Posted on 04/28/2022 8:05:44 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
In the 19th century, the archaeologists tasked with excavating Pompeii and Herculaneum ran into a problem: Everywhere they turned, they found erotic art, from frescoes of copulating couples to sculptures of nude, well-endowed gods.
At a time when sex was widely considered shameful or even obscene, officials deemed the images too explicit for the general public. Instead of placing the artifacts on view, staff at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli stashed them in a secret room closed to all but scholars and, according to Atlas Obscura, male visitors willing to bribe their way in. Between 1849 and 2000, the works remained largely hidden from the public...
The show’s marquee attraction is a fresco of the myth of Leda and the swan. Discovered in 2018, the scene depicts the moment when the god Zeus, disguised as a swan, either rapes or seduces Leda, queen of Sparta. Later, legend holds, Leda laid two eggs that hatched into children: Pollux and Helen, whose “face … launched a thousand ships” by sparking the Trojan War.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
Wow. What a wonderful response. Thank you.
It was quite a learning experience for me, too. It’s pretty interesting, isn’t it?
I’ve been to Pompeii. Unforgettable.
It is.
Ever seen the walls of some of the temples in India? Some of the stuff from Japan’s early days are pretty….explicit.
People like sex. Lol.
To be honest with you that sort of picture turns me off completely.
I don’t think the sex workers liked it much. Pretty grueling.
I knew a girl who was a prostitute for a while, turned her off men completely.
“Biggus Dickus”- Monty Python
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