Ancient erotica: art through the ages

A tiny sculpture of a woman with pronounced breasts and genitals is the latest archaeological find to come from the Hohle Fels caves in Germany. Take a look at this and other examples of erotic art from ancient times, from homoerotic drinking cups to the graphic frescoes that survived Pompeii

Thu 14 May 2009 13.50 BST First published on Thu 14 May 2009 13.50 BST

  • Side and front views of the Venus of Hohle Fels. At 35,000 years old, the tiny sculpture, carved in mammoth ivory, is believed to be the earliest example of figurative art yet found

  • The Venus of Willendorf, discovered in Austria, is believed to have been made between 22,000 and 25,000BC

  • Attic red figures depict an erotic scene on an ancient Greek drinking plate. The design is attributed to the Briseis painter, sometime between 480 and 460BC

  • An erotic fresco from the recently excavated suburban baths in Pompeii

  • Another erotic fresco that survived the ash and lava of Pompeii

  • Woman and a satyr, a Roman erotic fresco from Pompeii

  • A second-century Roman statue of Pan, the mythological figure, being intimate with a goat

  • This Roman silver cup, which depicts homoerotic scenes, is known as the Warren cup. It dates back to the first century AD

  • Sleeping Hermaphroditus, a Roman, second-century copy of the original Greek statue, cast in Greek marble

  • Australian Aboriginal rock painting of a man with a prominent phallus

  • This sixth-century Cham sculpture was excavated at the site of My Thuat in Vietnam

  • This piece of Mochica pottery from Peru was crafted between the first and sixth centuries AD

  • Hindu erotic carvings on the Kandariya Mahadeva temple, India, circa 1050BC
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