Conference Report: Racy poetry from the Amarna period

Heritage Key (Owen Jarus)

Short article about love and sex in Amarna poetry as presented by Vincent Tobin at the recent Toronto conference.

One of the most unusual presentations on Egyptology that I’ve seen in awhile took place at the Egypt symposium in Toronto recently. Professor Emeritus Vincent Tobin, of St. Mary’s University, has been translating and analyzing Late Egyptian love poems, and finds that they reveal a rather risqué side to Egyptian life.

“The Egyptians were well aware of the more salacious aspects of love,” said Tobin. “For the Egyptians sexuality is part of human nature.”

He read a number of examples to the audience, which offer a unique insight into the sex lives of the ancient Egyptians