Erotic Stories in the Ancient World

There have always been lusts that transcend limits. The rush of fire in the blood, the hunger for touch, the compulsion to bury oneself in the flesh of another. Ancient storytellers enraptured audiences with tales of love and lust, of the dangerous passions of gods and heroes and monstrous creatures, pursued sometimes to destruction.

These modern interpretations of those ancient themes span histories and cultures from Greece and Rome to Egypt and the Holy Lands, stories of love and betrayal, of vengeful gods and goddesses, and pleasurable peace. There is much more to a palace eunuch than meets the eye. One man must face his greatest sins, while another battles to save his lover’s life. A woman must balance appeasing her ethereal deity and her earthly desires, and another is imprisoned behind the bars of a gilded cage.

Eleven tales of intense lust in the ancient world crafted by ForbiddenFiction’s best authors, ready for you to peel back the cover and indulge your carnal appetites.

Stories Included

Andromache’s Prize
by Annabeth Leong

When Briseis had belonged to noble Achilles, she had been better able to bear slavery. Now, though, the heroes had all sailed away home, leaving baser men to strip the carcass of Troy. Briseis had been given into the hands of cruel Calygdus, and nightly she suffered for his every shame and weakness. Until the night that Andromache and the women of Troy fell upon the Greek camp, slaying the men and releasing the women slaves, promising them freedom in the City of Women. Freedom, and love… (M/F, F/F)

Arena Breed
by Konrad Hartmann

In the year 300, Avitus, a convict gladiator, ekes out a brutal but satisfying existence in the arena of provincial Carnuntum. A champion in the secutor style, he fights using sword and shield. His life changes when a Persian retiarius, fighting with net and trident,enters his gladiator school. Evenly matched against each other, the two gladiators receive an unwelcome invitation to stay at the villa of Gratianus and Paula, Carnuntum’s most depraved aristocrats. (F/M), (F/F/M)

Hera’s Punishment
by Natasha Neil

The marriage of Zeus, king of the gods, and Hera, his queen, has always been stormy. Eventually something had to give, for not even divine will could be tested so long and so cruelly without a reckoning. When Hera came to Zeus’ chambers, he suspected her passion was too good to be true. It was. Soon, Zeus was bound and helpless before his angry wife. When the king of Olympus got free, Hera’s Punishment would be legendary. (M/F)

 

Hunting Artemis
by Annabeth Leong

Dedicated to remain virginal for Artemis, it is not until Nikia meets the hunter Theron that she realizes what she has given up with her vows to the goddess. In the heat of her newly-discovered passion, no touch but Theron’s can remove Nikia’s lust. Nikia and Theron form an uneasy kinship, united by the cruelty of unrequited desire. Together, they will make unlikely sacrifices for Artemis, and together, they will receive an impossible reward. (M/F, F/F, M/F/F)

Keeper of the Bed Chamber
by Jess Lea

Ariston is a palace eunuch in the court of Cleopatra VII. Handsome, successful and vain, he is used to the advances of the women and men of the Alexandrian court, none of whom suspect his secret: that Ariston was born a girl. But what happens when the queen herself takes an interest? (F/F)

Lot’s Sin
by Konrad Hartmann

After losing his wife, living in a cave after the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot finds himself struggling to maintain his sanity. Shattered by his experience, he must find a way to carry on with his life. He understands too well the debt incurred by sin, and now struggles to stop the moral degradation of his fellow survivors. (F/F, F/M)

 

Never Before Touched by Cupid
by Mina Kelly

Horace doesn’t like Propertius; not his poetry, his accent, or his clothes… And he really, really doesn’t like the way he keeps flirting with Virgil. But maybe Propertius is just the nudge Horace and Virgil need to take their relationship in a new direction. (M/M/M)

 

Scylla’s Pool
by E.E. Grey

A love triangle on the shores of the Mediterranean. Glaucus, the newest god of the sea, finds himself back with the sorceress Circe, his saving grace. Her powerful magics saved his life and sanity—but now he wants another favor from her. (M/F)

The Nemesis Bird
by Slave Nano

One day the cruel, vain Caliph of Ishfahan spies a magical bird in a courtyard garden. He summons Sofia, one of his servant girls, to go there with a gilded cage and capture the bird for him. But when she sees the wondrous bird she tells her to fly away to safety. The Caliph is enraged and orders Sofia to be put into an iron cage, and for his imperial guard to abuse her for forty days and forty nights. But what will befall when her forty day ordeal is complete and she is summoned to the Caliph to be executed? (M/F)

The Snake and the Lyre
by Annabeth Leong

Eurydice longs to marry Orpheus, but his self-centered love for his music blinds him to her sensuality. A cruel Naiad seduces and kills Eurydice, unleashing the full hunger of her desire. When Orpheus braves the Underworld to save his lost Eurydice, can he pull his bride away from its depraved pleasures? (F/F)

 

Touched by Fire
by Murín Piper

Rome sleeps, and the temple of Vesta tends to its fires in the night. It is time sweet Marcia was introduced to what truly kept the flames alive within the Vestal Virgins. Under the cover of darkness and in the glow of the fires, Aemilia and Licinia teach her what it really means to submit wholly to the goddess Vesta—and to them. (F/F)