Episode
The Old Man and the Sun: Sex, Death, and the Turin Erotic Papyrus
- Published
- Jan 30, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 5352
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Summary
** Content and trigger warning: This episode contains images of sex and discussion of sexual themes, sexual abuse and exploitation, incest, and other related topics that might be inappropriate or upsetting to some listeners. Kara and Amber discuss one of the most debated objects from ancient Egypt: the so-called Turin Erotic Papyrus ( Turin P. 55001 ). Often viewed as an example of ancient Egyptian pornography or crass entertainment, this papyrus reveals far more about elite anxiety, dynastic survival, and the ideological machinery of patriarchy. Through close visual analysis and discussion, they explore what is behind the exaggerated and sexualized depictions of bodies and scenes of sexual dominance and performance—not simply as humor, but as expressions of a system of power struggling to reproduce itself and maintain dominance. These images expose an obsession with regeneration, haunted by aging and mortality, and shaped by fear of failing masculinity, in which an aging sun god—and an aging king—must be sexually reborn to keep the cosmos intact. This episode connects sex, death, pornography, religion, ancient harems, and power structures both ancient and modern, asking why patriarchal societies so often turn to sexual control as ideology—and why these ancient images still feel disturbingly familiar today. Show notes More about the Turin Erotic Papyrus (Museo Egizio) Selected Bibliography Babcock, Jennifer Miyuki , Ancient Egyptian animal fables: tree climbing hippos and ennobled mice (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 128), Leiden; Boston 2022, p. 49–54, 107 e passim. Bresciani, Edda, Sulle rive del Nilo : l’Egitto al tempo dei faraoni (Grandi Opere), Roma 2000, pp. 122–127, 139–141, fig. 13 p. 124-5; fig. 5-6 p. 140. Flores Diane, “The topsy-turvy world”,…