The Story of a Medieval Arabic Source in Which the Women of the 'Rus' Were Called the World's First Lesbians

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In English-language academic and popular literature on the history of sexuality in the Middle East, one occasionally encounters the claim that the medieval Arab encyclopedist Shihab al-Din al-Nuwayri wrote that the women of the “Rus” practiced same-sex love, and that those women were the first in human history to engage in such practices.

Islam on Uránia

The Story of a Medieval Arabic Source in Which the Women of the 'Rus' Were Called the World's First Lesbians