ABSTRACT
Between about 1000 bce and 500 ce, great classical civilizations arose in the Middle East, the Mediterranean, China, and India. Classical civilization first emerged in China, with the evolution of the Zhou dynasty from about 1050 bce onward. Many Greeks displayed an interest in birth control, complicated in some cases by ignorance about how, precisely, babies were conceived. Greek art and literature frequently invoked homosexual desires and relationships, sometimes citing them as important in the good breeding of male citizens. Persia seems to have absorbed influences from a number of other cultures, including Egyptian precedents concerning sexuality and also Indian ideas about the spirituality surrounding sex. The Indian approach to sexuality, firmly within the norms of agricultural civilizations, emphasized a vigorous embrace of sexual enjoyment, often regarded as the best of all earthly pleasures, with religion and eroticism often intertwined, along with strong emphasis on the importance of reproduction.
