{"id":54624,"date":"2019-09-20T08:22:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T06:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/ciekawostka\/kiss-in-antiquity\/"},"modified":"2022-10-19T12:52:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T10:52:59","slug":"kiss-in-antiquity","status":"publish","type":"ciekawostki","link":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/curiosities\/kiss-in-antiquity\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiss in antiquity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The kiss plays an important role in many cultures to this day. It was no different in ancient times. Ancient Romans used it as a sign of friendship, respect or even greetings (<em>salutatio<\/em>) of the client&#8217;s patron.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Different forms of kiss were distinguished i.e. so-called &#8220;pot&#8221; &#8211; kissing another person by the ears. On the other hand, the Romans distinguish, for example, &#8220;pigeon kiss&#8221;, modeled on the entwined beaks of pigeons, birds that were dedicated to the goddess <a href=\"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/roman-religion\/gods-of-ancient-rome\/list-of-roman-gods\/venus-roman-goddess\/\">Venus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The ancient Romans had different kiss names:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>osculum<\/em> &#8211; a kiss parents give to children; delicate e.g. in the hand or cheek<\/li>\n<li><em>basium<\/em> &#8211; a kiss a husband gives his wife; with mouth closed<\/li>\n<li><em>savium<\/em> &#8211; a kiss a client gives to a prostitute; passionate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Plutarch also mentions in his <em>Moralia<\/em>, that returning men kissed their wives on the lips to see if they were drinking wine &#8211; which was also banned. The kiss on the lips was largely in the family, between relatives or people closely related, and was not always sexual.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the Romans also practiced giving &#8220;kisses&#8221; in the neck or eyes. This type of affection was also more common in the family circle. Another form &#8211; kisses on the cheeks &#8211; used since the times of the ancient <a href=\"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/roman-geography\/neighboring-lands-around-ancient-rome\/parthia-persians\/\">Persians<\/a> was usually used in social life.<\/p>\n<p>There were also kisses in the hand, which were a sign of submission and submission. Kisses of this type could be given, for example, to sons, father, soldiers to the commander, officials to voters (in gratitude for votes). Another variation was to kiss on the foot, which was already <a href=\"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/roman-society\/begging-in-ancient-rome\/\">begging<\/a> for mercy or a successful decision (e.g. accused to the judges).<\/p>\n<p>The following account of <a href=\"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/biografie\/gajusz-waleriusz-katullus\/\">Catullus<\/a> illustrates the importance of kisses in the ancient world.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"center\">\n<p class=\"quote\">Let us live, my Lesbia, and love,<br \/>\nand the rumors of rather stern old men<br \/>\nlet us value all at just one penny!<br \/>\nSuns may set and rise again;<br \/>\nfor us, when once the brief light has set,<br \/>\nan eternal night must be slept.<br \/>\nGive me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,<br \/>\nthen another thousand, then a second hundred,<br \/>\nthen yet another thousand, then a hundred;<br \/>\nthen, when we have performed many thousands,<br \/>\nwe shall shake them into confusion, in order for us to lose the count,<br \/>\nand in order not to let any evil person envy us,<br \/>\nas no one will be aware of how many kisses have there been.<\/p>\n<p class=\"male3\">&#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/biographies\/gaius-valerius-catullus\/\">Catullus<\/a><\/strong>, V<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":53318,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"kategorie_ciekawostek":[77],"class_list":["post-54624","ciekawostki","type-ciekawostki","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","kategorie_ciekawostek-unknown-facts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ciekawostki\/54624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ciekawostki"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ciekawostki"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ciekawostki\/54624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kategorie_ciekawostek","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kategorie_ciekawostek?post=54624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}