The first kiss in recorded history dates back nearly 5,000 years.

India may have given the world the Kama Sutra , an ancient Sanskrit text on sex, eroticism, and emotional fulfillment in life, but the country is no longer considered the birthplace of humanity's earliest recorded kiss.

A new study suggests that the first human kiss took place in ancient Mesopotamia, the area that includes modern-day Iraq and Syria.

According to a scientific paper published in the journal Science on May 18, there is evidence of kissing in ancient Mesopotamia, at least 2500 BC. In addition, there is also evidence that kissing can spread oral diseases.

The first kiss in recorded history dates back nearly 5,000 years - 1 — Evidence of romantic kissing dates back to ancient times in the Middle East. (Illustration: British Museum.)

The study overturns previous analyses, which suggested the earliest evidence of kissing came from present-day India, around 1500 BC.

While intimate kissing within the family seems to be a common occurrence among humans across time and space, romantic kissing that evokes sexual arousal is not considered a common act in society. Therefore, this kissing is often a topic of interest in most ancient cultures.

Even in early texts from the Mesopotamian period, kissing is described in connection with erotic acts.

“Two texts from (around) 1800 BC mention kissing in detail. One describes how a married woman was almost led astray by a kiss from a man who was not her husband. Another says that an unmarried woman vowed to avoid kissing and having sex with a man,” write Dr Troels Pank Arboll of the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen of the University of Oxford, in a paper published in the journal Science .

The study also found that romantic kissing with sexual overtones has become a way to assess compatibility between two potential mates and to demonstrate bonding between a couple and sexual arousal.

Kissing also occurs in other animals. For example, chimpanzees give each other mouth kisses to arouse romantic sexual feelings, and they also give social kisses to manage social relationships.

And because they are our closest living relatives, scientists say chimpanzee behavior may be evidence of the emergence and evolution of kissing in our human ancestors.

However, in addition to its romantic social and sexual roles, kissing unfortunately also spreads certain pathogens such as Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) - a highly contagious infection.

Ancient texts record a disease called bu'shanu. Researchers say this name may refer to HSV-1.

However, in reality, the ancient Mesopotamians had a different view of disease and did not blame kissing for spreading disease. However, some cultural and religious factors that discouraged frequent kissing inadvertently reduced the spread of germs.

(Source: Zing News)

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