9/4/2023 0 Comments Pompeian bronze![]() ![]() Osanna believes that it likely belonged to a slave who had been freed and who had come into enough money to commission private paintings and wanted to use them to show his new power. Only a small portion of the bedroom with the erotic fresco has been excavated, which begs the question what else is on the walls of this provocative Pompeian dwelling. Massimo Osanna poses in front of a fresco in the Lucrezio Frontone House in Pompeii. But it was before Christianity when the sense of sex was totally different.” It was really a society where sex was not something to consume just in a private space. If you go in the baths, they are full of explicit sexual images. “The people of Pompeii used this imagery a lot. It was not so strange to show a masculine phallus,” Osanna explained. “This was another time and a different society. Visitors to the house – or even those glancing in as they passed by – were first greeted by a fresco of Priapus, the god of fertility, weighing his exaggeratedly large phallus on a hand scale to show his might and masculinity. This is by no means the only example of an ancient penchant for what today would be considered sexually explicit. ![]() Look at her naked leg, the luxurious sandal it is a message of beauty and also a message of sensuality.” It means, ‘I am looking at you and you are looking at me while I am doing something very, very special’,” Osanna said. Greek archaeologists uncover first remnants of ancient city of Tenea The fresco found in Pompeii is unique in that it shows Leda differently than she has been previously depicted, Pompeii’s chief archeologist Massimo Osanna told CNN. It may have been two thousand years before the #metoo movement, but the issues are hauntingly similar. ![]() His neck is often portrayed as a phallic symbol and Leda’s subtle smile is frequently described as a measure of her sexual pleasure brought on by being dominated. Modern artists like Cy Twombly have also tried to interpret it, and it has been written about in a variety of ways, perhaps the most famous in a haunting sonnet by William Butler Yeats.įor all the depictions, few actually agree on just who seduced whom, and whether it was a show of a man’s sexual prowess and power, or a woman’s weakness to ward off his advances, even when he was disguised as an animal. The legend has has been depicted by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and a host of renaissance masters. Picturenow/Universal Images Group/Getty Images Leonardo da Vinci's version of the legend of Leda and the Swan. Had lava spewed from the volcano instead, everything would have been destroyed, he said. “The pyroclastic rocks are very dangerous when they are hot, but they contributed to the preservation of many ancient artifacts here, almost like packing material,” he told CNN during a recent private tour of the area closed to the public. ![]() The structural dynamic of the eruption, which first sent hot rocks out of the volcano’s cone before a high column of ash fell onto the city, has preserved many of Pompeii’s vast treasures, according to Francesco Muscolino, an architect for Italy’s Culture Ministry, who works at the site. No one has ever established a credible figure for how many perished. It is thought that between 10,000 and 20,000 people lived in this decadent seaside enclave when the Vesuvius sprang to life after more than a thousand years of dormancy. Of Pompeii’s 66 hectares (163 acres), about a third have not yet been excavated after the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It was uncovered during maintenance work in the Regio V section of the archeological dig that is not currently open to the public. The provocative scene from ancient Greek mythology is depicted on a 13 by 18 inch bedroom wall mural. Her gaze may have been obscured for almost two millennia, but visitors to Pompeii’s vast archeological dig will soon be able to come eye to eye with Leda, Queen of Sparta, complete with the god Zeus in disguise as a swan, perched on her unclothed lap. ![]()
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