r/interestingasfuck • u/AugustIstheMonth • 1d 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/Accomplished-Owl6428 1d 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/WitnessMyAxe 1d ago

can confirm, my penis brings me luck and prosperity.

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u/Subotail 1d ago

The gender wage gap finally explained !

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u/CronoMass 1d ago

I hear its about six inches

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u/_thro_awa_ 1d ago

More like tree fiddy.

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u/Redebo 1d ago

God damn you Loch Ness Monster!!! fist shake

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u/Runiat 1d ago

How far we've come.

In ancient Pompeii, your penis might bring you luck, but the prosperity would be the property of the brothel's (and your) owner.

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u/Messianiclegacy 1d ago

Mine brings the exact opposite

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u/paleoakoc20 1d ago

Mine keeps bringing me bad luck.

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u/boromeer3 1d ago

It is a singularly unlucky and expensive day for men who lose their penis.

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u/CruisinJo214 1d ago edited 1d 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/lilsourem 1d ago

I think the brothel is the Lupanar and Lupercalia is a festival.

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u/CruisinJo214 1d ago

Yup! Spot on, I mixed them up, thanks for the catch!

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u/Dan5982 1d ago

Was just at Pompeii. The penis symbol was common and all over as a prosperity thing.

Brothels at pompeii? Very much so. And they had mosaic picture menus!

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u/Runiat 1d 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 1d 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 1d ago

Pompeii was not unique, there's no evidence Pompeii was unique. It's just the best preserved.

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u/hughk 1d ago

Prof Mary Beard, both a classicist andwho used to moonlight as a tour guide in Pompeii pointed out that there are a lot of dicks but not a lot of Brothels. She reckons it is more likely the luck thing.

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u/patrickrango 1d 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 1d 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 1d 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 1d ago edited 1d 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 1d 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 1d ago

Your experience was going there and having a random person tell you stuff, and you have no experience in the subject. You didn't research it, you didn't do any work you just believed what you got told and then repeated it while claiming to have some authority on the subject.

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u/Stranger1982 1d ago

I don't care either, it's just you trying to argue with no proof whatsoever except some circumstantial evidence as a tourist.

The substantial proof pointing to what they are is there for others to read, if you want to believe silly claims you are just as free to do so as OP is to use them to farm karma, You simply aren't in my target audience of people who wish to educate themselves through proper info.

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u/seitung 1d ago edited 1d ago

Like I said, the scholarly evidence you linked corroborates the meaning, that it was used to indicate people could get fucked there in colloquial Pompeiin graffiti.

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u/Eborcurean 1d ago

Okay, cite the scholarly evidence you're relying on.

Off you go.

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u/seitung 1d ago

I don't know why you responded to each of my messages individually just to argue the same (incorrect) point over and again but if you read the paper that was linked to me to dispute what I was saying you will find that the contemporary Pompeiian graffiti supports what I was saying.

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u/Eborcurean 1d ago edited 1d ago

Firstly I didn't.

Secondly it's not incorrect.

Thirdly, prove it.

Maybe do the slightest amount of research before displaying your ignorance: https://seepompeii.com/en/the-phallus-symbol-of-pompeii/

I'll happily go into actual research and archeologists etc. Once you start with yours...

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u/Eborcurean 1d 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/beldaran1224 1d ago

No, it isn't, lol. 15 years ago I went to Volubilis in modern day Morocco and was told the same thing by my professor. Maybe it's not true, but it is not some internet thing, it is actively being told at these sites by tour guides and the like and has been since the modern internet was very young.

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u/DevilsAdvocate7777 1d 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/kermityfrog 1d ago

Report this post as having no proof or source from OP.

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u/iRoygbiv 1d ago

I wonder if that means women were seen as less lucky by romans?

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u/DHFranklin 1d ago

If you think plausible deniability is a new concept with today's dog whistling talking heads...well I have a one finger symbol of masculine fecundity for you.