The sample “Art and sensuality in the houses of Pompeii”which opens today in the archaeological park of that city and will remain open until January 15, 2023, seeks to explain, according to the Spanish newspaper ABC, these practices, which have amazed archaeologists and visitors since the first discoveries in 1748 .
The exhibition is made up of 70 works with mythological images to scenes of daily life, together with the supports and techniques in which these themes found expression such as the large mural fresco, lamps, sculptures and even furniture.
Among the relics found are two medallions decorated with images of satyrs and nymphs that came from a ceremonial chariot found at the site last year. Visitors will be able to tour the site, guided by an app, to see houses along the Via del Vesuvius that contain sexual frescoes, including one depicting the fertility god Priapus weighing his manhood on a scale, which was found in 2018, and another figure of Leda being impregnated by the Roman god Jupiter, disguised as a swan, which was discovered in 2019.
“The houses of the rich had more paintings, but [las imágenes eróticas] were really very common in Pompeii,” explained Gabriel Zuchtriegeldirector of the archaeological park of Pompeii.
In excavated houses, works of art were found showing couples in scenes of explicit sex, similar to those revealed in the brothels of the ancient Roman city.
Experts interpreted the sexual wall paintings in the brothels as a menu of the services on offer. “It looks a bit like this in that you have scenes above each door, but it’s always very risky to do this kind of simplification,” Zuchtriegel added.
The exhibition also features works depicting homoerotic scenes and includes a statue found in the Casa del Bracciale d’oro, or House of the Gold Bracelet, one of the richest houses in Pompeii, depicting a young man who would have served his I love during banquets, also sexually.
“People look at the erotic images of Pompeii and see liberation, but they also had written and unwritten rules, and it wasn’t really this world of great freedom,” Zuchtriegel said, adding: “Take homosexuality…it was certainly tolerated , but that doesn’t mean it offered the kind of participation and acceptance that maybe we want today.”
The robot that collaborated with the discovery of these pieces, baptized with the name of “Spot”, which resembles a small dog, is introduced with agility in the nooks and crannies of the remains of the city, even in the dark thanks to powerful spotlights , and, in addition to collecting new data, it can also be used to discover clandestine tunnels that thieves continue to make to steal archaeological material.
Source: Ambito
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