The Shocking Truth of Sexuality in Pompeii
Pompeii’s Sex Culture Pompeii was not what we see today. The city has seen some dark times and hides many secrets! On August 24, 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted in Central Italy which buried the neighboring city of Pompeii in hot lava. Following this tragic string of events, the city of Pompeii was considered a mass of rubble, and for centuries nobody knew that life used to exist there. However, the accidental revelation that this mass of rubble is actually a city led to diggings and ended with lifting the veil of the shocking truths of Pompeii’s sex culture. The excavations disclosed soul-stirring images of the agonizing death of the people of Pompeii. They gave an insight into the life of people in the ancient Roman Empire.
The picture of the Roman Empire has always been vivid and luxurious, but the ugly truths of the Empire have been concealed from the public. Excavators found evidence of widespread sex trade in Pompeii. The shocking details for the public would be erotic murals, the phallic Street lanterns, the sexually arousing drinking cups, or the many representations of Priapus, the fertility God whose striking features pop up in artwork all over town. It was challenging for people to come and be confronted with what ran against the Christian morality of the day and the sexual elements came out very starkly.
A very famous story that is being told to people is that Charles third was having a picnic with his court. They are excavating, and he is presented with a statue before him of the famous figure in which a Penn is making love with a nanny goat. Brothels and sex clubs were everywhere in the city. Women used to sell them to men, men to other men, and men to wealthy women. The question arises if this sex trade was a secret.
If so, who initiated and controlled it and benefitted from this dirty business? And is this the only city that was deeply embedded in sin, or is it a clear picture of how things were in ancient Rome?