Pompeii: Warning, Pictures of the brothel

We went to Italy last October and it was a lot of fun. We saw Naples, a Cameo Factory, and of course Pompeii. The ruins are pretty amazing, but what I was most disappointed by was the lack of bodies. I know that sounds really macabre, but there were very few of the cast bodies around. When images of Pompeii stir in my mind I think of the people that were cast in stone forever at the base of the volcano. I've seen these pictures, most people have.

But Pompeii offers something a little different. I personally enjoy walking through ruins. Living this close to Detroit it would be a shame if I did not love going through ruins (Haha) My interest in Anthropology makes me want to go to these places, Manchu Picchu, Stonehenge, any place people have occupied and left a mark. Pompeii is a little different, it was an entire city, including ancient brothels. The streets were some what "littered" with Penises leading the way to houses of ill repute.

We began the tour in the center of a court yard. It was lovely. The grass was green, I could see where there used to be doors, it was like a mini stadium. Then we walked over to an actual stadium. It wasn't large, it was more like an Amphitheater, there probably used to plays or concerts held in such a place. As I stood there I imagined watching men act out a play, or perhaps deliver a speech on morals. The next place we went was out into a street. It was pretty amazing how the cross walks had extraordinary bumps in the middle to let carriages through. The housing was small, but very cute. I tried picturing roofs on the tops, because they were probably made of thatch. It's amazing to look at the spaces and think, people used to eat, sleep, and dwell here.

Then we saw a penis on the ground in the stone. This pointed us to the brothel. The brothel was interesting as well. There were pictures on the walls. Almost like a menu at a McDonald's. The rooms were very small with stone beds made out against the sides.  I wondered what on earth could possibly make those stone slabs any softer and made a comment to my sister about the condition of the prostitutes knees. I wondered if there was any evidence of damaged knee caps in the archaeological record.

We walked into other rooms. Rooms with fountains and after we left the brothel there were still penises all over the place, seemingly pointing us back to the brothel. This was probably the biggest business in town.

We also saw places of prayer, large beautiful columns that probably once held thatch covered roofs. At the end we finally saw a couple of the bodies. There was a dog and there was a child and there was a man. But most of the bodies were taken away or casts were made of them. Maybe I have a really macabre sense of history, but I wanted to see more. I expected the place to be teaming with bodies, they would have been strewn about like sand on a beach. If this is what you want as well, you will be disappointed.

"How much for that one?"

Our tour guide next to male genitalia

Most of the people who died asphyxiated

Amphitheater

These were the city streets