This study illuminates the 2,500 year social history of sexual relations in Iran. Marriage, temporary marriage, prostitution, and homosexuality are all discussed, as well as the often unintended result of these relations -- sexually transmitted diseases. The book uses travellers' accounts, Iranian and international archival sources, as well as government data to bring together, in detail, and within the context of Iranian culture and religion, the nature, variety, and problems of sexual relations in Iran over the ages. Finally, Willem Floor summarises the issues that Iranian society faces today -- which are not dissimilar to that of many other industrial nations -- the challenge to the male claim to dominance over women; change in the age of marriage; premarital sex; rising divorce rates; rising promiscuity; prostitution; sexually transmitted diseases; homosexuality and street children.