Weighing In on the Pompeii Porn Debate

Mt. Vesuvius blew its top in 79 A.D., spewing molten ash and poisonous sulphuric gas into the air for two days.  Because of the way the wind was blowing, the city of Pompeii was buried in nearly 66 feet of ash and perfectly preserved before it was rediscovered in 1592.  Careful excavation, which began over 200 years ago, has yielded unbelievable insight into what life in Pompeii was like.

The people of Pompeii obviously understood the importance cleanliness played in preserving public health.  The four public baths – two for men and two for women – were available to all citizens. 

The city had an aqueduct that provided fresh water to the public baths, to wealthier private homes and businesses, and to some 25 public street fountains.  Most interesting is that during a drought, the water supply to less essential places could be cut off so that it was directed solely to the public street fountains.

Pompeii also had its nightlife.  The Lupanar is the most famous brothel discovered in the remains of Pompeii, and archaeologists know it was a brothel because of two things: the graffiti scratched into the building’s stone walls and the frescoes above each doorway.  The frescoes served as sort of a menu for clients, who merely had to point to a picture of what they wanted or say something like, “I’d like the number 4 combo, please.”  The name, Lupanar, by the way, means “she-wolves,” and it apparently got the name because the prostitutes stood outside in the evenings howling to prospective customers.

Needless to say, the moral codes of Pompeii were a little looser than what we’re used to.  In fact, the city was full of erotic frescoes, and even many household items had sexual themes, leading some to call it a second “Sodom and Gomorrah,” and pointing to its destruction as God’s judgment on the city’s immorality.  But others argue that the ubiquitous sexual imagery is really religious fertility imagery invoking the blessing of Priapus (pictured above), the god of fertility and protector of male genitalia.

Note the scale in the picture of Priapus and let me know what you think:  religious fertility imagery or porn? 

I just wonder if someone is going to uncover a nude photo of Pamela Anderson 2,000 years from now and ponder the question of whether it’s porn or some religious offering to the Baywatch ocean goddess of saline implants.