The 9 Facts About the Mischievous Sex Lives of Ancient Incas
One thing is clear — the sex lives of the ancient Incas were not boring!
Incas used aphrodisiacs to spice their sex lives, hated virginity, encouraged teenage sex, practiced trial marriage, and had a love for prostitutes!
Not only the Spanish brought slavery and diseases to the Incas, but they also ended their sexual freedom.
Let’s have a closer look at the sex lives of the ancient Incas!
1. The Incas peppered their sex lives with aphrodisiacs
The Incas had a long list of plants, insects, and worms they used as aphrodisiacs. They even used anaphrodisiacs, which suppressed libido. Anaphodisiacs, such as mashua tuber, were used during military campaigns by soldiers to help them forget about their wives.
The Incas believed that chili had aphrodisiac properties, which is why it was used in all of their foods. They used powdered porcupine as a powerful sex stimulant.
They knew also about the plants that increased the amount of sperm.
Since many Incan aphrodisiacs were also poisonous, they were sometimes used to discreetly get rid of unwanted persons. For example, the meat of the bird they called yanta-yanta was a very potent sexual stimulant, but it was also poisonous. They would mix the bird’s meat into the food of the victim to get rid of him/her.
2. Girls were expected to lose their virginity as soon as possible
Women who were virgins were considered worthless, except for the acllas, the Incan version of nuns.
The Spanish monks recorded a case of an Incan man who taunted his wife because she married him without having other lovers before.
No wonder, Incan boys and girls tried hard to have sex as soon as possible.
3. Trial marriage before the official marriage
Today, we would call it serious dating, but the Incas used the term trial marriage. The couple lived together for a few years to discover how much they were compatible with sex and living together.
In case the trial didn’t work out, they split. In case, both parties were satisfied, the official marriage followed.
4. The rich men had multiple wives
While most men only married one wife, the wealthy Incas from the upper classes could marry more than one woman, under one condition: men must have been rich enough to support additional women and children.
There was always a principal wife, whose children would inherit the family wealth.
5. Incas practiced mass weddings
Mass weddings were held once a year in every plaza of every village in the empire. The couples stood in two rows in front of the visiting government officials. Each man selected his woman and placed her behind him with her hands on his shoulders. After the official blessing from the government, the couples were married.
After the official marriage, there was a party, first at the bride’s parent’s home, then at the groom’s parents’ home. Coca, alcohol, and food were flowing, and people danced and gave speeches.
Inca girls married around the age of 16, and boys at the age of 20. Sometimes, the marriages were prearranged between the parents of the newlyweds, while at other times, the couples chose for themselves.
6. The Incan rulers married their sisters
The Inca emperors married their own sisters to preserve the divine blood of the Sun.
The right to be a queen was given only to women who inherited the right through birth, and not merely for being the king’s consort. Incestuous relationships were prohibited to the rest of the population. Consequently, the incest practiced by Incan emperors symbolized divinity and exceptionality.
In this regard, the Incan rulers didn’t differ much from the European kings (or Egyptian pharaohs), who intermarried to preserve their “blue blood.” As it turned out, intermarrying had dire consequences on the genetics of their children.
7. The acllas — the (only) Inca virgins
All girls in the Incan Empire were required to have sex and marry, except for acllas. The acllas, meaning “the chosen women” in the Quechua language, were the nuns of the Incan Empire.
Each year, the Incans searched their empire for young girls to serve as acllas. They were selected between the ages of 8 and 10 from among the elite Incan families based on their beauty, intelligence, and skills.
The girls were sent to a state center called acllawasi, or the “house of the chosen women”. The girls were taught how to spin and weave, prepare chica (a traditional alcoholic beverage), cook, and everything about the Incan religion.
Some of the acllas were ritually sacrificed, some were given as concubines to high-ranking Incas, and some remained in the temples.
The acllas who remained in the temples were prohibited from having sex. In case they broke the rule of chastity, they were severely punished.
8. LGBT and Incas
The Incas were LGBT supportive society.
For the Incas, the transvestites were considered holy men. They represented a link between past and present, divine and mundane.
Lesbians were highly regarded and were given many privileges. They could participate in combat as warriors.
Also, homosexuality was practiced by the Incan nobility. It was only the arrival of the Spanish who introduced penalties for same-sex relationships.
9. The Incas had female and male prostitutes
The Incas had both female and male prostitutes.
The female prostitutes were excommunicated from Incan society and lived in small huts on the outskirts of towns. Some of these women were prisoners of war or were kidnapped and were kind of sex slaves.
Eventually, the Incan government decided that every visiting man had to pay for their services in the form of food, since the Incas didn’t use money. However, the price was offered by the man, not by the prostitute. She just had to accept whatever the price for sexual services was. Because of that, they received another nickname “women on duty”.
The prostitutes had to accompany Incan warriors on campaigns, just in case the anaphrodisiacs didn’t work!
The role of prostitutes in Incan society was to prevent male transgressions such as adultery or rape.
If a married man was caught having sex with a prostitute, his hands and feet were tied and he had to ask his wife’s family for forgiveness. However, all unmarried men were allowed to visit prostitutes to practice sex, of course.
The male prostitutes dressed in beautiful female garments and lived in temples. Especially Incan nobles loved to have sex with male prostitutes. Sometimes, the Incan nobles purchased male prostitutes to enjoy them exclusively.
Conclusion
Incan sexuality was very liberal and open; we could say it was natural. Just imagine how jealous the religiously fervent and sex-starved Spanish must have felt when they saw the Incas enjoying such liberal sex lives!
However, the arrival of the Spanish and Catholic Church stripped the Incas of their sexual liberties and forced them into “civilized behavior”.
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