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Zoophilia in history

I'm pretty sure it's one particular story about it that spawned all those artworks.
 
Animal love has been around as long as man and woman has had them as partners. It's only in recent times it has been outlawed and frowned upon
It's partially true. At some ages, it was okay to do that, even encouraged, or worshipped in the religion, and at other times, heavily punished.
If someone want to learn a lot about zoophilia in history, he should read the book"understanding bestiality and zoophilia", by Hani Miletski.
It's available on pdf, online, but if you can buy it, it's worth the money.
A must read for every zoo!
I can provide an extract of the part when she speak about zoosexuality in history, and it's just an example, the book is full of it:
"According to Dekkers (1994) and The Wild Animal Revue (1991), the Minotaur was supposedly the son of Minos, King of Crete, and at the same time, the product of the union of his wife Pasiphae with a bull. In order to strengthen his claims to the throne of Crete, Minos wanted to show the people that the gods would grant all his prayers. He asked the sea god, Poseidon, that a bull should come out of the sea for the purpose of sacrifice, and a white bull swam immediately ashore. Minos liked it, kept it for himself, and sacrificed another bull. Poseidon was insulted and in revenge ensured that Pasiphae, Minos’ wife, fall in love with the white bull. She enlisted the help of Daedalus, a craftsman, who made a life-sized, hollow cow of wood. The queen crawled into the cow and waited for the bull, which mounted the wooden cow, and in fact, copulated with Pasiphae. Minotaur was born shortly afterwards, having the body of a man and the head of a bull. The story of the Minotaur is based on the worship of bulls as fertility symbols, which was widespread in Crete and elsewhere long before the Greek period (Dekkers, 1994; The Wild Animal Revue, 1991). "
 
I always figured if there was a historic rule forbidding it, it was because it was something people were doing. (Even our modern rules, like, "Don't take a shower with your toaster while it's plugged in and heating" mean, "Somebody's actually done that.")

And when the rule is death -- it's probably something going on a LOT!

"Hittite law mandated the death penalty for intercourse with animals, excluding horses and mules (violators were instead barred from the priesthood and from approaching the king)."

(Frick. Even back THEN, us dog fuckers couldn't catch a break. We would get executed, but you lucky bastard horse zoos! You got out of having to be priests and having to deal with the king in person.)
 
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The Topography of Ireland by Gerald of Wales has a few references to zoophilia, although he's less than flattered by it.

Chapter XXI: Of an animal which was half-ox, half-man.
In Wicklow (Gwykingelo), at the time Maurice Fitzgerald held possession of that territory and castle, there was seen a man-monster, if he may be called a man, the whole of whose body was human, except the extremities, which were those of an ox; they having the shape of hoofs, from the joints by which the hands are connected with the arms and the feet with the legs. His whole head was deformed by baldness, there being no hair either behind or before; but instead of it there was down in a few places. He had large eyes, round and of the colour of those of an ox. His face was flat down to the mouth, there being no protuberance of the nose, but only two orifices to serve for nostrils. He could not speak, the sounds he uttered resembling the lowing of an ox. He frequented for some time the court of Maurice, coming daily to dinner; and the food which was served he took up between the fissures of his cloven hoofs, which he used as hands. He was at last secretly put to death, a fate of which he was not deserving, in consequence of the jibes with which the young men about the castle assailed the natives of the country for begetting such monsters by intercourse with cows.

It is a fact, that shortly before the arrival of the English in the island, a cow gave birth to a man-calf, the fruit of an union between a man and a cow, in the mountains of Glendalough (Glindelachan), that tribe being especially addicted to such abominations; so that you maybe perfectly convinced that there is another instance of a progeny half-ox half-man, half-man half-ox. This creature, having followed his mother with the rest of the calves, sucking her teats for nearly a year, was afterwards admitted into human society, as it had more of the man in it than of the beast. Shall the slayer of this creature be called a homicide? Who can associate such a monster, an irrational animal, wanting altogether speech as well as reason, with the family of rational beings? On the other hand, who can disallow the claims of a creature which stands erect, laughs, and goes on two feet, to belong to the human species? Is it not true that

"Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri
Jussit?"
In nature's mould, to man the stamp is given,
Which lifts his face from earth and points his eyes to heaven.

But nature's eccentricities of this kind must be excused, and her judgments are rather to be dreaded, than made the subject of discussion and disputation.

Chapter XXIII: Of a goat which had intercourse with a woman.
Roderic, king of Connaught, had a white tame goat, remarkable for its flowing hair and the length of its horns. This goat had intercourse, bestially, with the woman to whose care it had been committed; the wretched creature having seduced it to become the instrument of gratifying her unnatural lust, rather than that the animal was the guilty actor. O foul and disgraceful deed! How dreadfully has reason given the reins to sensuality! How brutally does the lord of brutes, discarding his natural privileges, descend to the level of brutes, when he, rational animal, submits to such intercourse with a beast! For although on both sides it is detestable and abominable, it is by far the least that brutes should be entirely submissive to rational creatures. But though brutes are destined by nature for the service of men, they were created for use, not abuse. The indignation of nature, strongly repudiating it, thus vents itself in verse:

"Omnia jam novitate placent, nova grata voluptas,
Et naturalis inveterata Venus.
Arte minus natura placet, consumitur usus;
In reprobos ratio, jam ratione carens.
Vis genitiva gemit, violata cupidinis arte,
Et violans vindex publicat ira scelus.
Pandit enim natura nefas, proditque pudorem
Criminis infandi, prodigiosa creans."

Chapter XXIV: Of a lion that was enamoured of a woman.
I saw at Paris a lion which some cardinal had presented, when it was a whelp, to Philip, the son of king Louis. 100 This lion was in the habit of having bestial intercourse with a silly girl, whose name was Joan. If, by any chance, it broke out of its den, and became so infuriated that no one dared to approach it, Joan was called, and instantly disarmed its malice and pacified its rage. Soothed by female allurements, it followed her where she pleased, and immediately changed its fury to love. Both of these brutes merited a shameful death. But not only in modern times have these abominations been attempted, but in the earliest ages, remarkable for their greater innocence and simplicity of manners, society was polluted by these infamous vices. Thus we find it written in Leviticus:-"If a woman approach unto any beast and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast shall be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them." 101 The beast was commanded to be slain, not for its guilt, of which its nature as a brute exculpated it, but as a memorial, to recall to the mind the enormity of the sin. It is also the opinion of many persons, that the story of Pasipha‘ being leaped by a bull was not a mere fable, but an actual fact.
 
The Desana tribe from Amazon and their unique perception of hunting. Makes one wonder how many more indigenous tribes from around the world incorporate zoophilic imagery and concepts (or even practice?) as part of their spiritual ideology.
 

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I wonder, whats up with having sex with swans?

camecorso is right, zeus was known to have sex with many people in animal forms it is why the zeta symbol was chosen I think.

Seriously it was as l ok mg as you werent a slave. Being bisexual was the norm. So there was no gay hate. It was just a better time all around for free people
no, it wasn't, it was fucking aweful, you could only fuck in your social class, women were subservient, Christians were persecuted, imperialism was the sign of civilization, and constant civil Waring, grain shortages, plauges, disasters, no health care, at thew whim of emperors like augustus who made homosexuality illegal, the death penalty for almost anything, 8 year olds being sex objects for adults, (I could be convinced the south Americans french or japanese are right about there ages of consent, but not 8) , 50% chance of dying in child birth, 70% chance of dying before you were 10. persecution of the old religions under Constantine and the Prohibition of homosexuality, and bestiality etc.

And heaven help you if you weren't roman, raped by animals in the areas,once 100 small blonde children from the defeated germans raped to death by monkeys.
 
camecorso is right, zeus was known to have sex with many people in animal forms it is why the zeta symbol was chosen I think.


no, it wasn't, it was fucking aweful, you could only fuck in your social class, women were subservient, Christians were persecuted, imperialism was the sign of civilization, and constant civil Waring, grain shortages, plauges, disasters, no health care, at thew whim of emperors like augustus who made homosexuality illegal, the death penalty for almost anything, 8 year olds being sex objects for adults, (I could be convinced the south Americans french or japanese are right about there ages of consent, but not 8) , 50% chance of dying in child birth, 70% chance of dying before you were 10. persecution of the old religions under Constantine and the Prohibition of homosexuality, and bestiality etc.

And heaven help you if you weren't roman, raped by animals in the areas,once 100 small blonde children from the defeated germans raped to death by monkeys.
Hey now I said ok, I never said ideal or perfect. I certainly wouldnt want to live back then and yea 8 is a little young for most at least wait till like 10 or 12. But everything was diffrent back then morals beilifs technology education etc. All the power to them. History forges the future. I'm sure in the future people will look at us with equal disgust.
 
No thread about zoophilia in history is complete without this prehistoric cave painting from Val Camonica...
Valcamus.gif
I found a paper about this very topic, interesting read!
Depictions of sexual acts including bestiality used to be common in cave art. Another example is depictions of cave lions licking the genitals of both men and women (I lack the source of this though).
 

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In terms of recent history (the past 20 years -- since about the year 2000), the history of zoophilia has been about lots and lots of anti-zoo laws being made (all over the world). In recent years, more and more governments have been banning it (it's an "anti-zoo movement" of sorts).
I wonder why, exactly now? Effect of internet, making this sex too popular ?
 
Doubt that advanced civilizations (like our modern one) could condone sexuality? You just haven't been using this site's resources. Use them!

Check out the "Articles & Blogs" sections. I've posted highlights from one of them found here:

Prehistoric Times
According to Rosenberger (1968), documentation of the practice of human–animal sex dates back to at least in the Fourth Glacial Age, between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago. Many discoveries of paintings and carvings showing humans and animals having sexual relations have been made in various ancient religious temples (Davis 1954), indicating the pre-occupation of ancient man with bestiality (Stekel 1952). For example, according to Taylor (1996), an engraved bone rod from the cave of La Madeleine, France, from the later Ice Ages (around 25,000 years ago), depicts a lioness licking the opening of either a gigantic human penis or a vulva, and an Iron Age cave painting from the seventh century BC, from Val Camonica, Italy, portrays a man inserting his penis into the vagina or anus of a donkey (Gregersen 1983; Taylor 1996). According to Waine (1968), cave drawings of the Stone Age leave no doubt that our prehistoric ancestors enjoyed frequent and pleasurable sexual relations with animals.

Moreover, the fact that these drawings had an integral part in a clan’s family history, indicates it was a common act (Waine 1968; Ellison 1970), or at least a desired act.

Ancient Near East

Archeological findings demonstrate that bestiality was practiced in Babylonia, the ancient Empire in Mesopotamia, which prospered in the third millennium BC. In his famous Code of Hammurabi, King Hammurabi (1955–1913 BC) proclaimed death for any person engaging in bestiality (Ellison 1970; Blake 1972; Hamilton 1981). At other times, according to Waine (1968), during the Spring Fertility Rites of Babylon, dogs and other animals were used for maintaining a constant orgy condition for seven days and nights (Waine 1968).

The Hittites, (around 13th century BC), the predecessors of the Hebrews in the Holy Land, had certain rules about which animals were tolerable to have sex with and which were forbidden and punishable by death (Gregersen 1983; Kinsey, Pomeroy and Martin 1948).

The Book of Leviticus states that bestiality was very wide-spread in the country of Canaan (Dubois-Desaulle 1933; Niemoeller 1946a). The Hebrews took issue with all the previous inhabitants of the Holy Land and their customs. Even depicting God with an animal’s head or an animal’s body was an abomination (Dekkers 1994). The Hebrews considered sexual relations with animals a form of worshiping other Gods, as was homosexuality, and the bestialist and the animal were both to be put to death.

The purpose of these taboos was to help maintain and reinforce the boundaries of the group, and enable it to retain its distinctive identity under adverse circumstances (Davies 1982).

There are four references concerning men who have sexual contacts with animals in the Old Testament (Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 18: 22–24; Leviticus 20: 15–16; Deuteronomy 27:21), and two references concerning women (Leviticus 18:23; Leviticus 20:16). The Talmud, a commentary on the Old Testament, specifically forbids a widow from keeping a pet dog, lest she be tempted to have sexual relations with it (Hunt 1974; Bullough 1976; Gregersen 1983; Dekkers 1994).

Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians worshiped Gods with animal shapes almost exclusively in the pre-dynastic period before about 3000 BC (Douglas 1992). Animal–human sexual contacts are occasionally portrayed on the tombs (Bullough 1976), and bestiality was recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphics as far back as 3000 BC (Ramsis 1969). Several kings and queens had a reputation of engaging in bestiality (Rosenfeld 1967; Rosenberger 1968), most famous was Cleopatra, who was said to have had a box filled with bees which she had placed against her genitals for stimulation, similar to a vibrator (Love 1992).

Egyptian men often had sexual intercourse with cattle or any other large domesticated animal (Tannahill 1992), while the women resorted to dogs (Rosenfeld 1967; Rosenberger 1968). Sexual contacts with apes were further reported for both men and women (Masters 1962; Bagley 1968; Ramsis 1969), and most interestingly, the Egyptians are reported to have mastered the art of sexual congress with the crocodile. This was accomplished by turning the creature onto its back, rendering it incapable of resisting penetration. This form of copulation was believed to bring prosperity and restore the potency of men (Masters 1962; Bledsoe 1965; Maybury 1968; Kullinger 1969; Ramsis 1969; Love 1992). The Egyptians were also known to engage in worshipful bestiality with the Apis bull in Memphis, Egypt (The Wild Animal Revue 1992, Issue 5) and with goats at the Temple at Mendes (Mantegazza 1932; Bloch 1933; Niemoeller 1946a; Davis 1954; Masters 1962; Rosenfeld 1967; Bagley 1968; Maybury 1968; Love 1992). The goats were further used as a cure for nymphomaniacs (Masters 1962; Bagley 1968). Having said all that, bestiality was however, punishable in Egypt, by a variety of torture mechanisms, leading to death (Rosenfeld 1967; Rosenberger 1968; Trimble 1969).

Ancient Greece

Bestiality themes were very popular in Greek mythology (Kinsey et al. 1953; Masters 1962; Masters 1966; Rosenfeld 1967; Bagley 1968; Harris 1969; Haeberle 1978; The Wild Animal Revue 1991, Issue 1). Most notorious are the stories of Leda and the swan (Zeus), and Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, King of Crete, who fell in love with a bull, hid inside a wooden cow and copulated with it (Masters 1962; The Wild Animal Revue 1991, Issue 1; Dekkers 1994). The worship of bulls as fertility symbols was widespread in Crete and elsewhere long before the Greek period in classical times, and the tone of the writers of the day leaves no room to doubt that bestiality was a fairly common occurrence in daily life (Niemoeller 1946a).

The ancient Greeks engaged in bestiality during religious celebrations such as the Bacchanalia, in honor of the God Bacchus (Dubois-Desaulle 1933), and in the Temple of Aphrodite Parne, the Greek Goddess of Indecent Copulation (Waine 1968). As with the ancient Egyptians, ancient Greeks believed bestiality cured nymphomaniacs (Masters 1962; Bagley 1968). Bestial affairs were acted out on the Greek stage (Masters 1966), and were the theme of The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius, the earliest Latin novel that has remained in its entirety, and has long been censored because of its pornographic language and bestiality content (Ramsis 1969). Bestiality was never punishable in ancient Greece (Rosenberger 1968).

Ancient Rome

Roman mythology is rich with bestiality themes (Kinsey et al. 1953; Harris 1969), as is Greek mythology, and the Romans liked to view on stage scenes from the sexual lives of the mythological Gods, including bestial acts (Masters 1962; Bagley 1968; The Wild Animal Revue 1992, Issue 5). Bestiality was wide-spread among shepherds (Masters 1962), and Roman women were known to keep snakes which they trained to coil around their thighs and slide past the lips of their vaginas (Davis 1954; Masters 1962; Christy 1967; Maybury 1968; Dekkers 1994).

It was the Romans who invented the rape of women (and sometimes men) by animals for the amusement of the audience at the Coliseum and Circus Maximus, and bestiality flourished as a public spectacle in ancient Rome (Masters 1962; Bledsoe 1965; Somers 1966; Rosenfeld 1967; Rosenberger 1968; Waine 1968; Harris 1969; Trimble 1969; Blake 1972; Love 1992; The Wild Animal Revue 1992, Issue 5; Dekkers 1994).

Emperors, such as Tiberius (AD 14–37), his wife Julia, Claudius (AD 37–41), Nero (AD 54–68), Constantinus (a.k.a. Constantine the Great, AD 274–337), Theodora (Emperor Justinian’s wife, AD 520s), and Empress Irene (AD 797–802), had been known to either engage in bestiality or enjoy watching others engage in bestiality (Bledsoe 1964; Rosenfeld 1967; Rosenberger 1968; Waine 1968; Blake 1972; Hamilton 1981; Love 1992; The Wild Animal Revue 1992, Issue 5). According to Niemoeller (1946a), at the beginning of the Roman Empire, legal retribution for bestiality was required only for sodomy, under which bestiality was included. Later, bestiality was distinguished from sodomy and made punishable by death (Dubois-Desaulle 1933; Niemoeller 1946b). In any event, as the Empire expanded and grew more powerful and corrupt, punishments for bestiality became almost nonexistent (Rosenberger 1968).
 
Zoophilia and religion have a much closer relationship than most zoos are aware of.

Not in just the restriction of such in abrahamic religions, but full on acceptance and religious integration of bestiality as worship to the gods of greece, rome and egyptians.

If modernity (republic/democracy) was built on the greek and roman ideal of the nation-state as many scholars wish to hold these societies up on the pedistal, then the acceptance of ethical zoophilia and bestiality should be part of modernity as well.
 
How about Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, suckled at the teats of a wolf?

Well..has nothing to do with a sexual act ! Just needed milk !
 
Most people know two things about Catherine the Great: 1. She ruled Russia 2. She was rumored to have sex with horses. That was a completely unfounded smear, but it had such staying power because Catherine had developed quite the libertine reputation and so people would believe almost anything. She made no pretense toward chastity and took many lovers (this was in the 1700s, so you can imagine the pearl clutching) and she supposedly spent a lot of time in the royal stables tending to her favorite stallion, Dudley.
They said the same about Cleopatra....that she had sucked (did oral sex on) 400 Roman officers on a galley ! Also claims she fucked all sort of animals ! Problem is ancient Romans despised Egyptians, cos' they considered them 'weak,effeminate and basically liking sex too much - another sign of weakness !' . particularly Cleopatra was intensely hated...so it was used as a political tool to spread false rumours to discredit your political rival and get allies on your side ! Infact...it ended up ...badly for Cleo !
 
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