When large-scale excavations of Pompeii were undertaken in the 1860s, much of the erotic art of the Romans came to light, shocking the Victorians who saw themselves as the intellectual heirs of the Roman Empire. They did not know what to do with the frank depictions of sexuality, and endeavoured to hide them away from everyone but upper class scholars. The movable objects were locked away in the Secret Museum in Naples, and what could not be removed was covered and cordoned off so as to not corrupt the sensibilities of women, children and the working class. England's (and the world's) first laws criminalising pornography were enacted with the passage of the Obscene Publications Act of 1857. Despite their occasional repression, depictions of erotic themes have been common for millennia.' :Wikipedia.
'The history of erotic depictions includes paintings, sculpture, photographs,
dramatic arts, music and writings that show scenes of a sexual nature throughout
time. They have been created by nearly every civilisation, ancient and modern.
Early cultures often associated the sexual act with supernatural forces and thus
their religion is intertwined with such depictions. In Asian countries such as
India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Japan and China, representations of sex and erotic art
have specific spiritual meanings within native religions. The Greeks and Romans
produced much art and decoration of an erotic nature, much of it integrated with
their religious beliefs and cultural practices.
In early times, erotic depictions were often a subset of the indigenous or
religious art of cultures and as such were not set aside or treated differently
than any other type. The modern concept of pornography did not exist until the
Victorian era. Its current definition was added in the 1860s, replacing the
older one meaning writings about prostitutes. It first appeared in an English
medical dictionary in 1857 defined as 'a description of prostitutes or of
prostitution, as a matter of public hygiene.' By 1864, the first version of the
modern definition had appeared in Webster's Dictionary: 'licentious painting
employed to decorate the walls of rooms sacred to bacchanalian orgies, examples
of which exist in Pompeii.' This was the beginning of what today refers to
explicit pictures in general. Though some specific sex acts were regulated or
prohibited by earlier laws, merely looking at objects or images depicting them
was not outlawed in any country until 1857. In some cases, the possession of
certain books, engravings or image collections was outlawed, but the trend to
compose laws that actually restricted viewing sexually explicit things in
general was a Victorian construct.
When large-scale excavations of Pompeii were undertaken in the 1860s, much of the erotic art of the Romans came to light, shocking the Victorians who saw themselves as the intellectual heirs of the Roman Empire. They did not know what to do with the frank depictions of sexuality, and endeavoured to hide them away from everyone but upper class scholars. The movable objects were locked away in the Secret Museum in Naples, and what could not be removed was covered and cordoned off so as to not corrupt the sensibilities of women, children and the working class. England's (and the world's) first laws criminalising pornography were enacted with the passage of the Obscene Publications Act of 1857. Despite their occasional repression, depictions of erotic themes have been common for millennia.' :Wikipedia.
When large-scale excavations of Pompeii were undertaken in the 1860s, much of the erotic art of the Romans came to light, shocking the Victorians who saw themselves as the intellectual heirs of the Roman Empire. They did not know what to do with the frank depictions of sexuality, and endeavoured to hide them away from everyone but upper class scholars. The movable objects were locked away in the Secret Museum in Naples, and what could not be removed was covered and cordoned off so as to not corrupt the sensibilities of women, children and the working class. England's (and the world's) first laws criminalising pornography were enacted with the passage of the Obscene Publications Act of 1857. Despite their occasional repression, depictions of erotic themes have been common for millennia.' :Wikipedia.