Scientists from the University of Copenhagen have found the first evidence of romantic kisses between people. They are mentioned in an ancient text dating from around 2500 BC, writing Scientific magazine, citing the work of a group of researchers.
The first known mention of romantic kisses was previously believed to come from an Indian Bronze Age manuscript dated to around 1500 BC.
However, Danish scientists who studied the clay tablets of the peoples of Mesopotamia found references to kissing on the lips as part of a sexual game. Moreover, these tablets were created 4,500 years ago, i.e. they are older than the Indian evidence by about a millennium.
Scholars note that the description of kissing is found in one of the earliest surviving documents in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages spoken in Mesopotamia. The writing is believed to have originated in what is now Iraq around 3200 BC. In texts that can be attributed to 2500 BC. (that is to say about 700 years after the appearance of writing), kisses are already mentioned. Moreover, even then they were clearly divided into two groups: the former denoted friendly or familial affection, the latter were purely erotic action.
Sources reviewed by researchers show that kisses related to sex, family and friendship were part of everyday life in central parts of the ancient Near East since the end of the 3rd millennium BCE and, most likely, were characteristic not only this area. Moreover, even then people guessed that when kissing, people can “exchange” various infections and viruses. Ancient texts from the Near East mention diseases such as “bubutu” or “bushanu” which can be identified as modern herpes.
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