Wow, the Romans

November 14, 2001 2:29 PM

Wow, the Romans really found no problem with sex being shown out in the open. This is a picture found in an ancient Roman bath.
posted by yevge (49 comments total)

Wow, the Romans really found no problem with sex being shown out in the open.
And now they are dead! Hmmmmm.
posted by thirteen at 2:40 PM on November 14, 2001

Oooh... I'm getting naughty tingles...
posted by spilon at 2:41 PM on November 14, 2001

"Zookeeper! Zookeeper! Those two monkeys are killing each other!"
posted by jpoulos at 2:42 PM on November 14, 2001

The Romans were also apparently fans of spying on willowy blondes using FVN! and SECVRE! little cameras.
posted by Skot at 2:46 PM on November 14, 2001

is that supposed to be 2 people or 3?
posted by cell divide at 2:47 PM on November 14, 2001

Meh, that's nothing. Outside of a good number of Roman houses, there were large (2-3 foot) terra cotta phalluses. You don't see them in museums because they tended to be vandalized. (I just wanted to give some historical precedent to the America's Funniest Home Videos baseball-bat-to-the-nuts idiom...)
posted by ZippityBOP at 2:49 PM on November 14, 2001

It's a centaur.
posted by solistrato at 2:50 PM on November 14, 2001

It's better with three.

And yes the Romans were very into that kind of thing. Some might say such permissiveness is what led to the fall of Rome. Some would disagree.
posted by daveadams at 2:50 PM on November 14, 2001

The centaur guy looks like he's having the most fun.
posted by chino at 2:51 PM on November 14, 2001

Shit! they do that stuff at my health spa too. Byut it is all guys. No: not me. I workout in the weightroom.
posted by Postroad at 2:53 PM on November 14, 2001

Shit! they do that stuff at my health spa too. Byut it is all guys. No: not me. I workout in the weightroom.
posted by Postroad at 2:53 PM on November 14, 2001

Wow, the Romans really found no problem with sex being shown out in the open.

Also, baths weren't out in the open.
posted by ZippityBOP at 2:53 PM on November 14, 2001

*cackles his head off at Jpoulos' comment*

Why's this in the entertainment section?

Yevge: That's nothing. Have you ever looked at an Indian temple? You'd think they never thought of anything else. Walls and walls of people boinking sculptures.
posted by Su at 2:55 PM on November 14, 2001

The middle guy is a Trojan
posted by gazingus at 2:57 PM on November 14, 2001

Holy shit!
It's my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandma!

What the hell is she doing?
posted by ColdChef at 2:58 PM on November 14, 2001

damn. trumped by gazingus...
posted by ColdChef at 2:58 PM on November 14, 2001

people boinking sculptures

sounds painful....
posted by mattpfeff at 3:00 PM on November 14, 2001

wow.. they're having sex on top of an elephant. not that's kinky.
posted by lotsofno at 3:00 PM on November 14, 2001

Well, even earlier you've got a whole lot of Greek artwork... On the web you can have a look at this (result of a quick search), but there's much nastier in the plates of a scholarly book like Dover's Greek Homosexuality.
posted by Zurishaddai at 3:07 PM on November 14, 2001

And not the dimmest memory of rot or spark remains...nor of joy or licentiousness--limbs, hair, glances filled with promise and revel; neither fun nor folly, pleasure or regret. So like us, and so very gone.
posted by rushmc at 3:08 PM on November 14, 2001

Side note: I love the astonished "Gosh, those Romans sure did think about sex lots!" tone of the link comment. Not like us.
posted by solistrato at 3:10 PM on November 14, 2001

Wasn't the floor of their senate basically a wild orgy? I think it was also customary to screw during dinner, before entering a public building, at the conclusion of all market transactions, and while crossing intersections.
posted by scarabic at 3:12 PM on November 14, 2001

Take a stroll around a museum of erotic Roman art.
posted by liam at 3:12 PM on November 14, 2001

I think it was also customary to screw during dinner, before entering a public building, at the conclusion of all market transactions, and while crossing intersections.

If they were that busy maybe this is a kind of car-share. It's all rather modern.
posted by jackspot at 3:18 PM on November 14, 2001

Meh, that's nothing. Outside of a good number of Roman houses, there were large (2-3 foot) terra cotta phalluses. You don't see them in museums because they tended to be vandalized. (I just wanted to give some historical precedent to the America's Funniest Home Videos baseball-bat-to-the-nuts idiom...)

Hey, the Japanese have always known the power of the penis.
posted by bradth27 at 3:21 PM on November 14, 2001

You don't see them in museums because they tended to be vandalized.

Yeah, the ancient Greeks had some problems with that happening, too. But probably these modern museum vandals don't measure up to Alcibiades in other ways.
posted by moss at 3:28 PM on November 14, 2001

what's the big? happens in american bath houses too. (that link's kinda gay. click with caution.)
posted by patricking at 3:30 PM on November 14, 2001

clav?
posted by modge at 3:32 PM on November 14, 2001

Walking round Pompeii this summer, it was obvious that the brothels where the most poular stop off. Not sure about the stone beds though..
posted by laukf at 3:36 PM on November 14, 2001

Shows what prudes we are. Take that patrist values!!
posted by skallas at 3:42 PM on November 14, 2001

It takes Boy Howdy! to another level doesn't it???
posted by Danf at 4:03 PM on November 14, 2001

Mommy? Daddy? Uncle Dave?
posted by Hildago at 4:04 PM on November 14, 2001

I think my favorite piece of erotic Pompeiiana was the shot of a phallus inscribed into a sidewalk. It was an advertisement and pointed directly at the door of a brothel. My Latin teacher was a little disturbed when her son brought a picture of it back home from Italy...
posted by louie at 4:48 PM on November 14, 2001

ROMAN PHALLIC AMULET, large cast phallus, complete with suspension loop, 4,5 cm length. Found in Bonn (Bonna). $275 estimate. Sold.
posted by Carol Anne at 4:57 PM on November 14, 2001

Annus nummus, annus nummus. Redamo longinquus. Grandis bombus bombus.
< !-- i can't be stuffed doing this properly, so take it for what it's worth -->
posted by Neale at 5:12 PM on November 14, 2001

Ah ha! I found where Gary Trudeau learned how to draw eyes!
posted by jragon at 5:24 PM on November 14, 2001

Another picture like the one in the link posted
this one is even better

I mean, ok i thought they had sex..
But i never thought ancient Romans ate their women out...
posted by yevge at 6:56 PM on November 14, 2001

And appropriately bylined REUTERS/Ho.

Remember, sex is genetic. If your ancestors didn't have sex, you won't either.
posted by Geo at 7:00 PM on November 14, 2001

This sort of imagery isn't particularly exceptional of many earlier (or contemporary) cultures. Unfortunately, we still suffer from a view of history that was efficiently sanitised in the Victorian era. Which is a pity, simply because it isn't the truth.

Sex hasn't always been dirty.
posted by chrisgregory at 7:08 PM on November 14, 2001

Sex hasn't always been dirty.
chrisgregory

... but it is when you get it right (to paraphrase Woody Allen)
posted by thatwhichfalls at 7:30 PM on November 14, 2001

you should see my nephews place.
posted by clavdivs at 7:44 PM on November 14, 2001

Wow, carol anne, what an incredible site that is. Thanks.
posted by jpoulos at 8:02 PM on November 14, 2001

(*in my best cleese accent*) what did the romans ever do for us?!?!?
posted by eatdonuts at 8:34 PM on November 14, 2001

The oh so christian medievals liked Dick too. These are authentic reproductions of "pilgrims" badges (tourists tokens) They were common, worn by everyday folks honoring thier saintly patrons or just plain humourous pictures were worn all the time.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 9:16 PM on November 14, 2001

I'm not sure what this one is, but I like it.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:23 AM on November 15, 2001

Some might say such permissiveness is what led to the fall of Rome. Some would disagree.

Indeed.

Since Vesuvius buried Pompeii in 79 AD, western Rome lasted until the 5th century and eastern Rome lasted until the 15th century, they must have fallen because of their taste for orgies. Makes sense doesn't it?
posted by geir at 2:16 AM on November 15, 2001

woo-hoo!!!
posted by adampsyche at 4:21 AM on November 15, 2001

This is the real "feel-good story of the day."
posted by alumshubby at 6:23 AM on November 15, 2001

geir - Of course it makes sense! It just took god a while to get around to smiting them. The Vesuvius event should have been a lesson, but NO, they had to keep it up another 1500 years. If only Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell had been there to show them the errors of their ways, we could be enjoying the fruits of 2000 years of fundachristiocracy.
posted by yesster at 6:37 AM on November 15, 2001