Pompeii had a thing with penises | Day 65 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Mar 6, 2023

We spent a good ten days in Pompeii in December last year. We went to the archeological park several times. It is truly special. We walked and walked the streets of the ancient Roman city, in and out of villas and shops and into the villas and arenas.   

The streets of Pompeii are overwhelming, but what is not there are all of the artifacts and many of the mosaics and wall paintings. For that, you have to go to the Archeological Museum of Naples. In December, we never went because of the heavy rain.

In the wonderful context of the young Danes on their bikes, we finally filled out this blank.   

Seeing the artifacts reveals how Pompeii was a treasure. It made us understand why so many treasure hunters dug their way into the city in the first centuries after the catastrophe and why the place is so famous. It also gave a good insight as to how evolved and rich Pompeii was at the time of the eruption.

The secret room is its own story.

The Roman culture in Pompeii had a thing with the penis. Huge aroused ones as fountains, on walls over the doors, on the statues and figurines. For those who excavated the city 150 years ago, it was very embarrassing, and all of the sexualized art was hidden away from everyone except historians.

Times have changed, and now it is its own collection at the museum in Naples. Coming from the liberal North, we have no problem with this content, but it is quite explicit, and in this way may be a good thing to know what is coming when you enter the exhibition.

Being who we are, we had A LOT of fun with this.

At the same time, it puzzles us. For sure, all of this was not about sex. Must have had so many other layers in the culture, but what? Celebration of masculinity? Of luck? Abundance? The Roman culture keeps unfolding.

This time, with giggles.

Love and light

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Cecilie Conrad

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Unschooling and Parent consulting, conversations, blogposts, and podcasts on family life and learning

Hi, I'm Cecilie Conrad. I'm a trained psychologist, mother of four, radical unschooler and full-time traveller. I have lived with unschooling for over a decade and help other families find their own path – whether it is about homeschooling, unschooling, or the bigger question of how you want to live as a family.

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