Love Potions Through the Ages: A Study of Amatory Devices and Mores

Before the first box of Viagra hit the counter, it was preceded by a three millennia-long search, by both men and women, for stimulants to achieve the ultimate erotic experience. Love Potions Through the Ages - A Study of Amatory Devices and Mores by the classic scholar Harry E. Wedeck is a context-rich study of all kinds of philtres, used in history to boost the sexual stamina and erotic joy or to overcome sterility. The scope of the love potion is broad and covers everything from the chemical to the magical and from the medical to the recreational and also includes the mystical experience. This book takes you on a journey through our sensual and erotic past, beginning in the ancient Middle East and Greece and ending in the Renaissance period and beyond. The erotic sciences of India and the Arabs pass in review, as do all kinds of recipes and local mores, the worship of obscene gods, Venus and the phallus, forgotten practices, love spells, demonic unity, and much more. Warning: All potions in this book are considered from an exclusive historical, and academic viewpoint. They are not recommended in any instance for personal use, as they may involve unpredictable or even catastrophic effects: in no sense, therefore, should such prescriptions be utilized for empirical experimentation.