“A powerful king sees a beautiful woman bathing. Even after he learns that she is married, he has her brought to him and has sex with her. When she becomes pregnant, the king tries to cover it up by bringing her soldier-husband back from the front so that he’ll sleep with her and think the child is his. When this fails, the king has him killed! No sooner has the woman finished her period of official mourning than the king has her brought to the palace and marries her.”
High crimes and misdemeanors indeed!
In currently reading a book entitled “The Ultimate Aphrodisiac: Power,” I’ve sympathized with the author who argues that if our only sources of information are tabloid newspapers or chat radio programs, we may be apt to think that sex scandals (and even sex itself) were invented in the 20th century America. We, modern observers, appear fascinated by the private lives of the powerful as this story of David and Bathsheba illustrates, and that there has always been an intimate link between power and sex since time immemorial.
Speaking of sex, history and books, has anybody read the book called "Sex and the Empire"? It's about how the British men, married and/or had numerous sexual relations with Indian women during their conquest and goes on to describe how they had to be forced away from the women. Apparently, the book boasts that close to 100,000 interracial kids were born! I have been searching far and wide for this book but can't find it anywhere. I think the title may be wrong. It was published in the UK, by a British author. I saw it in England a while ago but for the life of me cannot remember the author's name.
Mods, you may want to split this into a new thread.
Well the modern time example of tht would be Uday and Qussay,the sons of Saddam hussein.But then again,they raped women.The dirt bags got what they deserved.
Sweetpie,
i agree. like everything else, there are limits for relationships defined by all codes of ethics, philosophies and religions alike and man has transgressed them since forever. when man has power, he respects no limits, no boundaries and does what he wills as he wills. And perhaps that's why the pvt intimate lives of powerful people are interesting as they do whatever they want, which the not so powerful want to, but cannot do.
MehnazQ,
the book sounds interesting. do update us if you get some more info on the tilte etc.
the other day i was reading something like american literature history and i found out that most of the culture and politics infact all the things in daily life are said to be associated with the modern so-called american 20th century ettiquettes ,
but
i say american ettiqutte is expression that everything was or is actually american
so-was- called the** fascination or power of sex**
Man has been fascinated by the power of sex since forever. We tend to view all things sex-related as being "American" due to modern influences such as MTV, fashion, advertising, etc. but it is actually an ancient concept pre-dating America by centuries and centuries. The contemporary ideals relevant to sex are nothing too dissimilar to those applied in various socieites throughout time. My perspective also includes the view that although lives of the rich, famous and/or otherwise noteworthy figures in history may have been highlighted, illicit sexual activities persisted even among the common classes of society, sometimes even prompting severe punishments for committing these sexual transgressions.
Look at the statues and the literature of the ancient Greeks, for example. I cannot imagine a culture or time period more enamoured by power and sex.
On the History Channel the other night (yes, I am a dork;) ) the researcher pointed out that ancient Greeks believed that the size of a man's private parts determined if he would be protected in times of war!?! Can you believe that?hehehe Here in America, flat feet may keep you out of the military - can you imagine the guidelines for the ancient Grecian military???
and such a dirty lowly act attributed to one of the great Prophets of Allah (one who was titled as the Khalifah of Allah) is a shameless act....
Prophet Dawood (as), although somewhat wronged by sending the woman's husband to a war where he was sure to die, but believing that he had illegitimate sexual relations with her, is an outright blasphemy....
let us muslims not believe, nor be fascinated, by such false biblical stories....
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by anahndi: *
Look at the statues and the literature of the ancient Greeks, for example. I cannot imagine a culture or time period more enamoured by power and sex.
On the History Channel the other night (yes, I am a dork;) ) the researcher pointed out that ancient Greeks believed that the size of a man's private parts determined if he would be protected in times of war!?! Can you believe that?hehehe Here in America, flat feet may keep you out of the military - can you imagine the guidelines for the ancient Grecian military???
[/QUOTE]
protected? as in by some super natural power or has it been seen that men with larger organs tend to survive longer than those with shorter ones...?
and yeah, the guidelines for selection as a Greek soldier were far greater than they are today for most good armies; the greek soldier was a natural fighting machine, built to survive the tooth and nail battle.
if you think about it...it may sound absurd, but ive been thinking, it's sex that makes the world go round. not love, not money, not power, not religion. everything else comes in later; the first thing is sex; maybe man is built that way cause if man wasnt fascinated with the process of mating for pleasure, how would have the world survived...? had there been no pleasure it would have been paid no attention.
HZ, the researcher on the program about the ancient Greeks stated that the men believed they were protected by the gods based on their size. Though I do not remember the name of their belief system, obviously this must have been during very pagan times.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by sweetpie: *
Man has been fascinated by the power of sex since forever. We tend to view all things sex-related as being "American" due to modern influences such as MTV, fashion, advertising, etc. but it is actually an ancient concept pre-dating America by centuries and centuries. The contemporary ideals relevant to sex are nothing too dissimilar to those applied in various socieites throughout time. My perspective also includes the view that although lives of the rich, famous and/or otherwise noteworthy figures in history may have been highlighted, illicit sexual activities persisted even among the common classes of society, sometimes even prompting severe punishments for committing these sexual transgressions.
[/QUOTE]
^ exactly sweetpie...
very true..
but everything is referred to as 20th century american culture
anahndi and HZ, sex in the Greek world was a matter of power, determining who was powerful (based on the size of a man's sexual organ) and whether he was able to procreate and have multiple sexual partners (including homosexual partners, as is evident in the case of our very own Alexander the Great). Sex was not a matter of taboo but as I indicated, a determining factor in the power scheme in the political and societal realms of the Greek empire.
:nono3: