Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum

Priapus

A wall fresco which depicted Priapus, the god of sex and fertility, with his oversized erection, was covered with plaster (and, as Karl Schefold explains, even the older reproduction below was locked away "out of prudishness" and only opened on request) and only rediscovered in 1998 due to rainfall. The Romans believed that he was a talisman protecting the riches of the house.

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

A statuette of Priapus in the House of the Vettii in Pompeii is from a small cubicle leading off from the kitchen. It is thought the statue used to be placed in the garden and was used as a fountain. A hole runs through its phallus allowing it to spurt like a fountain. Also in this room where the statue was located were erotic paintings.

Brothels

It is unclear whether the images on the walls were advertisements for the services offered, or if they were merely intended to heighten the pleasure of the visitors. As previously mentioned, some of the paintings and frescoes became immediately famous because they represented erotic, sometimes explicit, sexual scenes.

One of the most curious buildings recovered was the Lupanar, a brothel, which had many erotic paintings and graffiti inside. The erotic paintings seem to present an idealised vision of sex, at odds with reality. The Lupanar had 10 rooms (cubicula), 5 per floor; a balcony; and a latrina. There is no proof that the rooms in the brothel were reserved for specific sexual acts to be performed within them. In 1995, Andrew Wallace-Hadrill determined that the Lupanar possessed three elements characteristic of ancient brothels: raised stone areas that could be used as beds for performing sexual favors, erotic art, and erotic graffiti.

The Lupanar is not the only brothel in Pompeii, though it is the most famous and the first officially discovered. The town seems to have been oriented to a warm consideration of sensual matters: on a wall of the Basilica (sort of a civil tribunal, thus frequented by many Roman tourists and travelers), a piece of graffiti 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 asses up to several sesterces. In the lower price range, the service was not more expensive than a loaf of bread.

Suburban baths

The Suburban Baths are located near the Marine Gate in Pompeii. In one room, thought to be a dressing room, there are seven wall paintings of sexual scenes and one of a figure with an enlarged scrotum.

These eight paintings are located above paintings of numbered boxes sitting on a shelf. These wall paintings were found in 1986 when the room was first excavated. The paintings are dated to 62 to 79 CE. The building that the baths are in is two stories with the baths taking up the ground floor.

The function of the wall paintings is not yet clear: some authors say that they indicate that the services of prostitutes were available on the upper floor of the bathhouse and could 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.

Another idea is that both the paintings of sexual scenes and the paintings of boxes with numerals on them were related to the use of spintria tokens that gave people access to a locker in the dressing room.

Each wall painting of a sexual scene has a painting just below it of a box with a number on it. It is thought that there were actual boxes that were placed under these paintings. These boxes would have been placed on a wooden shelf. This wooden shelf would have run along two walls of this dressing room just underneath where the paintings of numbered boxes are. There are some holes in the rear and right wall where brackets that held the shelves could have been. It is thought that these boxes that were sitting on this wooden shelf under these paintings would have been where people attending the baths would have put their clothes after they had undressed in this room. The only remains of the boxes themselves are metal straps. In the wall paintings of the boxes an "X" shape at the front of the boxes indicates where the straps were. The wall painting also shows the wooden shelf underneath the boxes.

Spintria tokens have a numeral on one side and an image of a sexual scene on the other. It is speculated that the sexual scenes and numerals on the tokens related to the wall paintings of sexual scenes and numerals in the dressing room. When the token was given to a person it then gave them access to a place to put their clothing. Possibly they may have put their clothing inside the box that was sitting on the wooden shelf in the dressing room.

It has been commented that "Graffiti from Pompeii, Herculaneum and 2nd century Ostia Antica, often refer to group sex, although none describe the pose of scene VI [from the suburban baths]."

Venus

Venus was the divine protector of Pompeii, and featured in many frescoes around the city. The goddess of love, sex, and fertility, Venus was closely associated with eroticism and prostitution in ancient Rome. The mural of Venus from Pompeii may have been a Roman copy of the then famous painting by Apelles which Lucian mentioned.

The fresco of Mars and Venus, located in the tablinum of the House of Mars and Venus, is believed to model the proper family roles of husband and wife for those entering the home. Mars and Venus, a popular couple from mythology, were represented in many houses' tablinum for this reason. Venus has appeared in Pompeian artwork at least 197 times, the majority of these depictions located in a home's reception area where a guest would not need an invitation to enter, although she also appears on tavern signs and political banners. Previous scholarship assumed Venus would be more common in cubicula, small inclosed rooms that may function as a bedroom, due to her association with love and sex. Recent studies have shown this is not the case and that Venus is more commonly portrayed in large common rooms. Approximately one third of artwork featuring Venus represents some sort of love scene. There are two Venus types found almost exclusively in Pompeii, Venus Pompeiana ("Venus of Pompeii") and Venus Pescatrice ("Venus the Fisher-woman"). Venus Pompeiana is depicted standing rigidly, usually trapped with a mantle and holding her right arm across her chest. She is most commonly depicted in places that would be seen by many people, possible to demonstrate a house's patron goddess or for protection as this form of Venus has special religious and ritual significance to Pompeii. Venus Pescatrice is typically shown sitting down, holding a fishing rod and is always semi-naked. The depictions of Venus Pescatrice are all similar in structure, suggesting they derive from the same source, though this source has not been found.