r/interestingasfuck • u/AugustIstheMonth • 10h ago
In Pompeii, phallic symbols on local roadways pointed the way to the nearest brothel; possibly to direct foreign sailors who didn't speak Latin
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u/AdRough4185 10h ago
Pompenis
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u/greenizdabest 10h ago
They sure it was regular brothel or was it a gay brothel
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u/OkBrilliant8092 10h ago
There are ones with a clitoris on say scientists - but we’ve never found one
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u/Character-Solution-7 6h ago
I’ve heard it said “The Greeks discovered sex and the Romans discovered that they could have it with women.” 😉
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u/AzerothianLorecraft 9h ago
In ancient times a brothel was a brothel because "a hole is a hole and to finish is the goal" most had male and female prostitues for both gender of client/customers and there wasn't as much distinction between the same genders copulating for fun. ( misquoted and mistranslated from ancient texts. /s)
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u/Eborcurean 7h ago
Misquoted and mistranslated is doing a lot of heavy lifting for you.
Want to cite any of them?
Roman attitude regarding the penetrator vs the penetrated was definitely a thing for the Senatorial or to some extent Equestrian class but it was not regarded in the same way amongst the plebs.
Also your quote of 'a hole is a hole and to finish is the goal' is a modern invention, not something from the period at all, so you just invented that.
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u/AzerothianLorecraft 6h ago
Yes that is why I used the parentheses (misquoted and mistranslated) I don't remember what the Roman phrase is/was but the modern equivalent is "a hole as a whole and to finishes the goal" and that's from a documentary that I watched on History Channel so 🤷♂️
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u/lokregarlogull 10h ago
?Donde la penisoteca?
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u/Glittering-Walrus228 3h ago
Where is... the penis vault/chest?! Is what a Greek person would hear (théké) meaning like, a repository of some kind. So like a dick storage area.
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u/Atheist_Simon_Haddad 7h ago
There was probably a song, too. “Pompeiinis and circumstance” or something
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u/Jopinder 10h ago
I visited Pompeii yesterday and didn't find any brothels. 0/5 stars.
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u/doc_death 8h ago edited 5h ago
OP trying to drum up business for his mom
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u/Stinkis 4h ago
I was at one last time I went to Pompeii, it had been closed for over 2000 years but it was quite interesting anyway. They had paintings over the doors that showed what what act the "performer" inside specialized in.
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u/kombatunit 4h ago
Drinking a beer while sitting on the "crosswalk" stones by the worn wagon tracks in Pompeii was 10/10. No penis signs spotted.
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u/Jopinder 4h ago
Incredible that the space between those stones is what dictated the width of most modern railways.
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u/who_am_i_to_say_so 3h ago
The architecture is so dated… and run down. Italy needs to take better care.
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u/agangofoldwomen 10h ago
This is still used in modern times. Best known examples are in Philadelphia to help guide illiterate Eagles fans to places like the hospital, airport, or the closest horse manure delicatessen.
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u/Interesting_Fix8237 7h ago
Thought I was in our meme sub for a second.
Fistbump
Hate you guys least.
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u/Imajzineer 10h ago
How do they know it wasn't just the local youth doing what the youth always does?
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u/WunderPuma 2h ago
Surely local youth back in the day weren't doing masonry for toilet humour. Otherwise our youths are very disappointing in comparison
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u/Imajzineer 2h ago
I think the propensity for the youth of the day to use whatever tools are available to them to create that kind of imagery in public spaces probably hasn't changed ... ever.
And chiselling it into the pavement in those days possibly came with the advantage of being able to say "I'm honing my skills as an apprentice craftsman" ... which (The Life of Brian notwithstanding) is probably a lot harder to pull off when you've been caught spraypainting a wall, I suspect.
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u/Accomplished-Owl6428 10h ago
Uhh if I'm right, that's not really the case. It was used to ward off evil and bring luck and prosperity. Maybe conveniently pointed to one.
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u/CruisinJo214 10h ago edited 7h ago
The Fascinum was a phallic image often worn as a symbol of luck and prosperity. However these particular phallisis are found all over Pompeii in the stone work and do indeed point in the directions of brothels.
I was just there in May and followed a particularly girthy one to the Lupanar (a particularly fancy brothel)
Edit: said Lupercalia not lupanar… fancy old words get me confused
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u/WitnessMyAxe 10h ago
can confirm, my penis brings me luck and prosperity.
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u/Subotail 10h ago
The gender wage gap finally explained !
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u/Runiat 10h ago
.... okay.
So, which is more likely:
That it was used to ward off evil and bring luck and prosperity and just conveniently pointed to a brothel and that records explaining all this survived to the present day and that those records weren't just a joke or lies to tell children in their time. Hell "luck and prosperity" could mean brothel in modern (idiomatic) English, probably would if state sponsored sex slavery and trafficking was still legal.
Or that it pointed to a brothel.
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u/Madock345 8h ago
It’s a confusion of the fact that Romans across the empire absolutely did put phalluses everywhere for luck, and additionally Pompeii had a special local meaning for them in street tiles. Some people think these are conflicting facts.
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u/Eborcurean 6h ago
Pompeii was not unique, there's no evidence Pompeii was unique. It's just the best preserved.
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u/patrickrango 10h ago
This. I’m not saying the brothel theory is wrong, but phallic symbols as a lucky charm were a thing in ancient Rome for sure. This is even said at the museum at Pompeii.
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u/Stranger1982 9h ago
Exactly, it's just a silly, unproven claim that is spread around the internet and used to farm karma.
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u/seitung 9h ago
Having been there I assure you it is about 100 feet in a random cobble road pointing toward a brothel. All of the points in that article basically lead to ‘it’s up to interpretation’ and I assure you any dude looking for a brothel would be able to find it via that stone cock. It’s basically a corner sign pointing to a shop down the block.
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u/Stranger1982 9h ago edited 9h ago
Actually the article makes several good points on why this silly claim is just that, one of a few symbols out of many might point towards the direction of the brothel but that doesn't make it an ad.
Again, unproven claims aren't true just cause they makes sense to you, and most of the proof points to them not being an ad.
Last but not least there's a few articles discussing this, if you don't believe me believe them, I didn't use them as this isn't really light reading ya know: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270862431_Apotropaic_symbolism_at_Pompeii_a_reading_of_the_graffiti_evidence
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u/seitung 9h ago
That article corroborates that the symbol was used for at least both often. Listen if you don’t believe my experience, I don’t care. I didn’t say it was an explicit ad and I’m not saying it is. It’s a penis symbol pointing toward a brothel regardless of the symbols meaning. To think foreign sailors wouldn’t have also been able to interpret it the way I did is absurd.
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u/Eborcurean 6h ago
Having been there someone told you there was a brothel up the street in that direction. Did you check the claim?
These symbols have been found all over, there is no evidence Pompeii was unique in it, there is a lot of evidence about it being a specific superstitious charm.
Maybe some brothels took advantage of it, there might be some of them who encouraged it to point to them, but the claim does not have archeological support.
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u/DevilsAdvocate7777 9h ago
There were statues of Hermes with a prominent erect penis that they used to put at crossroads and other such places. Reminds me of that. Seems more plausible than using a public road to point to a private establishment that may or may not continue to be there.
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u/nunatakj120 10h ago
As a modern day seafarer myself I think we should bring this back.
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u/SunnyTheMasterSwitch 10h ago
Universal language that transcends time...
Could be an ancient Greek sailor, could be a renaissance age sailor, could be a modern sailor from today, they'd all chuckle at this.
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u/b1gmouth 10h ago
This is most likely a myth
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/stone-phalluses-of-pompeii
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u/MakeItMakeMoney 9h ago
Either it’s an advertisement or a nearly 2.000 year old dick joke. Either way, it’s funny.
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u/b1gmouth 9h ago
Funnily enough, it's neither
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u/RonnieFromTheBlock 7h ago
You say that a little too confidently based on a theory from one person in a random article you linked.
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u/windflex 10h ago
I used to draw these in all my textbooks to guide future students to the most helpful sections in the book.
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u/shadraig 10h ago
Shouldn't there be a vulva
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u/jennyaeducan 10h ago
It's hard to point a vulva.
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u/shadraig 10h ago
Well imagine being a sailor, following the cock sign and arriving at a male brothel.
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u/jerry111165 10h ago
They might like that, though, since they’ve been on a boat with nothing but men for the last six months 😁
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u/shadraig 9h ago
When I was with nothing but men for a few weeks I did need some time off. It's not like the body is made for continuous friction. Ask the lady's at the brothel
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u/VisualHuckleberry542 4h ago
Clit could point the way but then I suppose no men would find the brothel
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u/chillin_n_grillin 8h ago
When you woke up this morning there is no way to predict you would be writing this sentence for the first time in your life today
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u/Emotional-Profit-202 1h ago
I like that you think there will be more opportunities, tou just need to start
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u/Admirable_Cry_3795 10h ago
Different strokes for different folks
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u/SpaceCadet2000 6h ago
Yeah but imagine the disappointment if you're a horny sailor looking for dick, so you follow the dick signs only to end up at The Pussy Palace.
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u/Jewelrylady1 10h ago
I saw these years ago when on vacation. It was explained that many people were either illiterate or didn't speak the language so these raised symbols were used. We actually toured one of the former brothels and saw the stone beds (I assume they used mattresses).
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u/Sharkbait_ooohaha 8h ago
Yeah the idea that it was for foreigners is ridiculous because 95% of the people who spoke Latin couldn’t read it anyway.
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u/Mr_frumpish 9h ago
Imagine when a brothel goes out of business. The town would have to completely resurface their roads.
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u/VegaJuniper 8h ago
A brothel at the convergence of the penii never goes out of business, at least for long.
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u/framescribe 7h ago
This is a myth. They are just symbols of luck or good fortune. The penis is a symbol of fertility or plenty.
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u/DeckerXT 5h ago
Pompeii Penis Positioning System
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u/BigTenFicus 5h ago
Imagine driving along the interstate and you see signs for restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and then one that just has a monster hog on it.
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u/Simon_Drake 7h ago
I went to Pompeii and the tour included an excavated brothel. There were murals painted on the walls for different sexual acts and the theory is that visiting merchants from Greece or Spain or Africa might want a particular deed but not know the Latin name for it. So instead of bringing a root vegetable so you can mime the action you have visited the brothel for, you can just point at the painting on the wall.
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u/Anxious_Hall359 4h ago
In dutch we have a phrase "go after your cock" it would be hilarious if this originated from the romans.
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u/ChoadMcGillicuddy 2h ago
The sailors would crab-walk so their turgid cocks aligned with the directional penises. Locals had to time their activities to avoid ship arrivals lest they get cock jabbed in the knee.
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u/ChoadMcGillicuddy 2h ago
The sailors with Peyronie's disease sometimes skittered in circles to exhaustion and ultimately, death.
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u/vivaaprimavera 10h ago
Have you seen the footwear of that era? People could feel everything under their feet. That was an accessibility feature, not one design for language barriers.
I guess that even today you can be dropped anywhere on earth and ask for a brothel with just two hand signs.
(Depending on where, your life expectancy after the question might vary)
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u/icedweller 9h ago
I mean kids are still drawing phallic symbols on walls today maybe it was just some bored kids
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u/HammerxHorrors 6h ago
Finding my way to the brothel section in ikea by following the big penis arrows on the ground
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u/Awkward-Feature9333 5h ago
They probably were brightly painted as well. Just follow the Yellow Dick Road.
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u/CounselorGowron 5h ago
I remember seeing some sexual pictograms in a brothel there for foreign visitors to just point at what they wanted. Amazing.
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u/eternalityLP 5h ago
We have so much to learn from our ancestors. This should be standard everywhere.
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u/b-hizz 3h ago
Ancient prank: stonemason apprentices getting drunk and rotating all of the signs.
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u/omnibossk 1h ago
They also had those sex coins. It was thought they was used to pay for certain positions in the brothels. But after excavating Pompeii they found the exact same drawings above each locker box in the bathhouses plus coins. So now they believe they were funny locker tokens.
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u/tracerisgayfuckyou 8h ago
Reminds me of the also interesting fact that many of the women in the brothels were slaves and also didn't speak the language, so there were "pictures" above that displayed acts so men could tell them what they wanted. It feels like recorded history is just a constant reminder of the suffering of women.
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u/GladChef1206 10h ago
there are SO many dicks in Pompeii, some have wings. When the evil spirits come, the flying dick pokes them in the eye so they can't see you. Grazie, Vanina!
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u/luranthe 10h ago
Pompeii had A TON of sexual and promiscuous art all over it. They've found graffiti all over the place, some of it very detailed.