ancient history: birth control
pre-1900s consequence-free sex was attempted with flowers, elephant poo and the pull-out method.
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the condom wasn’t widely used until the 1900s, so how did the distinguished citizens of the world manage consequence-free sex before then? you’re probably better off not knowing, since most of the answers are a combination of gross, uncomfortable or even painful, but here we are.
in ancient egypt, the ebers and kahun papyruses, dating back to 1850 bc, describe the use of honey, acacia leaves and lint placed in the vagina in order to block sperm. acacia gum was also used, and was found in the modern day to have spermicidal qualities. from the 2005 book, ‘historical record on the control of family size,’ we can also learn of “a substance of honey and sodium carbonate that was applied to the vagina,” as well as a “pessary made of crocodile dung.”
a pessary is a soluble block inserted into the vagina.
the book of genesis describes pulling out when onan does so in an attempt to not father a child with his dead brother’s wife tamar.
in ancient greece, the flower silphium was the contraceptive du jour, so much so that it was driven to extinction. although, to be fair, it had many uses outside the bedroom. the plant was grown exclusively in the north african city of cyrene, what is now libya. the greek physician hippocrates approved both of oral ingestion as a juice or rubbed on a tuft of wool and inserted as a pessary.
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the silphium’s heart-shaped petals are said to be the reason we associate the heart with romance today. after its extinction, its close relative asafoetida was used, although it was said to have a noxious smell. other flowers used by the greeks and other civilizations included queen anne’s lace, myrrh, rue, willow, date palm, artemisia, and pennyroyal.
while the flowers varied in effectiveness, aristotle’s suggestion was downright dangerous: “anoint that part of the womb on which the seed falls with oil of cedar, or with ointment of lead or with frankincense, commingled with olive oil.†lead poisoning causes infertility, among a host of other issues.
the 7th century islamic physician muhammad ibn zakariya al-razi recommended the use of elephant dung, cabbage and pitch, colocynth pulp and ox bile as pessaries or as fumigants, in the case of the dung.
the catholic church, of course ,preached abstinence as the only solution. the ironically named pope innocent viii issued the papal bull summis desiderantes affectibus in 1484. essentially, he blamed witches for having “slain infants yet in the mother’s womb” and of “hindering men from performing the sexual act and women from conceiving.” he also accused them of stealing men’s penises.
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giacomo casanova was the first reported to use a condom as a means of preventing pregnancy, which he called an “assurance cap.” previously, condoms were generally used with disease prevention in mind.
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