutra”, but as a comical pictorial composition. The artist emphasized the strenuousness of the acts and the uncomfortable and acrobatic positions in which some men have intercourse with women. The physical appearance of the men is a caricature of lower-class people. Their bald heads and unshaven faces give them the away as members of the social class of manual workers and peasants, who do not have the time or means to take care of their bodies. Sexuality is almost never exhibited in the monuments and objects of the élite. The activity represented here is therefore intended to be obscene, although the expensive papyrus medium indicates that this is an object destined for the use of higher class of people, is clearly intended for use by a higher class of people, who may have derived pleasure from feeling superior to these coarse and vulgar bawdies. The women, on the other hand, are represented according to the classic canons of beauty of Egyptian art, to make the scene more arousing. Why combine the scene of lust with an animal parody? The answer may be the pleasure of transgression: of the natural barriers between animals and humans, and the rules of social decorum.