The Library › Reel II · The Queen Bee

Did Cleopatra invent the vibrator with a gourd full of bees?

No ancient writer or archaeological find says so. The story traces to Brenda Love’s 1992 Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, which cites no source, and historian Helen King has said there is no evidence for it. It spread online in the 1990s and 2000s. This play borrowed it anyway, and says so here.

The receipts

1. A short history of the vibrator, Clue
2. The biggest sex myths from history, Sky History

More from this shelf

• Did Cleopatra really arrive rolled in a carpet?Rumor
• Did Cleopatra dissolve a pearl in vinegar to win a bet with Mark Antony?Disputed
• Did Cleopatra die from the bite of an asp?Disputed
• Was Cleopatra famously beautiful?Disputed
• Did Cleopatra have a big nose? Where does ‘Cleopatra’s nose’ come from?True
• Did Cleopatra speak many languages?True