Spilling the wine

Detail of a miniature from
a 19th century book known as
Sawaqub al-Manaquib,
copies of which can be found
in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul,
the Morgan Library, NYC,
and other locations.

The man and the wine boy are engaging in penetrative sex, a form of male eroticism condemned in Islam. Known as "liwat" (from "Luti" or Lot, the man of Sodom in the biblical tale), it was the target of barbaric punishments which continue to the present day in some of the more atavistic regions of the world.


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