Editing Kiss (section)

==History==
[[File:Romantic kiss map.png|thumb|300px|Prevalence of romantic-sexual kiss among indigenous cultures worldwide]]
[[Anthropologist]]s disagree on whether kissing is an [[instinct]]ual or [[Social learning theory|learned]] behaviour. Those who believe kissing to be an instinctual behaviour cite similar behaviours in other animals such as [[bonobo]]s, which are known to kiss after fighting - possibly to restore peace.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Waal |first=Frans B. M. De |title=Bonobo Sex and Society |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bonobo-sex-and-society-2006-06/ |access-date=2022-05-02 |journal=Scientific American |year=1995 |volume=272 |issue=3 |pages=82–88 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0395-82 |pmid=7871411 |bibcode=1995SciAm.272c..82W |language=en}}</ref> Others believe that it is a learned behaviour, having evolved from activities such as [[Breastfeeding|suckling]] or [[premastication]] in early human cultures passed on to modern humans. Another theory posits that the practice originated in males during the [[Paleolithic]] era tasting the saliva of females to test their health in order to determine whether they would make a good partner for procreation. The fact that not all human cultures kiss is used as an argument against kissing being an instinctual behaviour in humans; only around 90% of the human population is believed to practice kissing.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The (Mostly) Blissful History of 'Kissing' |language=en |work=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2007/02/11/7348582/the-mostly-blissful-history-of-kissing?t=1651502324027 |access-date=2022-05-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author1=Kristina Fiore |date=2013-02-02 |title=Why Do People Kiss? |url=https://www.livescience.com/32464-why-do-people-kiss.html |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=livescience.com |language=en}}</ref>

The earliest reference to kissing-like behavior<ref name="NYT-20240213">{{cite news |last=Lidz |first=Franz |title=Who Kissed First? Archaeology Has an Answer. - A married pair of researchers have "set the record straight" on the ancient history of smooching. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/science/archaeology-sumeria-kissing.html  |date=February 13, 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20240214040622/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/science/archaeology-sumeria-kissing.html |archivedate=February 14, 2024 |accessdate=February 14, 2024 }}</ref> comes from the [[Vedas]], Sanskrit scriptures that informed [[Hinduism]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150714-why-do-we-kiss|title=Why do humans kiss each other when most animals don't?|first=Melissa|last=Hogenboom|website=www.bbc.com}}</ref> [[Buddhism]], and [[Jainism]], around 3,500 years ago, according to Vaughn Bryant, an anthropologist at Texas A&M University who specialized in the history of the kiss.<ref name="auto">[http://tamunews.tamu.edu/valentine’s-day-story-starters/] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20141204235151/http://tamunews.tamu.edu/valentine%E2%80%99s-day-story-starters/|date=2014-12-04}}</ref> However, recent studies challenge the belief that kissing originated in South Asia around 1500 BCE, arguing that there is no single point of origin in historical times. Figurines have been found that indicate kissing may have been practiced in prehistory. It’s been suggested that Neandertals and humans kissed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-first-kiss-in-recorded-history-dates-back-nearly-5-000-years/|title=The First Kiss in Recorded History Dates Back Nearly 5,000 Years|first=Stephanie|last=Pappas|website=Scientific American}}</ref> Evidence from ancient [[Mesopotamia]] and Egypt suggests that kissing was documented as early as 2500 BCE. Kissing was present in both romantic and familial contexts in ancient Mesopotamia, but it was subject to social regulation, and public display of the sexual aspect of kissing was discouraged. Kissing also had a role in rituals. The act of kissing may have unintentionally facilitated the transmission of orally transmitted microorganisms, potentially leading to disease. Advances in ancient DNA extraction have revealed [[pathogen]] genomes in human remains, including those transmitted through saliva. The shift in dominant lineages of the [[Herpes simplex virus|herpes simplex virus 1]] (HSV-1) during the [[Bronze Age]] implies that cultural practices like romantic-sexual kissing could have contributed to its transmission. Ancient Mesopotamian medical texts mention a disease called bu'shanu, which may have been related to HSV-1 infection. While kissing itself was not directly associated with disease transmission in Mesopotamia, certain cultural and religious factors governed its practice.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Arbøll |first1=Troels Pank |last2=Rasmussen |first2=Sophie Lund |date=2023-05-19 |title=The ancient history of kissing |journal=Science |language=en |volume=380 |issue=6646 |pages=688–690 |doi=10.1126/science.adf0512 |pmid=37200431 |bibcode=2023Sci...380..688A |s2cid=258765170 |issn=0036-8075|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Both lip and tongue kissing are mentioned in [[Sumer]]ian poetry:<ref>{{cite book |last=Kramer |first=Samuel Noah |year=1981 |title=History Begins at Sumer |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-0-8122-1276-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/humansideofjapan00tana/page/72 72ff] |edition=3rd revised. |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/humansideofjapan00tana/page/72 }}</ref>
{{blockquote|My lips are too small, they know not to kiss.}}
{{blockquote|My precious sweet, lying by my heart,<br />one by one "tonguemaking," one by one.}}
{{blockquote|When my sweet precious, my heart, had lain down too,<br />each of them in turn kissing with the tongue, each in turn.<ref>[http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.4.08.04# The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140609025222/http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.4.08.04 |date=2014-06-09 }} Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford</ref>}}

Kissing is described in the surviving [[Ancient Egyptian literature|ancient Egyptian]] love poetry from the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]], found on [[Papyrus|papyri]] excavated at [[Deir el-Medina]]:
{{blockquote|Finally I will drink life from your lips <br />and wake up from this ever lasting sleep.}}
{{blockquote|The wisdom of the earth in a kiss <br />and everything else in your eyes.}}
{{blockquote|I kiss her before everyone <br />that they all may see my love.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://themagentahornet.com/ancient-poetry1.html|title=Ancient Poetry|work=TheMagentaHornet.com|access-date=2014-03-06|archive-date=2017-10-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022110341/http://themagentahornet.com/ancient-poetry1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
{{blockquote|And when her lips are pressed to mine <br />I am made drunk and need not wine.<br />When we kiss, and her warm lips half open,<br />I fly cloud-high without beer!}}
{{blockquote|His kisses on my lips, my breast, my hair...<br />...Come! Come! Come! And kiss me when I die,<br />For life, compelling life, is in thy breath;<br />And at that kiss, though in the tomb I lie,<br />I will arise and break the bands of Death.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.love-poetry-of-the-world.com/Egyptian-Love-Poetry-Poem2.html|title=Egyptian Love Poetry from the New kingdom|website=www.love-poetry-of-the-world.com}}</ref>}}

The earliest reference to kissing in the [[Old Testament]] is in {{bibleverse|Genesis|27:26|HE}}, when [[Jacob]] deceives his father to obtain his blessing:
{{blockquote|And his father [[Isaac]] said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.}}

{{bibleverse|Genesis|29:11|HE}} features the first man-woman kiss in the [[Bible]], when Jacob flees from [[Esau]] and goes to the house of his uncle [[Laban (Bible)|Laban]]:
{{blockquote|And Jacob kissed [[Rachel]], and lifted up his voice, and wept.}}

Much later, there is the oft-quoted verse from {{bibleverse|Song of Songs|1:2|HE}}:
{{blockquote|May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,<br />for your love is better than wine.<ref>Hess, Richard S. ''Song of Songs'', Baker Academic (2005) p. 48</ref><ref>[http://biblehub.com/songs/1-2.htm "Song of Solomon 1:2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828063527/http://biblehub.com/songs/1-2.htm |date=2013-08-28 }}, Bible Hub, Biblos</ref>}}

In ''[[Cyropaedia]]'' (370 BC), [[Xenophon]] wrote about the [[Persis|Persian]] custom of kissing in the lips upon departure while narrating the departure of [[Cyrus the Great]] ({{Circa|600 BC}}) as a boy from his [[Medes|Median]] kinsmen.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |last1=Xenophon |work=[[Cyropaedia]] |url=http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&getid=1&query=Xen.%20Cyr.%201.4.28 |title=1.4.28 |publisher=Perseus under PhiloLogic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206070014/http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&getid=1&query=Xen.%20Cyr.%201.4.28 |archive-date=2016-02-06 }}</ref> According to [[Herodotus]] (5th century BC), when two Persians meet, the greeting formula expresses their equal or inequal status. They do not speak; rather, equals kiss each other on the mouth, and in the case where one is a little inferior to the other, the kiss is given on the cheek.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/herodotus-iii|title=Herodotus iii. Defining the Persians |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica |first1=Robert |last1=Rollinger |orig-date=December 15, 2003 |date=March 22, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240404162304/https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/herodotus-iii |archive-date= Apr 4, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herodotus-persians.asp|title=Ancient History Sourcebook: Herodotus: On The Customs of the Persians, c. 430 BCE |website=Internet History Sourcebooks |publisher=Fordham University |access-date=2016-01-03|archive-date=2015-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151129043206/http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herodotus-persians.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During the later Classical period, affectionate mouth-to-mouth kissing was first described in the Hindu epic the ''[[Mahabharata]]''.

Anthropologist Vaughn Bryant argues kissing spread from India to Europe after [[Alexander the Great]] conquered parts of Punjab in northern India in 326 BCE.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://liberalarts.tamu.edu/html/news--first-kiss-how-we-learned-to-lock-lips.html |title=First kisses: How we learned to lock lips |website=College of Liberal Arts |date=2012 |access-date=2014-12-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141208001512/http://liberalarts.tamu.edu/html/news--first-kiss-how-we-learned-to-lock-lips.html |archive-date=2014-12-08 }}</ref>

The Romans were passionate about kissing and talked about several types of kissing. Kissing the hand or cheek was called an {{lang|la|osculum}}. Kissing on the lips with mouth closed was called a {{lang|la|basium}}, which was used between relatives. A kiss of passion was called a {{lang|la|suavium}}.<ref name="Terry Jones">Jones, Terry "The Ancient World According to Terry Jones (Love and Sex)" (1998)</ref>
[[File:Wall painting - scenes around the pub - Pompeii (VI 14 35-36) - Napoli MAN 111482 - 02.jpg|thumb|A fresco from [[Pompeii]] showing the kiss of a Roman couple ]]

Kissing was not always an indication of ''eros'', or love, but also could show respect and rank as it was used in [[Middle Ages|Medieval Europe]].

The study of kissing started sometime in the nineteenth century and is called '''philematology''', which has been studied by people including [[Cesare Lombroso]], [[Ernest Crawley]], [[Charles Darwin]], [[Edward Burnett Tylor]] and modern scholars such as [[Elaine Hatfield]].<ref name=Kirshenbaum>[http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/14/opinion/kirshenbaum-science-kissing "The science of kissing"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130214044815/http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/14/opinion/kirshenbaum-science-kissing |date=2013-02-14 }}, ''CNN'', Feb. 14, 2012</ref><ref name=Furtwangler>[http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=116267 "Chemical attraction: The science of kissing"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823090009/http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=116267 |date=2013-08-23 }}, ''Medill Reports'', Feb. 14, 2009</ref>