Description

Erotica played an exceptionally important role in ancient Greek and Roman culture. A vast set of works in antique literature contain a significant number of naughty themes.
Take cheerful Aristophan’s comedies for instance, or full of high erotism poems by Ovidius, or revealing prose by Petrony and Lukian. An individual of that epoch could not imagine life without love amusements and an exquisite sensual pleasure. Ancient Hellene or Roman did not limit himself with prejudice, he had a free choice of how to please himself. Epicureanism resulted in the unlimited cult of hedonism, while gods are linient to the plays of the mere mortal. Often Olympus’ inhabitants leave their place to appear among the mankind and participate in its amusements. People are not ashamed of the demonstration of their sensuality, cheerfully capturing this in vase painting, fresco and sculpture. Contemporaries of Alexander the Great
and Cesar enjoyed potraying sexy moments of gods’ private life, and this is because sex life was a natural symbol of fertility, which gives birth and catharsis.
And this was a specific feature of the antique culture comparing to the following Christian era, which claimed asceticism and mortification of the flesh as necessary requirements for the soul salvation. Soon fanatic ascetics
of the Church outperformed the biblical preachers in destroying natural human sensuality and erotism. A long dark night of Middle Ages covered Europe, and only blood-red flashes of inquisition fires illuminated that night. In that
time torkvemadas and loyolas were burning down the erotic perception of the world laid during lofty antique period. It was the Renaissance when Europeans again  started to realize the beauty of human body and to demonstrate it naked at the greatest paitings and as impressive sculptures, but this is a subject of our next chess set.
More than 2000 years ago mankind created numerous erotic art works. Given what is left of the antique cultural heritage of ancient Greece and Rome, we produced this set, where each figure replicates an ancient piece of art.
The white are represented with Greek characters, the black are the Roman.
White pawns show single satyrs and hetaeras motivated by antique vase painting. They are playfully amusing themselves with everyday objects.
Two satyrs are entertaining with amphora and vessels in a provocative way. This characters are borrowed from wine cups of approximately 500 b.c.
Two naked bearded selens act as they are perform the beginning and the ending phases of passion’s paroxysm. They are taken from  a Greek amphora of 530 b.c.
Hetaeras are petting themselves with the vessels of various shapes or babuans, these are from wine cup paintings of 520-480 b.c.
The castles of the white are the characters from Ancient Greek wine cup paintings (480 b.c. and 470 b.c.)
Keeping in mind that gods had a pleasure together with the mortal too, we made one of the knights as a Roman copy of the Greek original sculpture of Leda and Zeus as a swan. The other knight, satyr with a doe, is taken from a cup made in 560 b.c.
The couples serving as bishops in our set are borrowed from the cup of 480 and 570 b.c.
It is well known that queen is the most active piece. It is represented by a rider on a winged phallus (from an ancient Greek amphora of 450 b.c.). It demonstrates the phallic cult prevailing in ancient Greece that time.
The king, powerful but awkward piece, is presented with a complex composition of orgy by a maenad and two satyrs. This episode relates to an amphora’s painting of 540 b.c.
The black reflect Romans’ ideas about sex. One can easily notice that Romans’ sexual views are lighter, more playful and full of fun.
Black pawns are made as hetaeras and other Roman mythological characters. One represents Pan’s herma, this image can be seen on the Roman sarcophagus (160-170 a.c.).
The images of two playing goat-legged satyresses are taken from the same source.
The pawn represents Priap, the god of fertility and masculine power, holding a dish with fruit on his penis. The prototype of this one is the statuette of II century.
Another pawn shows Mercury with a giant phallus. This piece is motivated by a fresco from the neapolitan museum.
A bronze statuette of a Roman with hypertrophied male dignity (I century) modeled one of the pawns as well.
The rest of two pieces are performed as famines (with fish and phallus), which are taken from a fresco of I century in thermae of (Pompeu?) and from terracotta lamps.
Black castles represent lovers. These images can be observed at frescos of the first century in Naples and (Pompeu?).
Knights are copulating goats and satyrs. The famous Roman marble sculpture and relief on sarcophagus of III century became the prototypes for them.
Black bishops are preformed as couples, who are making love upright. Images are taken from terracotta lamps.
Hermes with several phalluses is a black queen of this set, borrowed from a bronze pendant of III a.c.
The king, is presented with a complex composition of orgy of two man and women. This image we got from Roman terracotta lamp of I a.c.
Our chess set conjure up the ancient past when love in every respect wasn’t forbidden fruit. People of Antique Epoch were reliable in depicting of their day to day life (routine) and mythology scenes. They created masterpieces piercing with salubrious sensuality. Our chess set follows us to the old good days when mankind could live and enjoy with every kind of pleasures granted by natures.