Now that I've caught your attention, what is up (no pun intended) with stone penises gracing the entry way to these ancient homes and bakeries of Pompeii? According to my guide trained in archeology and antiquities, these phallic sculptures were not implied to be of sexual nature but thought to bring luck to the home or business and those who enter. As an added an element of humor, they may have also served as conversation pieces for the ones displayed inside the home.
Historically, we all know what happened to Pompeii so the bigger question is why would anyone build a city directly under a volcano? The answer is before that fateful day in A.D. 79, no one knew Vesuvius was a volcano. Pompeii was a city roughly 30% smaller than the size of Disneyland. Although it wasn’t particularly a wealthy city, there were no shortage of large homes. Mansions of aristocratic Pompeiians were mixed in with middle class merchants and other residents.
Pompeii is an amazing archeological site. Only the walls of these structures remain as the fall out of hot molten ashes caused the roofs to collapse and obliterating all life. During excavation, many of the mosaics, frescos and sculptures that survived the eruption were moved to the National Archeological Museum in Naples. There’s a special room called the Secret Room where all the naughty mosaics, paintings and sculptures from Pompeii are displayed. A visit to Pompeii needs to include a visit to the archeological museum to really understand and appreciate what you are seeing.
No other eruptions were as devastating as what happened to Pompeii but make no mistake, Vesuvius is an active volcano - last erupted in 1944 and is considered the world's most dangerous volcano with 3,000,000 people living in the surrounding areas.
Three foot high stone penises greeted all who entered this home.
Stone penis carvings graced the doorways of many homes and businesses.
Many were similar but some were more “artistic” like the one shown above.
This is a large commercial oven in a bakery. Not only do the penises flank the entryways of homes and businesses, they can be found just about anywhere. I'm beginning to conclude that Pompeiians were really fun party people. Can you spot the stone penis along the oven? It's there...
Once you've seen a bunch of marble statues, they all start to look the same. But look again - down towards the middle; what exquisite draping...
This is a typical street in Pompeii. Two things worth noting: 1) It's designed for chariots and we know they were of standard size - you can see the grooves for the wheels on the side of the raised stones. 2) The raised stone blocks are for pedestrian crossing. Water runs down these streets to flush all the horse poop. Shoes stays clean!
Streets with three raised stone blocks are for 2-way chariot traffic. You can still see the grooves that the chariot wheels made in some areas.
And streets with only one stone block are for 1-way traffic.
This was one of the larger eateries. This food counter holds up to 7 vessels of food. The ancients had fast food too.
This was a large commercial bakery. These are grain mills for bread, usually operated by slaves and donkeys.
This is one way they can tell if the structure was used as a business or home. The grooves here indicates there was a sliding door, usually a business.
A home with original mosaic floor surrounding a small atrium. Many of the more intricate or artful mosaics were moved to the National Archeological Museum in Naples.
Many homes have fully painted walls in window schemes to give appearance that the room is larger than it is.
The entry way of the largest mansion in Pompeii - 32,000 square feet which is equivalent to an entire block. You can still see remnants of color to indicate these homes were indeed very colorful.
The original of this famous statue, the Dancing Faun is in the National Archeological Museum in Naples.
Pompeii has a theater district. This amphitheater is where citizens gather for plays and concerts. Seats were originally covered in expensive marble.
Mt. Vesuvius looms in the background.