Orgy
Encyclopedia
- For the religious rites of ancient Greece, see OrgiaOrgiaIn ancient Greek religion, an orgion was an ecstatic form of worship characteristic of some mystery cults...
. For the American synth rock band, see Orgy (band)Orgy (band)Orgy is an American synth rock band formed in 1996, from Los Angeles, California. Orgy described their music as "death pop".-History:Orgy was formed in 1996 by vocalist Jay Gordon and guitarist Ryan Shuck. Bassist Paige Haley, guitarist Amir Derakh, and drummer Bobby Hewitt soon completed the line-up...
In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party
Sex party
A sex party is a gathering at which sexual activity takes place. Sex parties may be organized to enable people to engage in casual sexual activity or for swinging couples or people interested in group sex to meet, but any gathering where sexual activity is anticipated can be called a sex party.Sex...
where guests engage in promiscuous
Promiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
or multifarious sexual activity or group sex
Group sex
Group sex is sexual behavior involving more than two participants. Group sex can occur amongst people of all sexual orientations and genders...
. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.
An orgy differs from some swinger
Swinging
Swinging or partner swapping is a non-monogamous behavior, in which both partners in a committed relationship agree, as a couple, for both partners to engage in sexual activities with other couples as a recreational or social activity...
's parties by the fact that couples at many swingers party engage in twosome and otherwise conventional sexual activities, though not with their permanent sexual partner
Sexual partner
Sexual partners are people who engage in sexual activity together. The sexual partners can be of any gender or sexual orientation. The sexual partners may be in a committed relationship, either on an exclusive basis or not, or engage in the sexual activity on a casual basis...
. An orgy is actually like other kinds of swingers parties in that couples at some swingers party engage in sex with various other partners as well as just swapping partners.
Participation in an orgy is a common sexual fantasy
Sexual fantasy
A sexual fantasy, also called an erotic fantasy, is a fantasy or pattern of thoughts with the effect of creating or enhancing sexual feelings; in short, it is "almost any mental imagery that is sexually arousing or erotic to [an] individual"...
and orgies are represented in popular literature and films, especially in pornographic films.
The term is also used in expressions to indicate excessive or indiscriminate, such as an "orgy of colour" or an "orgy of destruction".
Ancient Greek and Roman orgia
Ancient Greek religion
Greek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. These different groups varied enough for it to be possible to speak of Greek religions or "cults" in the plural, though most of them shared...
, orgia
Orgia
In ancient Greek religion, an orgion was an ecstatic form of worship characteristic of some mystery cults...
(ὄργια, sing. ὄργιον, orgion) were secret nighttime cultic
Cult (religious practice)
In traditional usage, the cult of a religion, quite apart from its sacred writings , its theology or myths, or the personal faith of its believers, is the totality of external religious practice and observance, the neglect of which is the definition of impiety. Cult in this primary sense is...
congregations of the Greek mystery religions
Greco-Roman mysteries
Mystery religions, sacred Mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world, participation in which was reserved to initiates....
, overseen by an orgiophant (a teacher or revealer of secret rites) popularly thought to involve sex, which were celebrated with dancing, drunkenness, singing, etc. They were practiced in the worship of Demeter
Demeter
In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society...
at Eleusis (mentioned in the Homeric Hymn) or in the worship of Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
(Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
2.81), the Cabeiri
Cabeiri
In Greek mythology, the Cabeiri, were a group of enigmatic chthonic deities. They were worshiped in a mystery cult closely associated with that of Hephaestus, centered in the north Aegean islands of Lemnos and possibly Samothrace —at the Samothrace temple complex— and at Thebes...
, Demeter Achaia (Herodotus 2.51, 5.61), Orpheus
Orpheus
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
, Eumolpus
Eumolpus
In Greek mythology, Eumolpus was the son of Poseidon and Chione. According to Apollodorus, Chione, daughter of Boreas and Oreithyia, pregnant with Eumolpus by Poseidon, was frightened of her father's reaction so she threw the baby into the ocean...
, or Cybele
Cybele
Cybele , was a Phrygian form of the Earth Mother or Great Mother. As with Greek Gaia , her Minoan equivalent Rhea and some aspects of Demeter, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth...
.
The ancient Romans adopted the Greek orgia practices for the Bacchanalia
Bacchanalia
The bacchanalia were wild and mystic festivals of the Greco-Roman god Bacchus , the wine god. The term has since come to describe any form of drunken revelry.-History:...
festivals, which were wild and mystic festivals of the Greco-Roman god Bacchus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
(or Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
), the wine god. At first the secret rites were restricted to women, but eventually men were also permitted.
In popular culture
The 1956 movie The Ten CommandmentsThe Ten Commandments (1956 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
has the golden calf scene in which the Israelites are shown having an orgy, but not an explicit one, showing drinking, music and adult acts. This is based on the reference to the golden calf
Golden calf
According to the Hebrew Bible, the golden calf was an idol made by Aaron to satisfy the Israelites during Moses' absence, when he went up to Mount Sinai...
in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
in .
The films Caligula
Caligula (film)
Caligula is a 1979 American-produced Italian biographical film directed by Tinto Brass, with additional scenes filmed by Giancarlo Lui and Penthouse founder Bob Guccione. The film concerns the rise and fall of Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar Germanicus, better known as Caligula...
(1979) and Perfume
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (film)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a 2006 German thriller film directed by Tom Tykwer and written by Andrew Birkin, Bernd Eichinger and Tykwer. It is based on the 1985 novel Perfume by Patrick Süskind. Set in 18th century France, the film tells the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille , an olfactory...
(2006) have a number of orgy scenes, and orgies have been depicted in numerous works of art.
In the 1966 musical-comedy film A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (film)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a 1966 farce musical comedy film, based on the stage musical.Inspired by the farces of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus – specifically Pseudolus, Miles Gloriosus and Mostellaria – it tells the bawdy story of a slave named Pseudolus...
, a Roman general calls for a "sit-down orgy" for his troops while he waits for his virgin bride to be delivered.
External links
- World Record: Largest Orgy