Epic Lap Dance

Pleasures of the flesh are eloquently depicted in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Mesopotamia's most famous literary work. One of the more outrageous passages has the goddess Sidari, a metaphorical "alewife" who is connected to the alcoholic fermentation of beer and wine. She instructs him to "let your belly be full... Have fun, dance, sing, and let your lady revel on your lap all day and all night.

The Akkadian-written poetry might have had both religious and pedagogical functions. Laura A. Peri, curator of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, discusses how "delight in your lap" was a common euphemism for sex at the time in an article from the Israel Times. This information was probably overlooked by history teachers who are unfamiliar with the ancient text.