on Vleeptron ... women can see inside the Lupanar!
We do not tolerate gender discrimination on Vleeptron.
So when a woman tourist wants to look inside and see the frescoes of the Lupanar of Pompeii -- go right ahead, our tour guide won't stop you! See for yourself! No need to ask your dad or brother what's inside. Nihil obstat!
Step this way: 1 2
We regret to announce that the Lupanar ceased operations abruptly and permanently on 24 August 79 A.D.
This was so long ago that we're sorry to say all the newsfilm of the event is that defective and substandard black-and-white and silent stuff, but it's still One Hell Of A Show: "Cabiria," a spectacular 1914 movie directed by Giovanni Pastrone. (The heroine of Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria," starring his wife Giulietta Masina, is named for it; Fellini's memory was electrified by seeing this film as a boy.) After the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculanaeum, you can also watch pagan priests feed live slave children into the flames of Carthage's god-idol, Molok. (The Romans didn't like the Carthaginians very much and told a lot of exaggerations about the stuff that went on in Carthage.)
Lupus is a wolf, and Lupa a she-wolf. From the earliest days, Lupa was a nickname for a prostitute. This seems to be the "coded" origin of the legend of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who founded Rome, and are depicted as infants being nursed by a she-wolf. The storytellers were telling a little joke intended to go over the heads of the kiddies. There were two important guys in the very early days of Rome, and they -- giggle -- were raised by a -- wink-wink nudge-nudge -- She-wolf.
posted by Vleeptron Dude | 04:39
2 Comments:
And here are photos from «The Secret Room» in the Naples Museum. I did not get to see these either, but it seems they only started showing it to the public recently...
http://ancienthistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://solomonsrefuge.com/secret%5Froom.htm
..and I learned more Latin!
Hot, Hotter, Hottest
House of ill-repute or not, the thermal baths of Pompeii were certainly steamy. Past the changing room was a cold-water pool called the frigidarium, where bathers could swim in a pool surrounded by sumptuous mosaics and frescoes. Then a series of hot rooms followed, each slightly warmer than the last: the tepidarium, the laconium and the caldarium. The water was heated by furnaces stoked by slaves also known as fornacatores. The word derives from "fornax," Latin for "furnace" and also the root for "fornix," which is Latin for "brothel."
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