As far as I know, in western/european society, its relatively new (as in, over the past 1000 years or so).

Classical Latin is an exquisitely particular language when it comes to sexual practices. It has these two great little verbs, irrumare and fellare. They mean, respectively, "to face-fuck" and "to be face-fucked."

The key thing to remember about sex in ancient Rome and its heir, medieval Europe, is how closely sexual and gender roles were intertwined. Sex, as Ruth Mazo Karras points out, was something that one person did to another. Normatively, it should be a man doing it to a woman. It would be deeply taboo for a man to be face-fucked, that is, to perform oral sex on another man because of the gender role inversion. (This is outside the eventual Christian prohibition on sex contra naturam, that is, that does not lead to the possibility of reproduction).

The most famous demonstration of this is the opening and closing lines of Catullus' Carmina 16, the favorite of Latin students everywhere:

Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo

[...] qui me ex versiculus meis putastis

quod sunt molliculi parum pudicum

[...] Vos, quod milia multa basiorum

legistis, male me marem putatis?

Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo

I will fuck you in the ass and face-fuck you,

[...] you who think, because of the fact that

my poems are sensitive, I have no virtue

[...] You, because you have read my many kisses (sweet poems),

You think me a poor excuse for a man?

I will fuck you in the ass and face-fuck you.

Across the Atlantic, it's quite the opposite! In fact, oral, manual, and other forms of non-coital stimulation are so commonly depicted in the art of some South American cultures that scholars once claimed they never depicted "actual" sex^1. The Moche are particularly known for their "sex pots," ceramic vessels sculpted in the form of various parties copulating in the manners that various parties do. These pieces have frequently been termed "erotic," but I find that misleading. I've discussed before that some imagery is better interpreted as a portrayal of social relations and power through a sexual medium, or metaphor^2. This is quite relevant here, due to oral sex's dichotomous nature. Reproductive sex can be egalitarian and complementary; oral sex has a distinct giver and receiver. This power dynamic is a common theme of Moche pottery, as also seen in the frequent scenes of rulers/warriors taking captives. Let's get back to the figures we're interested in, which come in several different positions^3:

• Standing male: 1 2

• Reclining male: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

• Seated male: 1 2 3 4 5

We're most interested in this last set. They closely mirror another common scene in Moche art: "portraits" of seated important dudes. Also take a second look at #5 in that set, with the headless male Okay maybe not so headless. The body of the vessel has a simple drawing of a structure. This is the same kind of structure one can see drawn around elites on fineline pottery. There's definitely some kind of expression of power involved with the seated scenes, something almost ritual, equating privileged political and sexual status. Keep in mind that these pots are likely from elite tombs. Alongside the ancestor imagery discussed in my previous post, these oral sex scenes fit nicely into the political and cultural environment of emergent lords and bureaucracies, legitimizing their rule and normalizing nascent social categories through imagery. There's only one way to continue a royal line- why hide it?

It's tempting to project the artistic portrayal of sexuality onto actual people, but we have to remember that things like this exist^4. If that represents anything real, then they've one-upped Oedipus on the whole "loving your mummy" thing. Conversely, it's strong evidence that oral sex was anything but unknown.

1. Gero, J. (2004). "Sex Pots of Ancient Peru: Post-Gender Reflections. Global Perspectives on Prehistory: A Conference in Honor of Randi Haaland's Contribution to Archaeology, 1-22.
2. Weismantel, M. (2004). Moche Sex Pots: Reproduction and Temporality in Ancient South America. American Anthropologist, 106(3), 495-505.
3. Pun Intended?
4. Title translation: woman manually stimulating a dead man

Oral sex in China was not influenced by the Europeans. China has a long history of erotic paintings, with the first reference to erotic paintings (known as "Spring Palace Paintings" 春宫圖) found in the Han Dynasty. However, most, if not all, of these early erotic paintings are no longer extant, so we don't really know if they included oral sex. Most of the erotic paintings that survived into today came from the late Ming and Qing dynasties, and they depicted a whole lot of oral sex. Some examples:

Male to Female Oral Sex

Female to Male Oral Sex

69

Standing 69 -> Who said this only happens in porn?

Male to Male Oral Sex

In the late Ming erotic novel Plum of the Golden Vase, there are plenty of references to oral sex, which in Chinese is known as "playing the flute" (吹簫). I will use the English translation of the novel by David Tod Roy:

In Chapter 16, there is the following passage:

Lecherous desires were suddenly aroused. Though it was broad daylight, the two of them: took off their clothes and went to bed. Truly: Who knows what reason there might be Wang-tzu Ch'iao, No sooner learned to "play the flute" than he became transported.

Similar, in Chapter 17:

After that, responding to a drunken whim, he ordered her to lie down across the mat and indulge him by "toying with the flute." Behold: To the tune "Moon on the West River", The scent of orchid and musk pervades to the gauze netting; The delicate beauty lightly proceeds to "play the flute."

Now for pre-Ming, /u/bigbluepanda has posted a poem dating from the early Han period which might have implied oral sex. Similar, the famous Han Dynasty sex manual Su Nv Jing (素女經) also includes a passage which can be interpreted as oral sex.

[采其溢精，取液於口，精氣還化，填滿髓髒]

Translation: Collect his overflowing essence [semen], take the liquid with the mouth, the essence will return, flow through, and fill the body.

Note: Do see the following comments about 精 meaning semen or saliva. I think another possible interpretation is to drink the semen.

Edited: Changed Pre-Ming Oral Sex

Looks like it's definitely not an invention of modern western Europe, as many other commenters have mentioned, so I'll also tack on this bit regarding oral sex in China. I'll preface this with a shameless link to a comment I made some time ago regarding the general concepts surrounding sex - tldr life energy was transferred/refreshed/reinvigorated during and after intercourse. On the case of oral sex, there are a couple mentions in the 金瓶梅 (Jīn Píng Méi - The Golden Lotus, or The Plum in the Golden Vase, dated ~16th-17th century - translation used is from David Roy):

even a three-foot-tall lad can derive as much pleasure from it as he would if he were enabled to suck the nectar of Heaven or pluck the tusk of leviathan

In fact, the insult of "cocksucker"^inf. was established, e.g. "You cocksucking little monkey! You think you can come farting around my place, do you!” which is also a great line in itself. There's also:

On one occasion, when Chin remains unsatisfied after intercourse, she sucks Hsi-men's penis all through the night

which is followed with

Lightly adjusting her golden bracelets，

she took hold of his organ with both hands and popped it into her mouth.

[...]

She sucked it audibly for some time，until

Their lewd excitement was redoubled.

Other texts such as the sex manual 合阴阳 (Hé Yīn Yáng - literally joining/uniting Yin and Yang, excavated 1973 and dated to ~2nd century B.C.) explore sexual acts surrounding all parts of the body, extending and bringing it all back to the idea of a 'cosmic harmony' - I've uploaded the text here (traditional Chinese) with this translation (Goldin):

The recipe for whenever you will be conjoining Yin and Yang:

Grip the hands, and emerge at the Yang side of the wrists;

Stroke the elbow chambers;

Press the side of the underarms;

Ascend the stove trivet;

Press the neck zone;

Stroke the receiving canister;

Cover the encircling ring;

Descend the broken basin;

Cross the sweet-liquor ford;

Skim the Spurting Sea;

Ascend Constancy Mountain;

Enter the dark gate;

Ride the coital muscle;

Suck the essence and spirit upward.

Then you can have enduring vision and exist in unison with heaven and earth.

Bolding the line for emphasis. Ignoring the copious and excessively symbolic phrases of sexual organs and other parts of the body, we can see how the ideas of oral sex have already begun to take root. So, to add to what many others have already said, no, oral sex was not an invention of modern Western Europe.

edit - I see /u/lordtiandao has replied to this as well - didn't refresh the page, my bad!

It's worth noting that bonobos, a close relative of humans, also engage in oral and manual sex. While it's impossible to look back far enough to see whether this shared behavior originated with our shared ancestor or arised independently, it's very possible that the human practice of oral sex is older than humanity itself.

Manson, J.H.; Perry, S.; Parish, A.R. (1997). "Nonconceptive Sexual Behavior in Bonobos and Capuchins". International Journal of Primatology 18 (5): 767–86.

Can't address other cultures, but I can address the Greeks! Even older than the Catullus reference (though admittedly not by much), ancient Greek (4th Centuryish BC, I don't have my source handy) "lesbiazein" ie to "do like a lesbian" could have the meaning of "to perform oral sex". This is because the island of Lesbos (where the woman-loving Psappho hails from, thus the modern connotation) had the reputation for being generally sexually perverse (maybe "exotic" is a better word than "perverse" because of the moral associations of the latter), and thus had some connotations we might not connect. This is from "Maculate Muse" by Henderson. He makes the delightful comparison to how we use the French as our "sexually deviant" nation to name things with, eg "French kissing", "French pox" etc

To note there were many other words/phrases for the same phenomenon, I just can't recall them at the moment. That's the one that always stands out when I'm reviewing, though, because it seems so counter to my expectations!

The Ancient Egyptians definitely had the idea of oral sex, but Charlotte Booth in 'In Bed With the Ancient Egyptians' states that 'how common the act was...is not mentioned or depicted'. The proof of oral stimulation being a part of their sexual practices comes from their insults. Fletcher in 'Chronicle of a Pharaoh: The Intimate Life of Amenhotep III' gives the example "Your mouth does not fornicate", which would have been used as an allegation of impotency. More interestingly, the Egyptians are notable for being the inventors of autofellatio. David Lorton wrote a whole paper about this called "Autofellatio and Ontology", but it suffices to say that in the Book of Overthrowing Apophis, Ra (a god) created Shu and Tefnut by fellating himself and spitting his semen on the ground. However, both Lorton and Booth assert that Atum was the main autofellator of Egyptian mythology.

I'm a bit surprised this isn't mentioned. I'd suggest taking a look at the Bible's Song of Songs. While the description isn't totally explicit, it seems to pretty strongly imply oral sex. If that implication is correct, then clearly the ancient Israelites had some concept of practicing oral sex, and it seems to be described here as just part of the loving attention the couple pays to each other. AFAIK the date of composition is uncertain, but was certainly written BCE.

Possible oral sex on the man:

Song of Songs 2:3, the woman speaking: "Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest / is my beloved among the young men. / I delight to sit in his shade, / and his fruit is sweet to my taste." If you're not sure why this appears to be a sexual context, consider 2:6: "His left arm is under my head, / and his right arm embraces me." In other words, in this scene where she is tasting his fruit, he has his left arm under her head (sounds like they're lying down) and his right arm is "embracing" her.

Possible oral sex on the woman:

Song of Songs 4:12, the man speaking: "You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; / you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain."

Song of Songs 4:16, the woman speaking: "Awake, north wind, / and come, south wind! / Blow on my garden, / that its fragrance may spread everywhere. / Let my beloved come into his garden / and taste its choice fruits."

Hope this helps, and that these examples are allowed.

Gasp An /r/askhistorians thread I can contribute to! At least as far as it's modernity goes.

Oral sex is not a modern invention in the slightest. It can at the very least be traced back to ancient Rome as early as 79AD, the year mount Vesuvius erupted.

When this volcano erupted it burried cities such as Pompeii, which were buried and preserved under the tremendous amounts of volcanic ash.

Roman grafiti is still on the walls today, written by average people living in Italy during the birth of the Roman Empire (which is pretty cool, throughout history we don't often get insight on how everyday average people acted or thought). Anyway, these were written on walls and buildings in the city:

Theophilus, don’t perform oral sex on girls against the city wall like a dog

Romula sucks her man here and everywhere.

Glyko licks cunts for two asses.

Satyrus, don’t lick cunt inside the opening but outside the opening.

Sources: http://www.pompeiana.org/resources/ancient/graffiti%20from%20pompeii.htm

http://www.ancient.eu/article/467/

Does anyone have anything about the Islamic world?

Hey folks,

Please remember this is AskHistorians, and as a result your answer are expected to be invigorating & in depth, with a great, uh, attention to detail and care. It would massively encourage your partners, aka the readers of the subreddit if you could provide deep, tasty and lovely sources.

Thanks!

No info on south Asia?

Africa? (or its regions)

Or honestly, Europe in pre modern times?

Oral sex has been practiced by humans since as long as our species has existed. Similar behaviors are seen in members of the Pan genus, our closest relatives.

Oral sex is depicted in old Japanese, Chinese, and Indian art. It was not in any way a Western invention, nor is it modern.

It has in Western culture varied in legality. It is generally now legal in the United States, but as late as 1970 was illegal in some states, even among married heterosexual couples.

Due to cultural attitudes, many Americans thought that oral sex was for Gay people, prostitutes, and such, as late as the 1970's. This book, as well as movies such as Deep Throat, were very controversial in about 1973.

https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Always-Wanted-Know-About/dp/0312976569

When I saw your post, I recalled Anthony Comstock, who was notorious for his ideas of sexual conformity.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/e_comstock.html