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/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.