The penis was often likened to the lizard, which leads Pliny to note the powers of a large one known as the skink: “Its muzzle and feet, taken in white wine, are aphrodisiac, especially with the addition of satyrion and rocket seed. On the forehead of a newborn foal was found a growth called the hippomanes, which, reported Aristotle, was a powerful aphrodisiac. Snakes (since they were popularly believed to rejuvenate themselves), and the genitalia of roosters and goats were consumed. In ancient Greece and Rome, cures for impotence used parts of animal associated with potency. … Sexual desire is excited by the upper part of the xiphium root given in wine as a draught also by the plant called cremnos agrios and by ormenos agrios crushed with pearl barley.” “The Cyprian reed, called donax … taken in wine is an aphrodisiac.” The leaves of clematis “eaten with vinegar … act as an aphrodisiac. The leek, he asserts, “is an aphrodisiac.” The turpentine tree or terebinth “is a gentle aperient and an aphrodisiac.” Garlic “is believed to act as an aphrodisiac, when pounded with fresh coriander and taken in neat wine.” The water of boiled wild asparagus serves the same purpose. The most extensive catalog of stimulants was provided in the first century by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History. Herbal, culinary, and pharmaceutical cures Of Impotence Cures from Impotence: A Cultural History by Angus McLaren “In discussing impotence from Roman times (when a hard man was good to find, regardless of the object of his affections) to the Middle Ages (when Church officials would order suspect husbands to perform in front of clergy) to our current era of little blue pills (whose furious rise in sales has already started to decline), McLaren has written a path-breaking history of masculinity.”-Nick Gillespie, New York Post I only wish the book had been twice as long.”-Michael Bywater, Sunday Times … McLaren provides not just a scholarly and witty grand tour d’horizon of two and a half millenniums of thinking and writing about impotency but, in the process, reminds us that, when it comes to sex, it really is all in the mind. … We in the West live now in what may well be the most highly and explicitly sexualized culture in human history not surprisingly, sex has never been more publicly contested. “Diverting, enchanting and often hilarious.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |