If you enjoyed this article, please share it with a friend or consider becoming a paid subscriber. Wednesday’s article is always free. Sunday’s article is for paid subscribers only.
When Mogul emperor Shah Jahan erected the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum to honor his deceased wife, he clearly wanted to go big or go home.
Unfortunately, his grandiose gestures didn’t play out well with his next lover. In his sixties, he became enamored with a young Moorish woman and was determined to satisfy her in the bedroom.
So, one night, he took an astringent aphrodisiac (most likely cassia auriculata flower). Unfortunately, instead of making him lusty, his love potion caused “strangury” — painful urinary retention. The emperor was sick for days.
During his absence, a Shakespearean dramaturgy unfolded with his four sons jockeying for power.
This tale doesn’t end with sexy time.
Shah Jahan was imprisoned. One son fled. Two sons were murdered. And the son left standing seized power. (But not before he sent his dad his brother’s head on a platter.) Dad got the message — don’t get horny again, or heads will roll.
However, Shah Jahan is not the only one who has experimented with aphrodisiacs. Montezuma reportedly drank fifty cups of xocoatyl (chocolate) before getting naked with his harem girls. Casanova seduced young virgins by placing oysters between their breasts before eating them. And father of Chinese medicine, Emperor Shen-Nung, chewed on Ginseng root to treat erectile dysfunction.
Unfortunately, natural aphrodisiacs were often dangerous because they could cause heart problems, urinary retention, and priapism — a painful, persistent erection.
The most scandalous pre-viagra romp involved the Marquis de Sade, whose diabolical kinks were so notorious that he gave us the word “sadist.”
One day, the Marquis de Sade fed some of his prostitute pals sweet aniseed balls laced with Spanish Fly to get them in the mood. The women vomited for days and nearly died.
Spanish Fly or cantharides is neither Spanish nor a fly nor an aphrodisiac. It is extracted from dried beetle dung. It works by irritating the urogenital tract, which causes blood to rush to the nether regions.
Of course, eating beetle dung should deter the most libidinous lovers, but in case it does not…Cantharides are extremely poisonous and can cause death in even small dosages.
Yet despite these love potion debacles, it has not stopped holistic medical practitioners from claiming herbs and food can make you all lusty pants.
Here are a few aphrodisiacs that may warrant more research and a few that fail to increase sexual arousal in scientific studies.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Conversations with Carlyn to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.