In fact, it is only in the past 20 years that some items have even been displayed to the public, so shocking were they thought to be. Some of the designs – especially the more graphic frescoes or obscenely shaped lamps – are far too explicit not to have a sexual meaning. Except this, too, is not entirely the case. These are not penises, you tell yourself, just a load of good luck signs, plastered all across town. An obvious brothel marker, you think, until you realise it was stuck over the door of a Pompeiian bakery.Īnd so, it is possible to err in the opposite direction. Another carved into the pavement? It’s pointing the way! This sounds plausible enough until you consider a phallic symbol surrounded by the motto “Here lives Good Fortune”. A stone phallus stuck above a doorway like a pub sign? What could that be but an advert for eager customers. Tour guides in Pompeii seem determined to point out brothels even when there aren’t any.
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