View source for Orgy

{{Short description|People freely engaging in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex}}
{{About||the religious rites of ancient Greece|Orgia|other uses|Orgy (disambiguation)}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
[[File:Édouard-Henri Avril (25).jpg|thumb|300x300px|Illustration of an orgy from ''[[De figuris Veneris]]'' by [[Édouard-Henri Avril]]]]An '''orgy''' is a [[Group sex#Types of sex party|sex party]] where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained [[Human sexual activity|sexual activity]] or [[group sex]].

[[Swinging (sexual practice)|Swinger]]s' parties do not always conform to this designation, because at many swinger parties the [[sexual partner]]s may all know each other or at least have some commonality among economic class, educational attainment or other shared attributes. Some swingers contend that an orgy, as opposed to a sex party, requires some anonymity of sexual partners in complete sexual abandon.<ref name="differences cited in Swinger Survey Results on Difference Between Orgies and Group Sex">{{cite web | url=http://www.swingersocial.com/the-swinger-blog/orgies-and-group-sex/ | title=Swinger Survey Results on Difference Between Orgies and Group Sex | publisher=The Swingers Blog | date=October 2010 | access-date=April 26, 2012 | author=Wojick, Helen}}</ref> Other kinds of "sex parties" may fare less well with this labelling.

Participation in an "orgy" is a common [[sexual fantasy]], and group sex targeting such consumers is a subgenre in [[pornographic film]]s. 

The term is also used metaphorically in expressions, such as an "orgy of colour" or an "orgy of destruction" to indicate excess, overabundance. The term "[[wikt:orgiastic|orgiastic]]" does not generally connote group sex and is closer to the [[orgia|classical roots]] and this metaphorical usage.

==Ancient ''orgia''==
{{Main article|Orgia}}
[[File:Bacco - Mantegna, Andrea - Baccanale col tino -1470 ca.-.jpg|thumb|300x300px|''Bacchanal with a wine vat'' (c. 1475) by [[Andrea Mantegna]]]]
In [[ancient Greek religion]], ''[[orgia]]'' (ὄργια, sing. ὄργιον, ''orgion'') were [[Religious ecstasy|ecstatic rites]] characteristic of the [[Greco-Roman mysteries|Greek and Hellenistic mystery religions]]. Unlike public religion, or the private religious practices of a household, the mysteries were open only to initiates, and were thus "secret". Some rites were held at night. ''Orgia'' were part of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], the [[Dionysian Mysteries]], and the cult of [[Cybele]], which involved the [[Galli|castration of her priests]] in a frenzied trance. Because of their secret, nocturnal, and unscripted nature, the ''orgia'' were subject to prurient speculation and regarded with suspicion, particularly [[Religion in ancient Rome|by the Romans]], who attempted to [[Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus|suppress the Bacchanals]] in 186 BC. ''Orgia'' are popularly thought to have involved sex,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Shipley |first=Joseph T. |year=1963 |title=orgyan |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofearl0000ship_q7b8/page/472/mode/2up |url-access=registration |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Early English |location=Paterson, NJ |publisher=Littlefield, Adams & Co. |isbn=0-8065-2926-1 |pages=472–473}}</ref> but, while [[Religion and sexuality|sexuality]] and fertility were cultic concerns, the primary goal of the ''orgia'' was to achieve an ecstatic union with the divine. The [[Adamites]] were also accused of participating in orgies.<ref name="Fudgé 2016 p. 192">{{cite book | last=Fudgé | first=T.A. | title=Medieval Religion and its Anxieties: History and Mystery in the Other Middle Ages | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US | series=The New Middle Ages | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-137-56610-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KO5NDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA192 | access-date=2023-06-20 | page=192}}</ref><ref name="Goodare 2016 p. 171">{{cite book | last=Goodare | first=J. | title=The European Witch-Hunt | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-317-19831-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eM4mDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 | access-date=2023-06-20 | page=171}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bacchanalia]]
* [[Gang bang]]
* [[Khlysts]]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
* Adkins, Lesley and Adkins, Roy A. (1998). ''Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece''. {{ISBN|0-19-512491-X}}.
* Alexander, Timothy Jay (2007). ''Hellenismos Today''. {{ISBN|978-1-4303-1427-1}}.
* Alexander, Timothy Jay (2007). ''A Beginner's Guide to Hellenismos''. {{ISBN|978-1-4303-2456-0}}.
* Burnet, John (2005). ''Early Greek Philosophy''. {{ISBN|1-4021-9753-5}}.
* Dillon, Matthew (2002). ''Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion''. {{ISBN|0-415-20272-8}}.
* Maffesoli, Michel (1993). ''The Shadow of Dionysus: A Contribution to the Sociology of the Orgy''. {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1239-8}}.
* Persson, Martin (1970). ''The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion''. {{ISBN|0-8196-0273-6}}.
* Wilson, Nigel Guy (2005). ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece''. {{ISBN|0-415-97334-1}}.

==External links==
* {{Commonscat-inline|Group sex|Orgy}}

{{Human sexuality}}

[[Category:Group sex]]