Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum

1 Noted examples
1.1 Phalluses
Wall mural of Mercury/Priapus
Phallus relief from Pompeii, c.1-50 AD
Bronze 'ying phallus amulet (1stC BC)
Bronze tintinnabula (wind chimes) of "phallus-animals
were common household items. Note the child on one
of the wind chimesthe large phallus (whether on Pan,
Priapus or a similar deity, or on its own) was not seen as
threatening or erotic, but as a ward against the evil eye.

Pan copulating with goat - one of the best known objects in the
Naples Museum collection

1.1.1 Priapus
Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum was discovered in the ancient cities around the bay of Naples (particularly of Pompeii and Herculaneum) after extensive
excavations began in the 18th century. The city was found
to be full of erotic art and frescoes, symbols, and inscriptions regarded by its excavators as pornographic. Even
many recovered household items had a sexual theme.
The ubiquity of such imagery and items indicates that
the sexual mores of the ancient Roman culture of the
time were much more liberal than most present-day cultures, although much of what might seem to us to be
erotic imagery (e.g. oversized phalluses) could arguably
be fertility-imagery. This clash of cultures led to an unknown number of discoveries being hidden away again.
For example, a wall fresco which depicted Priapus, the
ancient god of sex and fertility, with his extremely enlarged penis, was covered with plaster (and, as Schefold
explains (p. 134), even the older reproduction below was
locked away out of prudishness and only opened on request) and only rediscovered in 1998 due to rainfall.[1]

Wall Painting of Priapus, House of the Vetti

The second image, from Schefold, Karl: Vergessenes
Pompeji: Unverentlichte Bilder rmischer Wanddekorationen in geschichtlicher Folge. Mnchen 1962., with
its much more brilliant colors, has been used to retouch
the younger, higher resolution image here.

1.2 Brothels

Fresco from the largest Pompeii brothel

An erotic wall painting from Pompeii

It is unclear whether the images on the walls were advertisements for the services oered or merely intended to
heighten the pleasure of the visitors. As previously menIn 1819, when King Francis I of Naples visited the Pom- tioned, some of the paintings and frescoes became impeii exhibition at the National Museum with his wife and mediately famous because they represented erotic, somedaughter, he was so embarrassed by the erotic artwork times explicit, sexual scenes.
that he decided to have it locked away in a secret cabinet, One of the most curious buildings recovered was in fact a
accessible only to people of mature age and respected Lupanar (brothel), which had many erotic paintings and
morals. Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then grati inside. The erotic paintings seem to present an
closed again for nearly 100 years, it was briey made ac- idealised vision of sex at odds with the reality of the funccessible again at the end of the 1960s (the time of the tion of the lupanar. The Lupanare had 10 rooms (cubicsexual revolution) and was nally re-opened for viewing ula, 5 per oor), a balcony, and a latrina. It was not the
in 2000. Minors are still only allowed entry to the once- only brothel. The town seems to have been oriented to
secret cabinet in the presence of a guardian or with writ- a warm consideration of sensual matters: on a wall of
ten permission.
the Basilica (sort of a civil tribunal, thus frequented by
1

many Roman tourists and travelers), an immortal inscription tells the foreigner: If anyone is looking for some tender love in this town, keep in mind that here all the girls are
very friendly (loose translation). Other inscriptions reveal
some pricing information for various services: Athenais
2 As, Sabina 2 As (CIL IV, 4150), The house slave Logas, 8 As (CIL IV, 5203) or Maritimus licks your vulva
for 4 As. He is ready to serve virgins as well. (CIL IV,
8940). The amounts vary from one to two As up to several Sesterces. In the lower price range the service was
not more expensive than a loaf of bread.

REFERENCES

1.4 Venus
Mural of Venus
The mural of Venus from Pompeii was never seen by
Botticelli, the painter of The Birth of Venus, but may
have been a Roman copy of the then famous painting by
Apelles which Lucian mentioned.

2 Finds

Prostitution was relatively inexpensive for the Roman

male but it is important to note that even a low priced
2.1 Images
prostitute earned more than three times the wages of
an unskilled urban labourer. However, it was unlikely
Tile mosaic, Satyr & Nymph, House of the Faun
a freed woman would enter the profession in hopes for
wealth because most women declined in their economic
Wall painting, House of the Epigrams, Reign of
status and standard of living due to demands on their apNero
pearance as well as their health.
Marble bas-relief
Prostitution was overwhelmingly an urban creation.
Within the brothel it is said prostitutes worked in a small
Fresco from a Pompeii sleeping room
room usually with an entrance marked by a patchwork
Erotic fresco
curtain. Sometimes the womans name and price would
be placed above her door. Sex was generally the cheapest

in Pompeii, compared to other parts of the Empire. All

services were paid for with cash.
From the House of the Centenary; the woman is
wearing a form of brassiere

1.3

Suburban baths

These frescoes are in the Suburban Baths of Pompeii,

near the Marine Gate.[2]

3 See also

These pictures were found in a changing room at one

side of the newly excavated Suburban Baths in the early
1990s. The function of the pictures is not yet clear: some
authors say that they indicate that the services of prostitutes were available on the upper oor of the bathhouse
and could perhaps be a sort of advertising, while others
prefer the hypothesis that their only purpose was to decorate the walls with joyful scenes (as these were in Roman culture). The most widely accepted theory, that of
the original archaeologist, Luciana Jacobelli, is that they
served as reminders of where one had left ones clothes.

Roman art

Collected below are high-quality images of erotic frescoes, mosaics, statues and other objects from Pompeii
and Herculaneum.

History of erotic depictions

Erotic art
Secret Museum, Naples

4 References
Notes
[1] As reported by the epd press agency in March, 1998.
[2]

Fresco from the suburban baths of a 2 male and 1

female threesome.
Fresco from
cunnilingus.[1]

the

suburban

baths

depicting

Fresco from the suburban baths in cowgirl position

1. ^ As this image shows cunnilingus, this image has
elicited much interest, because it may contradict the
popular male customer / female prostitute notion.

Bibliography and further reading

Clarke, John. Roman Sex: 100 B.C. to A.D. 250,
New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003.
Grant, Michael and Mulas, Antonia. Eros in Pompeii: The Erotic Art Collection of the Museum of
Naples. New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang,
1997.

3
McGinn, Thomas A.J. The Economy of Prostitution
in the Roman World. Ann Arbor: The University of
Michigan Press, 2004.
Varone, Antonio. Eroticism in Pompeii. Getty Trust
Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2001.

External links
Erotic frescoes put Pompeii brothel on the tourist
map, The Times, 27 October 2006

6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

Text

Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic%20art%20in%20Pompeii%20and%
20Herculaneum?oldid=650716855 Contributors: Eloquence, Bryan Derksen, Manning Bartlett, Patrick, Infrogmation, Michael
Hardy, Jahsonic, MartinHarper, Oyd11, Error, Jimbreed, Samsara, Jamesday, AlexPlank, Altenmann, Chris Roy, Nilmerg, Superm401,
GreatWhiteNortherner, Temperance, Dsmdgold, OldakQuill, Burgundavia, Ebelular, R.123, CanisRufus, Koenige, Viriditas, Calton, El
Suizo, Emerson7, Jamesmusik, Jameshsher, DaGizza, Lavenderbunny, Marcus Cyron, Petrouchka, Obey, Jennet, Gadget850, FiggyBee,
Attilios, SmackBot, YellowMonkey, Verne Equinox, Scix, OrphanBot, Arnob1, Charivari, Soumyasch, Neddyseagoon, Snezzy, Iridescent,
Mellery, Stormz, Cydebot, Nabokov, OrangePeel, Jen8, Sluzzelin, Cynwolfe, Terry Walsh, Bibi Saint-Pol, DerHexer, CommonsDelinker,
Nev1, CFCF, Perel, Antonioalfonseca1, Jbruins, BenoniBot, ImageRemovalBot, Resuna, Simon Wardell, Catalographer, Central16,
Glane23, Lightbot, Legobot, AnomieBOT, VanishedUser sdu9aya9fasdsopa, Jrobinjapan, Alexlange, Eoladis, Shadowjams, DReifGalaxyM31, Full-date unlinking bot, Artsikid, Beyond My Ken, FAM1885, Petrb, ClueBot NG, Kim Traynor, Jjtimbrell and Anonymous:
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6.2

Images

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artist: ?
File:Pan_copulating_with_goat_2.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Pan_copulating_with_goat_2.
JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Kim Traynor
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