In Pompeii there is a lot of erotic art not because it was more libertine than other Roman cities But, having preserved better than other urban centers Ancient, consequently it is easier to know how the daily life. In addition, at the time the mentality was different from the current one and, in many respects, much more open in the field of sex, in particular for men. The erotic art of Pompeii includes representations of the male genitaliaconsidered a symbol of fertility, frescoes with Sex scenes painted in lupanaries – prostitution houses – e writings which described the services offered.
The erotic art of Pompeii
At the excavations of Pompeii the erotic representations abound: in numerous private houses there are decorations, painted or carved, which depict male genital organssometimes disproportionate. Some are simple representations of the genitals, in other cases they are paintings or sculptures of divinity, such as Priapeequipped with enormous fouls, sometimes also used as signals to indicate the road to lupanaries.
In some buildings, moreover, there are frescoes depicting Scenes of sexual intercourse of various kinds. Frescoes of this type are mainly present in lupanariesthat is, in prostitution homes and probably constituted a sort of “Catalog” of performance that the prostitutes offered. The most famous lupare of Pompeii, today the destination of all visitors to the excavations is that Located in Royal VIIclose to the Stabian spas, but similar structures were also present in other points of the city. Furthermore, there were the private lupanarieslocated in houses of wealthy people, in which one or more prostitutes operated, almost in all there are frescoes of erotic scenes.
Sometimes, erotic depictions are also present in thermal buildings, as in the Suburban spalocated at Porta Marina (where the visit path begins today, just after the ticket office).
At the excavations, attestations of erotic writings also abound: in the lupare of the Royal VII, among the various writings there is the following: «Hic Ego Puellas Futui Futui», That is,” here I had sex with many girls “. In the House of Vettiiwhere a prostitute operated, we still read the inscription with the information on the service and rates: «Eutychis, Graeca A (Ssibus) II Moribus Belli», That is” Eutychis, Greek, of good manners, (available) for two axes “.
The erotic art of Pompeii has always hit the imagination of visitors. In 1819, a few decades after the start of the excavations, the sovereign Francis I of Bourbone ordered that the sexual works were kept hidden from the sight of the citizens, making them collect in a special section of the Archaeological Museum of Naples, the Secret cabinetaccessible only by visitors of adulthood and morally irreproachable (the cabinet still exists today, but can be freely visited; the only restriction concerns the minors of 14 years old, which must be accompanied by an adult).
The meaning of the erotic art of Pompeii
In principle, in Pompeii the same morality of the other Roman citiesif so much erotic art is present, it is because the city, thanks to the lava of Vesuvius that covered it in 79 AD, is preserved better than other Roman centers And the excavations allow visitors to realize the daily life of the Pompeians; It is as if the eruption had taken a snapshot of Pompeii, also photographing the sexual habits of citizens.
In addition, the abundance of erotic art is also explained why the Roman mentality in the field of sex was less restrictive than oursat least as regards men. In particular, the presence of depictions of frescoes with sex scenes was due to the vast spread of prostitution which, almost always exercised by foreign women of humble origins, was considered a service of great social utility because it allowed men to vent their instincts without compromise the honorability of married women. For this reason, there were many lupanaries in Pompeii. The prostitutes needed to advertise their services and therefore the lupanaries were full of erotic representations.
Not all erotic images in the city, however, had sexual purposes. The representation of the male genitals, in particular, was not understood in an erotic sense, but as symbol of fertility and prosperity: being a “instrument” for reproduction, the foul was considered a good omen, as for us they are horseshoe and croissants (on the other hand, the croissant derives from the foul).
