First Recorded Romantic Kiss

In honor of the February 14 Valentine's Day, I'm blogging about the history of the romantic kiss. Rodin's marble sculpture, The Kiss (pictured above), is located in Paris, France. However, during his lifetime he designated additional copies as originals (created in different mediums). The marble sculpture in Paris is generally accepted as the original.

New research into Ancient Mesopotamia suggests people kissed romantically 4,500 years ago, 1000 years earlier than previously believed. An article, published in Science magazine, reveals kissing did not originate in one region. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Oxford revealed their findings on the ancient history of kissing after discovering  drawings on clay tablets and other materials from early Mesopotamian societies. Ancient Mesopotamia is considered to be roughly the land that is now modern-day Iraq and Syria.

It was previously believed the earliest evidence of romantic lip kissing in humans originated in southern Asia 3,500 years ago then spread to other regions. The new research challenges these theories and suggests kissing was common across many different regions and cultures, starting much earlier.

In examining the clay tablets written in cuneiform script, the scientists noted the Akkadian language divided kissing into two groups: "friendly and familial affection" and "erotic action." Thousands of these clay tablets have survived to this day. They contain clear examples that kissing was considered a part of romantic intimacy in ancient times, just as kissing could be part of friendships and family member's relations.

Kissing should not be regarded as a custom that originated exclusively in any single region and spread from there. It appears to have been practiced in multiple ancient cultures over several millennia. While the exact origins of romantic kissing remain uncertain, the study said there is some evidence that it may have occurred even before the advent of writing.

Research into bonobos and chimpanzees, the closest living relatives to humans, has shown both species engage in kissing, which may suggest the practice of kissing is a fundamental behavior in humans, explaining why it can be found across cultures. The researchers also examined sexually-transmitted diseases in early kissing and its unintentional role in the transmission of herpes simplex virus 1, also known as cold sores. This cannot be taken entirely at face value due to the influence of certain religious and cultural beliefs.

The first and most famous commercially distributed on-screen movie kiss occurred in 1896 in the Thomas Edison 20-second silent film titled The Kiss. The film shocked audiences by featuring a close-up of a 3-second physical lip-to-lip kiss.

Probably the most famous recorded kiss in history happened in New York City at Times Square on August 14, 1945 on VJ Day at the end of World War II.