What a Kiss Meant Throughout History

Have you ever thought about when was the first time that people started kissing and what a kiss meant in the past and what it means today?

The meaning of a kiss in the past

- The act of giving a kiss goes back to 3000 B.C. when worshipers sent kisses to their god.


- In ancient Rome, a kiss meant a greeting to their friends and relatives as well as complete strangers in the street and even people who were selling goods from door to door.


- Egyptians were a complete opposite. They didn’t like to kiss at all. Even Cleopatra, famous lover at that time, probably never kisses any of her numerous lovers.


- In Medieval Italy, when in public, a kiss meant that the man was going to marry the woman.


- One of the most bizarre facts in the history of kissing is the reason why the Anglo-Saxon world uses the sign “X” to indicate a kiss at the end of a letter. This practice has its origins in medieval times when most people were illiterate. Whenever they had to sign a contract, whether it concerned land or other goods, they simply wrote “X” instead of their signature and kissed the contract since a kiss meant honesty.


- In London, the Great Plague of 1665 also left its mark on kissing as a popular social act at the time. Even today, the fear of contracting a disease puts greeting with a hat, bowing and hand waving at the forefront of the most popular ways of greeting.


- In 1979, David Bowie invented the so-called lipography. These were copies of an individual’s lips that somehow symbolised the most intimate signature. In the USA, a charity auction of famous lipographs was held and about $16000 were raised to help poor children. The lithography of Mick Jagger alone was sold for $1600.

A kiss meant various things throughout history. What does it mean in your culture? Share it in the Forum.