Betcha never studied this Ancient Greek Goddess back in school. Might I introduce to you Baubo, the female deity of bawdy sex jokes?.
Baubo’s mythology, as told by the horrified Church fathers Clemens of Alexandria and Arnobius from the third century CE, centers on the critical role that Baubo played in the story of Demeter. When her daughter Persephone had been dragged into the underworld by Pluto, the earth Goddess Demeter fell into such a deep depression that she ceased to allow anything to grow, thus threatening the survival of all life. But Baubo appeared and made her laugh by lifting up her skirt to prominade her “secret parts” — and thus, through humor, revived the Goddess when nothing else could.
Archaeologists have found numerous Terra cotta Baubo figurines mostly dating from the 5th-3rd centuries BCE. They all wear robes that separate away from their bellies and genitals, revealing a smiling face in their place. Often they appear holding a sort of harp as a musical instrument — these are the “Baubo Iambe”, and fun fact — this is where the term “Iambic” in poetry came about. Baubo’s songs featured prominently in the Ancient Greek Eleusinian Mysteries that were held to celebrate Demeter.
Baubo was way more fun than the Olympians, and shows that the value of bawdy humor through a female voice has been appreciated for millennia.
Source(s): Frederika Tevebring, “Baubo and the Question of the Obscene,” _Society for Classical Studies_, abstract for annual meeting 147, panel “Sexuality in Ancient Art”. Session/paper number 55.2. @yewtree2.medium.com, Yvonne Owens, July 5, 2018, “Baubo Redeemer.”
