Lesbianism is the sexual and romantic desire between women. There are historically fewer mentions of lesbianism than male homosexuality , due to many historical writings and records focusing primarily on men. Women's sexuality in ancient Mesopotamia is not well documented. Stephanie Lynn Budin, writing on love magic, argues that "there remains no evidence for lesbianism in this regard or any other from Mesopotamia.
There are also mentions in the Code of Hammurabi c. This term may translate to "woman-man" and refer to a gender-nonconforming individual, "perhaps a female functionary, attached to a temple. In addition, an Old Assyrian text writes of two women, Ewanika and Adi-matum, who had a betrothal contract for their "daughter. Homosexuality in ancient Egypt between women is less often recorded, or alluded to, in documents and other artifacts as compared to homosexuality among men, but it does appear in such documents.
Some cosmetics-related items, which may have been owned and used by women, feature nude and suggestive depictions of women. There are several pieces of evidence for female homosexuality in Roman Egypt. There are examples of women casting love spells to make other women fall in love with them dating from the second to fourth centuries CE.
Burn, set on fire, inflame the heart, the liver, the spirit of Gorgonia, whom Nilogenia bore, with love and affection for Sophia, whom Isara bore, for a good end. Force Gorgonia, whom Nilogenia bore, to cast herself into the bath-house for the sake of Sophia, whom Isara bore, for her, so that she love her with passion, longing, unceasing love.
The homosexual nature of some spells has been erased. In a love spell for Nike, the name of the commissioner Pantous or Paitous could be male or female, but two feminine pronouns reveal that it refers to a woman. Franz Boll assumed that both pronouns were scribal errors, and made the spell heterosexual by substituting masculine equivalents in his edition of the text. The first edition to restore the homosexual reading was published in , although its authors also argued for Boll's scribal error theory.
