The Victorian era made us think sex scandals are a modern invention, but the ancient world proved otherwise. In fact, the ten sex scandals we explore below were woven into conspiracies, murders, and even executions—showing that powerful figures have long been vulnerable to compromising passions.
10 Sex Scandals Unveiled
10 Randy Egyptian Judges
Around 1155 BC, Pharaoh Ramesses III met a grisly end when his own wife, Tiye, orchestrated his murder. His successor, Ramesses IV, convened a panel of twelve judges to probe the conspiracy. Their investigation uncovered that Tiye’s plot involved a host of court officials and concubines, all of whom were summarily executed.
The proceedings took an unexpected turn when it emerged that three of the jurors had been lured into bed by women associated with the scheme. The ancient court records note, “the women … found the judges where they were. They held a fine party down there with them.”
Consequences varied: May suffered the loss of his nose and ears, Pabes was left to his own devices and ultimately took his own life, while Hori escaped with only a reprimand, likely because he testified against his comrades.
9 A Dark Temple And A Dog Mask
During Emperor Tiberius’s reign, a bizarre scandal rippled through Rome. Decius Mundus, a well‑to‑do nobleman, coveted a married woman named Paulina and dangled 200,000 drachmas to persuade her to spend a night with him. Paulina, a devout follower of the Egyptian pantheon, rebuffed his offer.
Undeterred, Decius bribed priests of Isis, convincing them to tell Paulina that the god Anubis desired a nocturnal appearance. He then masqueraded as the jackal‑headed deity inside the temple, and Paulina, believing the divine ruse, spent the night with him.
When Decius later revealed the deception, boasting about saving the promised sum, Paulina reported the affair to the emperor. The priests involved were crucified and the Temple of Isis was set ablaze, yet Decius escaped with only exile.
8 The Scandal That Ended A Country
In ancient China, a scandal involving the married noblewoman Xia Ji helped bring down the state of Chen. According to the Commentary of Zuo, Xia Ji was simultaneously involved with Duke Ling of Chen and two of his ministers, who even wore her undergarments beneath their robes. The trio flaunted their affairs openly, inflaming the fury of Xia Ji’s son, Xia Zengshu.
In 599 BC, while the three men were drunkenly reveling at Xia Ji’s residence, Zengshu arrived. Duke Ling, in a mocking tone, quipped that the young man resembled one of his ministers, to which the minister replied, “He looks like you.” Enraged, Zengshu seized a weapon and slew the duke.
The ensuing chaos allowed the two ministers to flee to King Zhuang of Chu, who seized the disorder as a pretext to annex Chen. Xia Zengshu was executed, and the episode served as a cautionary tale throughout China.
7 The Crush That Destroyed A Tyrant
After the death of their father in 527 BC, the brothers Hippias and Hipparchus ruled Athens as co‑tyrants. Trouble brewed when Hipparchus became infatuated with the handsome youth Harmodius. In classical Greece, same‑sex attraction was not scandalous per se, but Hipparchus’s designs were: Harmodius was already paired with Aristogiton, and the tyrant attempted to use his authority to break them apart and claim Harmodius for himself.
Faced with the tyrant’s machinations, Aristogiton and Harmodius chose a dramatic response. During the bustling Panathenaic festival, they confronted Hipparchus and stabbed him to death. Hipparchus’s guards swiftly cut down Harmodius, while Aristogiton endured torture before his execution.
The Athenian populace later honored the lovers with a statue, celebrating their bold strike against tyranny and preserving their story for posterity.
6 The King Who Wanted People To Ogle His Wife
Candaules, the Lydian king ruling what is now western Turkey, was notorious for bragging about his stunning queen. In 718 BC, he offered his trusted bodyguard Gyges a chance to secretly glimpse the queen undressing.
Gyges declined, but Candaules insisted, directing him to hide behind the bedroom door while the queen changed. The queen, however, spotted Gyges and was outraged by the intrusion.
Incensed, she presented Gyges with a stark choice: murder Candaules and claim her as his wife, or be publicly accused of spying, prompting Candaules to order Gyges’s execution. Gyges chose murder; that night he slipped behind the door once more and stabbed Candaules to death, seizing the throne.
5 China’s Fake Eunuch Scandal
Early in Qin Shi Huang’s reign, a peculiar scandal unfolded at the imperial court. Queen Zhao, mother of the future emperor, was involved in a long‑term liaison with the minister Lu Buwei. Their relationship left Lu Buwei desperate for discreet access to the queen.
To solve the problem, they recruited Lao Ai, a man famed for his prodigious organ. Lu Buwei orchestrated a fake castration, shaving Lao Ai’s hair and beard to pass him off as a eunuch, allowing him entry into the women’s quarters without suspicion.
Lao Ai carried out the queen’s illicit desires until the deception was uncovered. The fallout was severe: Lao Ai and three generations of his family were executed, while Lu Buwei and Queen Zhao were merely exiled.
4 An Extremely Jealous King
Gadatas, a handsome noble serving under Babylonian king Nabonidus, found himself in a precarious situation. One of the king’s concubines flirted with him, complimenting his looks and implying that his fiancée was fortunate to have such a suitor.
Emboldened, Gadatas returned the flirtation, which infuriated the king. In a swift act of retribution, the monarch ordered Gadatas’s castration, hoping to curb any further romantic indiscretions.
Unbowed, Gadatas later defected to Cyrus the Great, handing over key fortresses to the Persians, thereby exacting his revenge against the Babylonian court.
3 Crassus And The Virgin
Marcus Licinius Crassus, one of Rome’s wealthiest men, found himself embroiled in a scandal that sent ripples through the Republic. He was accused of attempting to seduce a Vestal Virgin, a priestess sworn to lifelong chastity.
Crassus’s defense hinged on a clever alibi: he claimed his frequent presence near the Vestal’s villa was motivated solely by a desire to purchase the property at a bargain price, not by romantic intent.
The court, swayed by his reputation for greed, accepted his explanation. As Plutarch noted, “It was his avarice that absolved him from the charge.” Thus, Crassus escaped conviction.
2 Some Shocking Graffiti
While concrete evidence of ancient sexual scandals is scarce, a striking piece of graffiti offers a tantalizing glimpse into public gossip. During the reign of Hatshepsut, Egypt’s most celebrated female pharaoh, rumors circulated that she was involved with her courtier Senenmut.
The graffiti, discovered on a wall at Deir el‑Bahri, portrays a figure—potentially wearing a pharaonic headdress—being penetrated. The figure appears androgynous, lacking both breasts and a penis, a visual that could allude to Hatshepsut’s iconic false beard.
This inscription suggests that ordinary workers were aware of, and perhaps amused by, the alleged affair, providing a rare, informal record of scandalous whispers in ancient Egypt.
1 Elagabalus
The Roman Emperor Elagabalus led a life steeped in scandal from the moment he ascended the throne at age fourteen, propelled by his grandmother’s machinations. Over the next few years, his personal life became a revolving door of marriages and affairs, including five wives and a male partner, the charioteer Hierocles.
Cassius Dio recounts that Elagabalus established a mock brothel within the palace, where he would stand naked at the doorway, inviting passers‑by with a soft, seductive voice. He delighted in allowing Hierocles to catch him in the act, so he could be “violently upbraided” and beaten until his eyes turned black.
Elagabalus also reportedly identified as a woman and offered a reward to any surgeon willing to create a vagina for him. Though historians debate the veracity of these tales, the consensus is that his reign was riddled with sexual controversy, ultimately prompting his grandmother to orchestrate a coup and replace him with his cousin.