Disgusting you say? The ancient peoples depicted in AOM weren't bound by Christian values and regarded sex, including the varieties (formerly) regarded as abnormal by western society, as a natural part of life. Some examples (I hope you guys are mature enough for this. I don't really care about any flaming):
- Whereas Christian values condemn adultery, Odin actually says: adultery is okay, as long as your sexual partner's wife/husband doesn't find out about it
- Valkyries weren't just fierce battle maidens, they also revelled in cruelty, eg killing warriors that were destined to become Einherjar themselves; they are sometimes depicted torturing enemy warriors; eg weaving tapestries out of their entrails etc. In the sex department, not only did they provide the Einherjar with boar meat and mead, but also looked after their sexual needs, while remaining virgins eternally. Sheds a new light on every Norseman's desire to fall in battle, doesn't it?
- Freyja was much less the goddess of love than she was the goddess of lust and free sex. She had relations with almost all male gods of Asgard, many mortals, and she even slept with three dwarves to obtain some magical piece of jewellery.
- When Skadi, infuriated over her father's death, went to Asgard, Loki attempted to placate her fury and succeeded in making her laugh by nailing his testicles to a goat. LOL!- Homosexuality was regarded as normal in Greek (and later Roman) society. For instance, at the age of 13 an Greek boy would be taken into the mountains by an older man, learning how to hunt, study philosophy - and learning how to pleasure a man sexually :S. At a later age, men retained a male partner for social purposes. Also, men wanted their sons to be sexually attractive to their friends.
- Aphrodite means "foam-born"; she was actually born out of the semen resulting from Zeus castrating his father Ouranos (while he was having sex with his wife for god's sake!). Hence Aphrodite is the goddess of love and sex.
- Of course, Zeus' promiscuity was legendary. In order to sleep with mortal maidens he went to extreme lengths, eg turning himself into a swan, a bull, a golden cloud etc.
- Set and Horus slept together at one fateful night. Because only "passive" homosexuality was regarded as a sin at the time, the gods attempted to find out who had been "sinful" and called to both the gods' semen. Set's semen answered from the soil, while Horus' semen answered from Set. Hence Set had been sinful, and that's when all the troubles between Set and the other gods started. Don't ask me about the calling thingy though
- A common way for the Egyptians and other Mideastern peoples to celebrate a victory on the battlefield was to cut off the dead opponents' penises and take them home as trophies of war one pharaoh was reported to have collected 1300 "enemy" penises after a major battle. The reason I'm writing this down, is because I think it's a shame that ancient legends and customs have often been adapted to conform to Victorian moral standards. It certainly doesn't do justice to the ancients' view of life and definately makes their myths a lot less interesting.
[This message has been edited by SilentScreams (edited 03-26-2003 @ 09:40 AM).]