LOVE POTIONS THROUGH THE AGES _A Study of Amatory Devices and Mores_ HARRY E. WEDECK _Lecturer in Classics, Brooklyn College of the City University, N. Y._ _Fellow, International Institute of Arts and Letters_ THE CITADEL PRESS NEW YORK FIRST PAPERBOUND EDITION Published by The Citadel Press 222 Park Avenue South, New York 3, N. Y. © Copyright, 1963 by Philosophical Library, Inc. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 62–18549 All rights reserved. _Printed in the United States of America_ CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ix I ANTIQUITY 1 Erotic cults. Rites, Periapts. Phallic symbols. Ceremonials. Concepts. Greece. Asia Minor. Egypt. Literary and historical testimony. Erotic manifestations in various ethnic areas. Search for amatory stimulants. Condemnation of pagan mores. Biblical instances. Sacredness of genitalia. Herodotus on Egyptian cults. Bacchic cult in European countries. Pervasiveness of phallus. Phallic emblems. Biblical references. Incantations. Spells. Philtres. Egyptian love song. Near East. Hittite ritual. Babylon. Canaanites. Greece and Rome. Biblical ethics. Hellenistic Age. Baths. Phallic food. Drillipotae. Yellow. Figurae Veneris. Erotic poems. Phallic divinities. Philodemus of Gadara. Dress. Athens. Panders. Biblical—phallic. Power of woman. Woman as an evil. Aphrodite. Love as an end. Initiation. Rites of Venus. Essence of love. Mysticism. Priapic. Asia Minor. Variant names. Generation. Talisman. Floral. II GREEK 67 Plato. Dioscorides. Nonnus. Theodora. Antonina. Belisarius. Demosthenes. Concept of love. III ROMANS 82 Testimony of the poets. Obscene deities. Amatory philtres. Amatory foods. Bacchic worship. Ovid on erotic practices. Ovid on philtres. Roman generative deities. Rites of Bona Dea. Generative tutelary deities. Phallic breads. Magic love spells. Assignations. Fescennini versus. Lamps. Larentalia. Heliogabalus. Nonaria. Nose and lips. Ovid. Imperial Rome. IV ORIENT 119 Hindu and Arab treatments and practices. Philtres. Other provocative preparations. Islam. Sterility. Potions. Perfume. Arab erotologist. Amatory principles. V INDIA 135